Top 7 B2B Social Media Mistakes To Avoid

One of the greatest things that ever happened to the marketing world was the arrival of social media. People can now become famous overnight without any professional help, news stories from secluded corners of the world can spread like wildfire and little-known politicians can share their views and gain an unprecedented following without ever reaching a national stage. Social media’s effects on the business world can be equally astounding… or not. While this outlet has the ability to grow your business faster than almost anything else can, you have to know how to use it correctly. There are several things that you should NOT do when it comes to social media marketing. Here are just a few of them.

1. Separating Social Media and SEO

If you’re funding an SEO campaign (as you should be) and you’re building a social media presence, it makes absolutely no sense to keep the two separate. Ryan Kahn, founder of The Hired Group, said, “Content is fire, social media is gasoline.” Do you have a great guide on window styles for your next bathroom remodel? Tweet about it! Or maybe you’ve detailed the fastest way to organize your computer files? Let the world know! Keeping great information and content to yourself not only hurts the people who could benefit from it – it hurts you. Your company can not only gain social followers and name recognition, but also drive product sales.

2. Being Afraid to be Live

We get it, you live through a screen. Backspace and spellcheck are your friends. The thought of spurting out content in person may be intimidating when you’re completely comfortable using the written word. This common fear is justified, but can definitely be holding you back from growth you could be experiencing.

There are many ways to spread content that go beyond basic blog posts. Certain media sites have new capabilities in live technology. You can now create live videos and tweets to share with your followers. There are so many ways to use this to your maximum advantage:

• Do a live video to answer questions from your followers
• Show how to use a product live and allow customers to interact while you’re doing it
• Live tweet business and social events
• Compare your product against a competing model to show how yours is superior

Whether you choose to do a live video or post pre-recorded clips of your content, embracing new features on social media sites is a must in the ever-advancing online world.

3. Neglecting the Social Presence

So you created a social profile, posted a few links and clips, gained a following and now nothing is happening. Why is that? For starters, your page needs to be constantly updated and refreshed. Potential clients who find your profile through a google search are going to be very disappointed if they see that a post hasn’t been made in weeks and the latest information is for a sale that happened months ago. An active social presence can reassure customers about how responsive you are, how actively involved you are in the company and create a positive image in general.

The lifespan of anything posted on social media is limited. Even if users like and share your post or tweet, it’s likely to become old news in a short amount of time. There is always something new coming out, so you have to constantly post content. This can seem overwhelming, but there are several things you can do to make the task more manageable.

• Refresh old pieces: Take a great post and tweak a few things to make it like new. Maybe all you need to do is bring it up to speed with current events or updated information. A new title or updated images can also be enough. You can expound more on one section or cut out less-pertinent parts.
• Reuse great content: One great thing about social media is that you can gain new followers all the time, meaning those viewers haven’t seen many of your past posts. If you have a piece that inspired lots of comments and reactions, post it regularly to attract new clients. Obviously you don’t want to seem redundant to your followers, but posting it every couple of months shouldn’t be a problem.
• Recycle it into something new: Some pieces lend themselves easily to recycling. If you created a great video, you can clip scenes and make a blog post or Slideshare with it. You can also use infographics you’ve designed to make short clips. A lengthy blog post can also be divided into short sections, giving you several different posts to share in the future. The same goes for an e-book, which can be time-consuming to create, but once it’s finished gives you the opportunity to use several segments for blog posts and recycle it in other ways to get as much use out of it as possible.

If constantly creating products to share on your social space seems overwhelming, feel free to delegate the job. Content marketing agencies can not only deliver polished articles for your site’s blog, but also tweets, image captions and short posts, making it possible to keep your name constantly appearing in your follower’s newsfeed.

4. Making Boring Headlines

One of the best ways to ensure that nobody looks at your blog posts is to give them boring headlines. While some people might click on “Bathroom Storage,” you will likely get a lot more clicks with “Top 10 Hacks for an Organized Bathroom Storage Space” or “Creating a Glamorous Space Under Your Counter.” There are so many different tips to keep in mind when creating titles, but here are a few:

• Keep it short, no more than 120-130 characters on Twitter
• Condense, condense, condense
• Allow alliteration (“Challenging Chore Charts for Children”)
• Be accurate
• Include a keyword if possible

Sometimes the title is the only thing your viewers will see, so making a good first impression is key to boosting your clicks. Here is a great blog post that goes into more depth on how to create catchy titles that draw readers in.

5. Failing to Use Images

When users are scrolling through their newsfeed, the first thing that will catch their eye is not going to be words, but pictures. Not only do you need to use images, but they need to be awesome. You can use your own team to create these images or you can use stock photos, but just be sure that each one is visually appealing. One smart course of action is to hire a team to create a library of images that you can select from for use now as well as for future posts.

6. Focusing on the Wrong Platform

You’ve narrowed your target market, but deciding where that group of people spends their social hours can be more difficult. You may be posting three pictures a day on Instagram while your customers are tweeting it up elsewhere. Stop and take a moment to really get to know your target audience and determine where you should put your resources and energy. Some ways of doing this include sending out surveys to your customers to see which mediums they prefer and polling your current followers to find out which other sites they visit regularly. A good place to start is Facebook, which boasts over 1.65 billion users who visit at least once per month and just over 1 billion who visit every day. There are several other sites to consider as well, including:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Snapchat
• Reddit

These are just a few of the many options available for users and businesses to explore.

7. Leaving it to Chance

After you’ve put so much energy into your social media campaign, you’ll want it to be in front of as many eyes as possible, but how does that happen? There are several ways to push your profile from inexistence to front-and-center.

• Encourage employees: You know who has friends? Your employees! At least we hope so, but even if they only have a few, you can offer incentives for sharing your company profile.
• Host contests: Giveaways are one of the best ways to encourage followers to share your page. You can also offer a discount if your page reaches a certain number of followers to encourage people to share with their friends.
• Discounts: One group of people that you definitely want to be following you is your current subscribers. Make that happen by offering a discount on products and services if they follow your social media page.

Whether you’ve just decided to launch a social media campaign or you’re looking for ways to make your current strategy better, applying these tips can make a big difference. As the modern marketing world continues to blend heavily with the social media field, combining the two can lead to more followers, more visitors and more sales.