The 8 Biggest Mistakes Social Media Marketers Make and How to Avoid Them

Editor's Notes

• #2: Update with new cover from visual brand deck.
• #3: And with that let’s get going!
• #4: Social media is one of the most powerful ways to reach and engage with your buyers today. The rise in social media usage by marketers, and our audience, means that participation is no longer an option; it’s a necessity. Social platforms are just as critical for a modern marketing organization as for any other channel. In fact, the growth in global social media users, both mobile and not continues to climb and even outpaces the growth of global internet adoption according to We Are Social.
• #5: According to a recent study published by the Economist, when asked what top 3 channels marketers expect customers to experience their marketing efforts in the next few years, social media was number 1. So if social media is what marketers are predicting will be the future, how can companies get started and avoid making costly mistakes? Let’s take a look at the 8 most common social media mistakes and how you can avoid them.
• #7: Before you jump into the tactical details of your social media plan, it’s critical that you take time to develop a detailed, smart strategy. Really look at how you can outline both a short-term and long-term strategy that looks at content development, editorial calendaring, social listening, customer service, engagement, and measurement. You get what you put in, and if you don’t track your progress, you won’t know the impact of your efforts, let alone be able to explain them to executives. So let’s take a look at what I encourage everyone to think about when developing a strategy.
• #8: First you’ll want to clearly define your goals and objectives! Begin by asking the basic question, What do you want to accomplish? Are you looking to increase brand recognition? Or do you want to engage more with your audience on social? Maybe you’re noticing a trend where followers are seeking customer service via your social channels, so you want to figure out how address that need. Or are you looking specifically at demand generation and how to grow your leads? Whatever your goal, be specific about it– Ask yourself the 3 w’s. Who? What? and Why? For example, “I would like to grow our Twitter following because it’s a key social media platform where we can engage influencers and customers to raise brand awareness and develop a voice as a thought leader in the field.” Be sure the goals you’re setting are relevant to your business’s objectives, vision, or values. For example, Does growing a Twitter audience stand in line with any of your current business objectives? Next, think about which channels you’re going to commit to building and how you’ll define success on those channels. Whatever you determine, make sure your goals are realistic and include a way to measure your success. Last, you’ll need to develop a strong content plan that will deliver engaging material. As Matt Heinz said “Great social is really about great content. The campaigns that really stand out are those with content that compel the user to participate, to engage, to share, to amplify. Think about how you can make your audience part of the content.” Think about how you content will align with your overall messaging and cater to the channels you’re using. It’s important to explore a variety of different kinds of content: videos, blogs, infographics and other styles will engage your potential customers more effectively. You’ll need to have an ongoing presence on social, and that will involve consistently posting new content on a regular basis.
• #9: As you’re building out your strategy, THE most important thing to consider is your audience. Which brings me to mistake number 2.
• #10: Not knowing your audience. I’m always surprised at how little time people take to really get to know their target audience. As you’re jumping into the tactical details of your social media plan, it’s critical that you take the time to understand Who they are and What they care about. A couple of great questions to think about:
• #11: -What is their background? Where do they work and what are their responsibilities? -What are their business goals and how can your products help them achieve their goals? What are their challenges and pain points? This is a great place to start-looking at how your product can alleviate their pain points…exploring how YOU can help THEM. -Where are they consuming content? What channels are they on? Really look to see if there are social channels where they do and don’t engage. -Lastly, look at what kind of content they are interacting with. Do they have an interest in a particular solution or product? Does a particular type of messaging will speak to them directly? And more broadly, what content topics are they interested in? This research definitely requires an initial investment, but it pays off throughout the customer lifecycle—not only for targeting your social media marketing campaigns, but across all of your marketing efforts.
• #12: Once you have a thorough understanding of who your audience is and where they’re consuming their content, it’s important to think strategically about messaging. Which leads me to the next biggest mistake:
• #14: Yes, social media can be used to get the word out about your solution and bring some recognition to your brand. However, buyers on social are discerning. They want high quality, educational content, not a sales pitch. Talking about nothing but your brand is boring. Start framing your thinking around your audience’s needs and interests. Really explore how you can provide value to them; otherwise, you’ll lose their attention and ultimately, the conversion. So how do you do that?
• #15: Keep in mind how your audience is using each channel Are they looking at photos on Instagram? Better have a highly visual ad. Are they on Twitter and therefore probably on a mobile devices? Make sure your post click experience is optimized for mobile. Stop and think about how you can Personalize the messaging for each channel, put the ‘social’ in social media Have 2-way conversations. What I’ll see a lot is the same ad creative, ad text, and landing page used across paid search, display, retargeting, social media, and email campaigns While this may be efficient from a time and resource point of view it’s leaving a lot on the table in terms of optimization Social channels are not created equal and your tactics really shouldn’t be “one size fits all” There are different mindsets, audiences, tolerance for ads, and device preferences on different channels You will get the best performance when you match your audience expectations on each channel Something else I often see …..
• #16: ….are brands posting Too Frequently or Not Enough. A great way to gauge how frequently to post is to take a look at your competitors. I’m always A/B testing with times, frequency, messaging, and images to determine what resonates best with the channel audiences. I’ve found a good measure for us is to post fairly frequently during the day on Twitter, 1-2 times on FB and LI, and minimally on Instagram. But I encourage you to test, test, test to see what resonates with your audience as they will most certainly differ!
• #17: Ok, let’s move onto the 4th mistake often see…
• #19: Not Listening. Like all good communication, social goes 2 ways. You need to always be listening. Customer support: Customers are more frequently seeking support on the channels they utilize the most, and that’s on social. We’ve seen a significant up-tick in customer support requests via Twitter and Facebook over the last year. In listening you can often see if repeat questions are being asked, and utilize the platform as a way to educate thousands of followers with one tweet! Cut down on emails, calls, and chats. We’ve found this to be especially useful during service outages, product releases, and events! Listen for feedback. User conversations can be eye opening. Really listen to what people say and figure out a way to incorporate feedback into your business/product roadmap. Customers will often provide insights into ways you can improve your products. And at the end of the day that’s who we are trying to please is it not? Networking/Influencer Engagement. When you’re listening, you’re able to jump in and offer your perspective on relevant conversations with influencers and customers. Engaging in ongoing conversations is a great way to connect and build relationships that could potentially lead to future collaborations. Customer service: Social can be used as a customer service tool that adds transparency and a real time response to your customers. Questions are often answered for all to see, leaving little room for brands to shrug off or ignore requests. This is a phenomenal way to turn a negative into a positive, so whatever you do, don’t Sweep Complaints Under the Rug, rather….
• #20: One of my favorite books that I refer to often is Jay Baer’s Hug Your Haters. He gives some great advice for dealing with complaints on social channels: First and foremost, always be listening so you can find mentions of potentially unhappy customers. IT’s impossible to offer a solution to a complaint you never see. Next, Offer an apology AND a solution:  Show empathy with a ‘We Hear You, Value you, and want to Make This Right Immediately!’ approach is important. A simple “I’m sorry goes a long way. It becomes your opportunity to turn a disgruntled customer into your brand’s evangelist!  This person (or people) obviously had some sense of loyalty to your brand if they’ve spent their money with you, “liked” your Facebook page, and/or followed you on Twitter.  Now, however, they’ve had an unpleasant experience and usually they just want to know that they’ve been listened to and that you (the people behind the brand) will make things right. Remember that online customer service really has become a spectator sport. If your customer chooses to interact with you in public, respond in the same way, at least at first. If you respond in private, your’re losing that chance to be open and transparent about the feedback. However, in some instances, when you’ve done all you can and person really just wants to complain, it’s best to just cut ties and stop responding. There’s no reason to continue conversing after you’ve acknowledged the complaint, tried to fix it, and offered a real solution. If they don’t want to take it, that’s out of your hands. Lastly, make an effort to take switch channels from public to private as quickly as you can. You’ll often need to get personal information like email, phone, account info in order to fully address the issues. So for issues that require research to resolve, your goal should be to switch to a private channel after your initial public response.
• #21: Ok, speaking of high visibility…let’s jump into mistake number 5.
• #23: I’m hoping all of you know the importance visuals play in marketing and telling brand stories. After all a picture really can say a thousand words. But, Did you know that researchers have found colored visuals increase people's willingness to read a piece of content by 80%? (Xerox) And That Visual content is more than 40x more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content—Buffer Twitter: Adding a photo can boost retweets by 35%. Facebook: Photos are the second most engaged type of content on Facebook, with 87% interaction rate. Facebook now sees 100 million hours of daily video watch time More than 250 billion photos have been uploaded to Facebook. This equates to 350 million photos per day Instagram Over 80 million photos are uploaded each day More than 40 billion photos have been shared so far When Instagram introduced videos, more than 5 million were shared in 24 hours LinkedIn:Socialpilot 98% posts with images get higher comment rate We really are on the forefront of video becoming the norm. It’s imperative we start incorporating video into our strategies moving forward. After all, The average video post generates 135% greater organic reach, when compared to photo posts—SocialBakers Facebook now sees 8 billion average daily video views from 500 million users Shoppers who view video are 1.81X more likely to purchase than non-viewers. including video on a landing page can increase conversion rates by 80% Some best practices to consider? Use Customer-Centric Titles Include Targeted Keywords in Description Use Social Sharing Let’s not stop at video, we really need to talk about livestreaming. Snapchat users watch 6 billion videos every day So what should you be considering? Livestreaming: Headlines. People join streams based on the headlines. What they see in that headline will determine whether or not it interests them. Consider your video headline just as important as your blog title. If you want to draw them in, answer why they should watch in your title. Keep your stream short and sweet. Try to make your video snackable by only streaming in 20-30 minute increments. This gives the audience time to see you’re actively steaming, but also keeps you from rambling on once the information has been delivered. You don’t have to choose just one! You can broadcast simultaneously via multiple devices. This allows you to hit different target audiences. Use a tripod and a microphone. Alright, now let’s take a look at the social media channels we utilize here at Marketo, explore some best practices overall, and take a deeper dive into what works for us!
• #24: Tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than tweets without images.  Buffer Facebook posts with images see 2.3X more engagement than those without images.   Buzz Sumo Instagram drives the most engagement per post compared to any social network–84 times more than Twitter, 54 times more than Pinterest and 10 times more than Facebook. Sprout LinkedIn posts with images receive 200% more engagement than text-only posts. Social Pilot The equivalent of 110 years of live video is watched on Periscope every day. Periscope  Snapchat users share 9,000 photos per second. Newscred The proof is in the pudding, so to speak. If you’re not using images as part of your social media strategy, you’re doing your brand a disservice. ….
• #25: Think relevant images…
• #26: Ok, let’s move on to mistake number 6…
• #28: It’s so easy, especially in social media, to be moving so fast you don’t stop to double check your work. Clarify priorities and be ok with saying no Don’t juggle too many balls at once Get as much messaging drafted as possible before high volume events/chats as possible Don’t spread yourself too thin. You don’t need to be on every channel. Think strategically about where you’ll get the biggest bang and concentrate on those channels. Don’t be too hard on yourself. We’re all human. We make mistakes.
• #29: Ok, onto mistake number 7….
• #31: Typical KPI’s and Basic Analytics should be top of mind for all social media marketers. How else are you going to know what’s working and what isn’t, and get yourself a seat at the revenue table? So let’s look at a few metrics that matter for us here at Marketo…
• #32: I’m always looking to map my goals to our business objectives– so different measurements support different objectives. For example, as I’m building awareness early in the customer lifecycle, I’ll be driving follower growth. Later, when I’ve engaged prospects, I’ll look closer at engagement metrics and ROI. These metrics can be found on the social network interfaces and with some digging on basic social media dashboard platforms. But to get a look at the metrics that really matter and to look at both First Touch AND Multi-Touch Attribution….
• #33: You’ll need to invest in a marketing automation platform. This allows you to map out, track, and score leads that come in through your social channels, as well as, revenue that’s driven as a result of your campaigns. I’m always looking to measure a ratio of Pipeline to spend and get a clear understanding of how content is driving results on each of the networks and advertising channels. I use Marketo, which allows me to really gain a clear picture of which channel is giving the best return on our investment. I want to note here, that I’m always testing because social ebbs and flows. So when something isn’t working, I need to be prepared to shift and try something new.
• #34: Which brings me to the last mistake…
• #36: New advancements in paid social and account-based marketing (ABM) have created a unique way for marketers to understand their audiences. Marketers can now serve up relevant messages at just the right time. Customization and personalization are becoming the norm, and it’s inevitable that platforms are evolving to allow its users more flexibility in how they want to tailor their content feeds. It’s important to remember that what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. Changes daily to platforms, just need to be able to go with the flow.