Most marketers agree that social media is a great way to promote your brand and engage with your customers and clients. But are you really using social media effectively in establishing your brand? Are your followers on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn really participating in your updates or discussions, or have your posts become hidden in obscurity in their newsfeeds? Instead of getting more likes in your brand’s page, are you actually getting unliked?
Though you’ve invested a lot in your social media strategy, is it really getting the response you wanted? If it’s not, then you seriously need to rethink what you’ve been doing. You may be guilty of doing things that your followers are not appreciating, and may even be the cause of them “unliking” you.
Here are some things you should avoid doing in social media platforms, or people may start “unliking” you.
Though you’ve invested a lot in your social media strategy, is it really getting the response you wanted? If it’s not, then you seriously need to rethink what you’ve been doing. You may be guilty of doing things that your followers are not appreciating, and may even be the cause of them “unliking” you.
Here are some things you should avoid doing in social media platforms, or people may start “unliking” you.
- Updating too frequently
According to a report released by ExactTarget, the number one reason why people “unlike” brands on Facebook is because of too frequent updates. Though you may think that being active is a good way to promote your brand, becoming too active will only clutter up your fans’ newsfeeds, so they’ll start removing your posts from their updates, hiding them or unliking your page.
But what exactly is updating too frequently? Some say that anything exceeding one post a day is already too much. Some recommend that posting once every other day is the best way to promote your brand without annoying your fans. So do your brand and your audience a favor – don’t post too frequently; instead, make your updates count.
- Offering boring, repetitive content
Though you may think that repetition is the key to being remembered, most people find repetitive content boring. And that’s why if you want to use social media effectively, make sure to provide new, interesting and relevant content.
The problem with most brand campaigns is the fact that they start out great but eventually end up repeating themselves over time. So always try to put a new perspective to your brand. Be dynamic – a successful brand evolves over time; it does not remain stagnant.
- Making conversations one-sided
The great thing about social media is that it helps you engage with your customers in two-way conversations. And this is why you can’t use social media merely to promote your brand or sell your products or services. People follow or like your page because they are interested in interacting with your brand, so this means the conversation needs to be both ways.
If you ignore your fans and followers and make the conversation merely one-sided from your part, you’re basically ruining your audience’s experience of your brand. So make sure to interact with your audience most of the time. Leave only a small portion – 10 to 20% of your time – for promotions.
- Not addressing problems
Most brands aren’t perfect, and they get their share of problems and complaints in addition to the good feedback. Since social media is easy, quick and instant, some brands have also strategically used these platforms for customer support. After all, some people seem to enjoy posting their complaints directly on a brand or company’s social media page.
If there are any problems or complaints about your brand, make sure to use social media to acknowledge and address these. If you don’t, people will start thinking that you simply don’t care, or are ignoring the problem.
You don’t want your customers to get the wrong idea about your products or services, so always address problems or complaints immediately.
Remember these helpful tips so that you don’t get hidden in your fans’ or followers’ newsfeeds. Social media is an excellent way to spread the word about your brand, but it needs to be used wisely and effectively. So for the sake of your brand, avoid being hidden (or on Google+ being muted) - out of site is out of mind!