Social media marketing seems like a piece of cake, doesn’t it? I mean, everybody can post a message on Facebook!
Well, that is until people really put their heads into writing something for their clients or for their own businesses. Spreading words and pictures a bit here and a bit there – all over a user’s Facebook page – will unfortunately do no good for your social media marketing campaign…
I’m saying this because many businesses exist on social media platforms with the main aim of promoting their brand, products, services, offers, sales…
Stop right there. This is one thing you forget when you go online. You are NOT there to promote, you are there to entertain. Don’t trust me? Ask any social media user and see what they are looking for when they use these platforms. Are they looking to buy or are they looking to be entertained?
Social media is meant to give businesses a voice and a personality. It is, therefore, not easy to promote a brand in the space of 140ish characters (like Twitter wants us to!).
But that’s just part of the story. Have a look at Facebook, Twitter, G+. Oh, not to mention Pinterest… They are all focusing their attention on the visuals. Now, as a writer yourself, please tell me that visuals don’t hurt your ego at all… A tiny bit?
But they do, right?
So…your goal on social media is to entertain through less words and more visual elements. You see, when talking about social media, there are four criteria which we need to obey. Like a sort of creed for social media marketers:
- The information needs to be relevant & to link to the business or brand.
- Writers need to post content on a regular basis – fresh, new content.
- The content needs to be appealing for the market.
- Glitter and gloss need not be absent. You know… eye candy content.
Here’s why just like many of us – internet writers, bloggers and copywriters – you are going to make at least one of these three mistakes on social media:
1. You focus your attention on technical content or on contributions.
That’s boring. On social media you need to entertain, to keep your followers’ attention high, to amuse. People who use social media are doing it because they want to de-stress, to get rid of all the information bombardment that they have to bear with in real life (think about TV ads, banners, radio ads, and even internet ads).
They already know that you are a business and that, of course, at a certain moment you will want to sell them something. But on Facebook you need to be fun, brisky, brainy.
And sure, I know sometimes it is difficult to write content that’s appealing to all your followers. But instead of describing what a certain product does in a step-by-step manual, you could simply ask you audience to think about what they would use that certain product for. You see how this is easier and more entertaining than a blunt description?
2. You want to sell.
This goes without saying. You represent a business, and a business has to sell. People already know it, and I’m sure they like your page because they like your products.
Remember this classic advice: do not focus on overly-promoting products, or on boasting with the latest offers. If people like your brand they will buy. And what is more, I’m almost 100% sure that some of your followers who are your customers as well, will make sure to promote your brand all over the internet.
“But I want to sell on Facebook. Can’t I do this at all?”
You could schedule your posts so that they go live at different times. So instead of having 4-5 posts about your latest offers going live on the same day, you could post only one or two a day. People like your fan page because they want to ‘hang out’ together, so letting them know about your offers is not a sin as long as you do it moderately.
3. You ignore the visual aspect of social media.
I know, it’s a bit frustrating to have to reduce the amount of written content and increase the amount of visuals. But that’s the way social media goes nowadays. If you have a nice quote that goes great with your product, make sure that you post not only the quote, but also a picture with the product.
On social media platforms such as Facebook or Pinterest you can also post videos (don’t forget YouTube, of course) which are much more entertaining than just a simple photo.
Bonus Tip: Limit yourself to 1-2 minute videos, they’re enough to start with. If you get good responses, then you can create 3-4 minute videos. However, make sure that your creations do not exceed 7 minutes tops.
Pssst…
If you want content by all means – use infographics! Just like the one I used in this article about Google Authorship. They are one of the only types of written content that is still enjoying great popularity on social media platforms.
P.S.: Let’s see which are the “Top Worst Social Media Marketing Mistakes“. Of the three mistakes listed above, which one do you think is the worst? What other mistakes have you noticed?
Update: According to your votes, the top three social media marketing mistakes are:
