There is no denying that people connect through social media. Aside from being a communication tool, businesses also use this platform to build brand awareness and boost sales.
Social media is a cost-effective way to promote your business when used correctly. That’s because it allows you to connect with your target market on a personal level. As a result, you can build a community around your brand.
And this community can help spread the word about your products or services.
Nonetheless, you should understand how social media marketing works. This includes debunking myths surrounding this platform.
1. It Is Not Measurable
Social media is highly measurable. You can track your URLs, your purchase funnel’s visibility, and a unified customer database.
With social media, you can go about it the same way you would with any other medium or platform.
Here are some tips:
- Outline what you wanted to get with social media marketing. What is it that you want to achieve?
- Know what your goals are. Ensure that they’re accessible.
- Measure your goals using various software and analytics.
- Assess your performance, and adjust your goals and expectations if necessary.
2. You Can Ignore Negative Reviews
Almost every brand gets a negative review here and there, even established brands.
However, on social media, these comments are often made public. Prospects will get to see all the negative things people will have to say about your business.
You might think that this is a bad thing. But think of it as an opportunity to turn a negative experience into a positive one since you have to respond to these comments.
So, rather than ignoring these negative comments, show your followers what type of customer care you can provide.
Handling negative reviews well will benefit you and your brand in the long run.
3. It Doesn’t Drive Revenue
This is one of the biggest social media myths out there. Your social media marketing efforts won’t be driving any revenue if you fail to use them properly.
But if you create a solid strategy, adapt your data, and stick with your plan, you’ll be generating leads and sales using social media.
According to Hubspot, 62% of companies that use LinkedIn have gotten their customers using the platform. It also found out that 52% of those companies were using Facebook, and 44% used Twitter to gain customers using these platforms.
Social media drives in leads and generates prospective customers. But this often doesn’t happen overnight, and you need to be consistent with your efforts.
There’s also an added benefit of increased awareness of your brand. That’s why we suggest that you work closely with a reputable social marketing company.
4. Social Media Is Unnecessary
Social media isn’t just another fad or trend. It’s here to stay.
Big or small, your company should be utilizing social media. After all, there is a growing number of tech-savvy clients and customers these days.
It’s also worth noting that even giant companies like Apple or Google took the time to build their social media presence. Eventually, this paid off because we’re all quite familiar with these brands.
So, take the hint from these big companies, and build a solid social media presence. As we said before, this will benefit you no matter what size your company is.
5. Paying Customers Is Always Better Than Followers
If you think that some of your followers who didn’t turn into buyers aren’t worth having, you fail to see the bigger picture.
Don’t underestimate the fact of having a large social media reach.
Even if your followers don’t purchase your product, they can still be helpful to your brand because:
- It means that you have access to your followers’ networks.
- If some of your followers are influencers, their clout will also transfer to your company via association.
- Social media engagement can impact your SEO efforts.
6. You Should Immediately Respond To Comments
It’s pretty apparent if followers or fans leave comments in your posts or stories, you should be responding to them. This is true, especially if you encourage people to do so.
However, the common misconception here is that you should immediately do so. Otherwise, you’ll be losing your fans and followers.
But this isn’t always the case. The trick here is answering back to them promptly.
If they leave a comment that doesn’t require any social media involvement, then you can wait for a little while before leaving a response.
However, ideally, it’s better that you respond to messages and comments within 24 hours.
7. You Should Set Up An Account On All Platform
Some business owners think that they need to be on every social media platform known to man. They believe that doing so can help maximize their online presence.
What they forget to consider is how to manage that many accounts. As a result, an entrepreneur spread himself too thin.
That’s why you need to set up a target demographic with your social media strategy.
To do that, you should pick the right platform tailored for your needs. You should also choose a platform wherein most of your target demographic is active. Another thing to consider is whether the content you produce will resonate with the users of the platform.
Ideally, you should choose at least two or three platforms that you’ll be focusing on. Doing so allows you to make better use of your time instead of running a million social media accounts.
8. You Can Post The Same Content On All Platforms
Every social media platform is different. That’s why it will always need a different strategy on your part.
Many social media users will come up with a single post and publish it across all their social media channels to save time.
But every platform almost always requires a different focus. Hence, it doesn’t make sense to copy and paste the same content across all your channels.
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t come up with similar posts. However, you should consider every platform’s format, and it should meet its requirements as well.
Be creative about how you can repurpose your existing content. Is it possible to turn a blog you’ve written into a Youtube video or vice versa? Can you get the data you’ve tweeted and turn it into an interesting infographic on Pinterest?
9. Social Media Marketing Is Free
This is often the most common social media myth. While, of course, it’s free to set up a social media account for your business, you need to invest to get your desired results.
Social media algorithms have also grown increasingly sophisticated.
Perhaps the only way you can be sure that your followers see your most important content is by boosting it. Social media marketing, if done correctly, will allow you to get your content in front of prospective customers.
However, you don’t have to spend a lot of money, unlike other forms of traditional advertising out there, to get the results you want.
Conclusion
Listed above are social media marketing myths that you should forget. That’s because these myths pose limiting beliefs, hindering you from growing your business through social media.
If you want to give social media marketing a spin, we suggest building your presence on one platform first and seeing how it goes.
Who knows? You might only need one platform to make your business grow.
