3 Social Media Myths Explained By The Experts
There’s so much hearsay and gossip about social media floating around that it can become quite difficult to make sense of it all. That’s why PurpleFruit are here to give you a helping hand in sorting the useful myths (that can be applied to a solid marketing business strategy) from the tall tales.
Here are 3 social media myths worth knowing about:
#1 Your brand NEEDS to be on Twitter.
Okay, firstly we have to agree that your brand should be showing its face and be taking advantage of the potential marketing opportunities on Twitter. But, your brand should be making an appearance on other social media platforms too, such as, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram etc. etc… If you come across a social media guru who claims that your business should be on a particular social network, ask them this…
Are you talking about my brand or my competitors?
Who engages with this platform and how do they do it?
What can my business hope to achieve by participating in this?
What goals should be achieved in order to be successful?
How much time does our business need to invest to reach its goals?
Depending on your aspirations, the way you utilize social media platforms will vary. Connecting with influencers will require an influential and active approach, whilst responding to customers will require a knowledgeable reactive approach.
#2 You can’t measure Social Media
WRONG: Social media is completely measurable, there are so many metrics out there display detailed figures and information that could seriously overwhelm you.
With all this information of overwhelming metrics, it’s important you learn the two types of metrics which are, quantitative and qualitative.
Quantitative – these are metrics that you can count such as engagement, reached and click-through rates.
Qualitative – these metrics will include sentiment and influence.
Follower count is extremely important because obviously this will give you a clear indication on the levels of engagement you are likely to make and the number of people you will reach. However, remember that quality over quantity conquers every time; you’re better off having 1,000 engaging followers than 100,000 who don’t engage at all.
Engagement includes active responses such as shares, retweets, comments, likes, favourites etc. etc…
If you’re new to social marketing media then you will probably be unsure on what goals are suitable for your business – don’t worry everyone has to start from somewhere, but try to grasp a basic understanding of how the platform can really inject life into your business and campaign before becoming active.
#3 My target audience doesn’t use social media
According to statistics, the worldwide population are incredibly social!
Did you know that there are 7.1 billion people on the planet and 6.6 billion mobile subscribers? 85 percent people in the world have internet access and the rate of growth for mobile is 530+ Million (5% year over year).
To say that your audience isn’t socially active on the net is just an excuse. They are there! Find them! Reach out to them and get your brand in their face!
In any social media account creation, PurpleFruit always ask ourselves these 3 important questions with the brand in mind:
– What are you looking to achieve?
– How are you going to achieve them?
– Who is your target market?
These simple three questions are key to marketing planning and will help you to keep on track when working to reach and exceed your business goals.
If you need any help or advice on how to get started on social media then please get in touch. If you’re looking for a little more than some advice, we have a large range of social media packages from account set up to full social media management to ensure we have the right package to suit your business.