Social media can help your marketing and relationship building, but it’s not a magic solution.
It has to be used strategically and with realistic expectations about what it can and cannot accomplish.
If you want to be successful on social media, you need to be prepared to put in the work every day. This means creating interesting and engaging content, as well as interacting with your followers on a regular basis.
Too often, I am contacted by companies that are planning an event or launching a product/service in the next 30+ days. They are in a panic and have decided that social media will help to promote their event or sell their product/service. This often happens before they have gained a loyal following on social media.
You can only establish a community of people who know, like, and trust you. You can’t just get this overnight. You need to have put in the work for a long time to get it.
When used correctly, social media can generate a consistent stream of leads and sales.
However, if your brand or business starts out with unrealistic expectations, your company can lose faith in the power of social media. This is especially true if those expectations are not realized.
Without faith, social media is seen as less important, or even unimportant. This is a mistake because social media is not a magic solution, but rather something that requires effort to be successful.
It’s likely that much of what people believe about social media is wrong. It is time to debunk the many social media myths.
13 Social Media Myths
1. I need to be on every social media platform
Many brands and businesses believe they need to have a presence on as many social media platforms as possible in order to reach the widest audience.
Sadly, many “social media experts” even proclaim this. I was recently at an event where one such expert was speaking. He told the audience that they NEED to be on Snapchat. I disagree with him and don’t think that it’s necessary.
It’s not necessary for your business to be present on every social media platform to be successful.
There are several reasons why this is neither true nor wise.
If your ideal clients aren’t using a particular social media platform, you’ll be wasting your time using it. If you want to reach your target audience, you should use the same platforms they do. For example, Snapchat is popular among young people, so it would be a good choice if your target audience is young.
Social media can help you connect with and build relationships with people who may be interested in your products or services. This can be beneficial if you are trying to reach a specific target market. Why would you want to spend time and effort on a platform where your community isn’t active or doesn’t exist at all?
It’s important to only use as many social media platforms as you can manage effectively. If you try to maintain too many social media platforms, you might not be able to effectively manage them all and build relationships. This could limit the results you see from using any given platform.
To do social media well, you need to spend time creating high-quality content and also interacting with your followers. If you neglect to respond to comments, questions, and engagement, you will do more damage in the long run.
Some brands mistakenly believe that they need to pursue every new trend.
You do not need to be an early adopter on every new social media platform. This is because many businesses lack the resources or skills needed to be successful early adopters on new social media platforms. They shouldn’t try to be early adopters unless they’re sure they can handle it. Adopting a “wait and see attitude” can help prevent you from wasting time.
Savvy early adopters are able to easily master new platforms, as well as have the time and resources to invest in platforms that may not be around for long. Many new platforms never gain mainstream adoption and some, like the live streaming platform Blab, disappear entirely.
2. I can publish the same post on all my social media platforms
Many brands and businesses will create a single social media post and push it out to all of their social media platforms in an effort to save time.
Reality: Each of the social media platforms are different. They have different requirements, different focuses and different users.
If businesses want to be successful on social media, they need to understand the differences between platforms and use them to their advantage.
For example, LinkedIn is a professional platform. One of the best places to find potential clients for B2B (Business to Business) businesses is on this platform. B2B businesses should post content that appeals to this group in order to attract them.
If businesses want to be successful on Instagram, they should create graphics and images that emotionally connect with their audience. This is because Instagram is heavily used by the Millennial generation.
3. My customers aren’t on social media.
Nearly half of the world’s population is using social media platforms to connect with each other. Social platforms are popular because they provide a way for people to connect with others who share similar interests. While people connect with family and friends on sites like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, professionals network on LinkedIn.
There is a high probability that there is a social media platform with an audience that will be interested in your brand.
4. Pinterest is only for B2C organizations.
Pinterest is a great way for B2C (Business to Consumer) marketers to reach potential customers. However, when someone states that a channel is only for B2C, I view it as a challenge to prove that it can be used for B2B marketing as well.
One of my colleagues has written a guide on how to use Pinterest for business purposes, which is something I feel strongly about as well. There are also great examples of B2B companies using Pinterest from brands like GE, Microsoft, and Econsultancy.
5. You should only try to get fans and followers that will become customers.
Don’t just focus on the quality of your content, also focus on how many people it will reach. Remember some of these points next time you bemoan acquiring a fan or follower that lives outside of your sales territory or target demographic:
- More fans and followers means you’re gaining access to their fans and followers.
- If they’re an influencer, their clout transfers to you by association.
- When they share your content, your SEO improves.
- They may still refer business your way.
It’s a good idea to identify a specific, high-converting audience to target on social media. However, nearly every fan or follower is a good fan or follower.
6. You should only schedule posts during the workweek.
You can launch social media ads on weekends ahead of time, which might be a good idea depending on your audience.
You’ll need to identify when your audience is most active on social media platforms. Most social media platforms have high engagement rates during the weekends and evenings as well as during the middle of the week.
7. You’ll have amazing social media engagement if you ask your friends and family to “Like” every post.
You can’t just have your mom and uncle “like” every post you put up on Facebook. Although it might feel like the posts you see that your friends or family members like are much more common, Facebook and other social media algorithms are a bit more sophisticated than that when it comes to determining which posts get seen.
To get your content to appear more frequently in social media users’ news feeds, you’ll need to have a variety of people interacting with your content. The more people that interact with your content, the more likely it is to appear in users’ news feeds.
It is more effective to encourage your followers to like, comment, or share your posts than just to encourage your friends or family members to like or heart your posts. This will encourage further discussion and spread your brand awareness.
8. Social media marketing tactics don’t drive bottom-line results.
Building on the last myth, you can create value on social media beyond “engagement” and “brand equity.” Social media drives leads and customers, period.
Don’t believe me? Here are a few stats you should know:
- 34% of consumers use social media to learn about brands and their products and services.
- Facebook ads are used by 70% of marketers, and there were 10 million active advertisers on the platform in Q3 2021.
- 83% of people use Instagram to discover new products and services and 87% said they took a specific action, like making a purchase, after seeing product information.
- 64% of buyers would rather send a brand a message on social media than call for customer service.
- 43% of Gen Z consumers have made a native purchase from a social media platform.
- 75% of Millennials say social media helps them engage with companies and brands.
- 79% of people say that user-generated content on social media significantly impacts their purchasing decisions.
In conclusion, social media is a good way to increase sales, especially if you use advertising or marketing strategies like influencer marketing.
9. It looks tacky to seem relatable as a brand on social media.
The content you publish on social media should always keep your target audience in mind, but that doesn’t mean you can’t also publish content that shows your brand’s personality. Or, frankly, even your community manager’s personality.
Consider adding some personal touches to your company’s page by including a sense of humor, pictures of employees, and links to external content that you find interesting, regardless of whether it is directly related to your business.
10. Hashtags are essential for every post.
The purpose of hashtags is to unite various conversation topics. While hashtags for events, like webinars or trade shows, can be useful, don’t stress if it doesn’t become a trending topic. If your goal is to simply be more user-friendly, then hashtags are a great way to do that. However, if you’re looking for something that will make all your marketing dreams come true, it’s not going to be as effective.
11. Social media monitoring takes forever.
In order to effectively monitor your social media, you need to be constantly refreshing your page and checking for new updates. This can be a very time-consuming and difficult task, especially if you are trying to keep up with multiple social networks at once.
If you want to be diligent about monitoring your social media accounts, you can use software that will notify you whenever certain terms are mentioned. Then, you can check back in every hour or two to see if there is anything you need to respond to, or if there is anyone you need to follow back.
The second task will take you a total of 30 minutes a day. No big deal. Everybody breathe. Everything’s gonna be alright.
12. Social media managers should be new graduates or have years of experience.
This isn’t just a myth. This theory is outdated and should be abandoned.
The ability to do social media marketing, or any job, has nothing to do with age. You can learn the tools and strategies at any age, and make mistakes at any age, too.
When trying to determine who to hire as your social media manager, look for a candidate who is both creative and analytical. This will allow them to manage your social media presence effectively.
13. Newer platforms, like Snapchat and TikTok, aren’t worth taking seriously.
Both Snapchat and TikTok are mobile social media apps that are popular among millennials and Gen Z due to their unique platforms. While Snapchat is known for content that only lasts a short time, AR filters, and Bitmoji features, TikTok is known for videos that are 10 to 60 seconds long and are similar to Vines.
Even though platforms like this feature users’ content that may seem strange, it doesn’t mean that brands can’t benefit from using them in terms of gaining credibility and awareness.
A lot of brands have made profiles or ads for TikTok. Most people would be surprised to learn that The Washington Post has a TikTok strategy. The publication is very formal on social media platforms, but uses TikTok to show the funnier side of working in a newsroom.
Some bigger businesses have started to pay for advertisements or create longer Stories on Snapchat Discover.
You should take any popular social media platform seriously. You should only spend time and money on platforms that best match your audience and your goals.
Navigating Social Media Marketing
Now that you are aware of the myths and inaccurate information regarding social media, you can begin to focus on the effective, research-based tactics that will make your brand successful on a particular network.
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