Business Marketing: 4 Outdated Habits You’re Doing On Social Media
Failing to utilize social media for business marketing can pose a huge disservice. After all, the rise of social media has transformed how businesses communicate – providing a platform not only for promotion, but also for creating meaningful interactions with clients.
Still, the rapid pace of the ever-changing social media landscape can feel overwhelming. With new platforms and shifting algorithms, many folks cling to outdated social media habits that no longer resonate with today’s savvy consumers.
As technology and user behaviors shift, business marketing strategies must adapt. It’s crucial to keep up with the times, as outdated habits can actually hinder a business’s ability to utilize social media effectively. To remain competitive, ditch these five outdated habits you’re doing on social media. It’s time to ensure that your social media efforts align so that you can deliver meaningful results.
1. Showing up on every single social media platform.
Pexels
The more social media platforms you’re marketing your business on, the better. Right? Unfortunately, that’s an outdated social media tactic. According to Amanda Erzinger, marketing manager of Halcon Marketing, a woman and minority-owned, full-service marketing agency, specializing in branding and social media marketing, it is both impossible and ineffective to be active on every social media platform.
Erzinger urged that every platform caters to distinct demographics and user behaviors, so it’s important to find the right social media platforms to attract your target audience. Focus on understanding your target audience and choosing one or two platforms that align with your business marketing objectives. By honing in on the most effective channels, you can tailor content to better engage with your audience.
2. Buying followers to boost your metrics.
Ah, vanity metrics on social media. There’s nothing more exciting than gaining new followers or getting a lot of likes on a post, But, these are best served organically – not bought. While it’s nice to see a hefty number of followers, purchasing them will do little to foster genuine engagement, build a loyal community, or result in any sales for your business, according to experts.
Through their research, IMAI, a platform that helps brands discover influencers and measure campaign success, found that 1 in 4 Instagram influencers purchased 15% of their total followers. Plus, every 3 in 4 influencers purchased over 10,000 followers – so businesses certainly aren’t the only ones buying followers.
However, these inflated follower counts create misleading impressions of a brand or individual’s reach and influence, failing to deliver any real value. According to Forbes, social media algorithms are designed to prioritize authentic engagement, and a high ratio of fake followers can negatively impact engagement rates.
3. Overselling your product or services to your followers.
Social media is for marketing your business…sort of. Once upon a time, you could get away with strictly promoting what you’re selling. Today, this is a completely outdated social media habit.
According to Tina Hay, CEO and founder of Puzzle Media, a digital and social media marketing agency, bombarding your followers with sales pitches and self-promoting messages will quickly lose their interest. The priority should be on putting the ‘social’ back in ‘social media’. Meaning, you need to put in work to build a relationship with your followers.
Focus on building trust and having a conversation with your followers. Hay encourages switching up your content from strictly selling to a colorful combination of educational, relatable, and entertaining content.
“Creating useful content that encourages people to comment and share with their network will help grow your reach and spread your message further,” Hay added.
4. Posting photos only to your feed.
According to GWI, the number of Instagram users utilizing Reels has grown by over 50% in the past three years. Between TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, video content has skyrocketed to popularity on social media. So, why are you still only posting photos to your feed?
Posting video content on social media has proven to be significantly more engaging than static images. G2 reported that videos on social media get shared 12 times more than text and images combined. Video content allows businesses to showcase their products, services, and brand personality in a more dynamic way. Plus, video content allows brands to be discovered more organically than photos.
