4 ways social media can do serious harm to your business

It’s 2015 and social media isn’t a buzzword anymore even though marketing on this medium might be new to many. It’s a medium that can be used for your business or personally for branding. With social media your personality, news, brand message and views should be reflected to enhance your performance.

This all sounds great, but unfortunately there are many people that still don’t understand this and it’s actually hurting them more than acting as a contributor to strengthen their overall marketing efforts.

If you are not using the correct headlines, images or even hashtags, it can actually do your brand more harm than good. If you are not posting new updates and content on a consistent bases, why should I engage with you? If you are not connecting directly with your target audience, is anyone actually listening to you? If you are not helping people with solutions and answers to queries and questions, are you really that helpful? If your social media profiles are ghost towns, what does this say about your business?

There are basically limitless opportunities that can be garnered on the social web to spark engagement for your brand to help you reach your business goals. Social media should not be working in a separate silo. It’s should be used to strengthen your overall marketing directives and showcase your thought leadership in your industry.

How can social media hurt your strategy?

1. No social presence

You are not using any social media channel at all. You don’t have a Twitter or Facebook account. You view Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube as a waste of time. You don’t understand how you can use LinkedIn and Google+ to your advantage. You believe social media is a buzzword and will pass. These are all massive mistakes and you are basically hurting yourself and your business.
If you are not taking advantage of being on the social web for your business, you are basically giving your competitors an edge and missing out on huge opportunities.

2. Your social media strategy is not in line with your business goals

You are on social media, but you aren’t actually socially involved. You have to take the time to create great content that you can share on your social media channels that alignes 100% with your business goals. The content you share should be aligned closely to your marketing and branding messages. Your presence on the social web should showcase that you are the leader in your industry. Every update you do via social media is a solid opportunity to strengthen your brand online. Use this to your advantage.

3. Not being social

Most of the time you don’t need a social media strategy, but need to be social and have a guideline of moving forward. You need to constantly engage with your target audience and seek out brand ambassadors that can help you share your message. You don’t have to create all the content yourself, but can curate interesting content that your followers will find interesting. Social media should be used to support your current marketing initiatives. Use the social media channels you are using to show everyone that you are human and that you are social online. The social web is the perfect spot for immediate reaction and recognition. Don’t communicate on it as a one way broadcasting system. Listen and constantly review what people are talking about online. Never ignore mentions, Tweets or comments that might spark an opportunity for you. Be social online.

4. Not focusing on original content

Social media great for curating content and there’s nothing wrong by only sharing valuable content, but to get the most out of it, create “magnetic content” that your followers will find valuable and share with their own social circles. The type of content you create should support your marketing and branding and can be in the form of videos, content, infographics, pod casts, images, etc.