10 Myths About Social Media Marketing

Remember the time when you believed in Santa Claus until one day you were given a reality check (much to your reluctance!) that the good old native of the North Pole is simply a figment of someone’s fertile imagination. Maybe it’s time you need the same reality-check regarding your social media practices.

We can unanimously agree that social media holds tremendous potential when it comes to establishing the credibility of your business and reaching out to the masses, business owners and marketers, but, often we fall prey some common myths that do nothing to propel the growth of their businesses.

Now let’s get debunking some such myths and become familiar with the facts surrounding social media that will be advantageous for your future marketing endeavours.

Myth #1: Your Brand Should Be Omnipresent Across All Social Media Platforms

Fact: Focusing on a particular social media channel depending on your target audience works even better

Just because there are plenty of social media platforms, it doesn’t mean your business has to have an active presence in all of them. While you should be open about exploring every social media platform to understand how your brand is perceived, by creating a page in all of those websites. But you would discover that some of them aren’t offering the results you'd hoped for.

That’s why the marketers often use the relevant data on the marketing campaigns conducted on the social media channels to understand what works best for the business. So if a particular social media website hasn’t worked for your business, don’t waste your time on it.

Myth #2: Social Media Will Always Get You the Desired Results Quickly

Fact: It takes time and considerable efforts to ensure the visibility of your brand

If trust, respect and loyalty are the virtues you aim to achieve through your social media marketing efforts, then you must invest time and maintain a certain consistency. It’s likely that your social media endeavours will not bring any remarkable results overnight. You will need to have proper strategies in place to reach out to your potential customers.

And with continuous efforts, you will gradually be able to win over the trust and loyalty of your customers who will be more than willing to put their faith on your brand.

Myth #3: Social Media Isn’t Potent Enough To Generate Leads

Fact: With proper use, social media can be a blessing for lead generation.

There’s a very good reason why it’s called ‘social’ media. The whole point of using such platform is to interact with the potential consumers. Encouraging discussion about your brand on these platforms is how you build awareness and a certain curiosity.

The adage ‘you reap what you sow’ is perfect to describe how actively engaging in conversations with your intended audience will assist you to generate more leads for your business. So even if you can’t afford to spend much on social media campaigns, the only significant investment you need to make is providing adequate time.

You can use various tools and websites, which will take care of audience engagement by scheduling tweets when you are not available to post them yourself.

Myth #4: Adding A Hashtag For Every Second Word Or Phrase

Fact: While hashtags are crucial, but it has to be relevant to your business as well

We agree that hashtags have a crucial role in making your brand visible on the virtual platform, but overdoing it is a strict no-no. Hashtags are almost similar to the keywords for your content and essential to ensure that you’re reaching out to the right kind of audience or to interact with the new ones. But there isn't a bigger faux pas than stuffing irrelevant hashtags into a post for the sake of engagement and visibility.

There are websites to determine which hashtags you can use in your posts to increase the audience engagement. Also, social media platforms come with trending hashtags which you can use for your campaigns. For instance, if your business delves into online tutoring for students, adding the hashtag assignmenthelp will be relevant to include.

Myth #5: The Negative Comments Aren’t Worth Your Time

Fact: You should always entertain constructive criticism

It’s possible for anyone to have grievances or issues with your brand which they may point out explicitly through social media, but that doesn’t mean you completely disregard them. Being responsive to all kinds of feedback gives the impression that you care for the people who are availing your services. Check what the issue is, and try your best to solve the problem or at the very least respond quickly to take control of the situation.

 Addressing every feedback can help your customers to take you seriously, and they will appreciate your efforts as well.

Myth #6: You Don’t Need To Hire A Professional To Manage Your Social Media Activity

Fact: Social media management is a complex element for any business, which demands expert’s intervention

Most of us wouldn’t go without consulting an expert for fixing a defective air-conditioner or a fridge, but they would happily let inexperienced and amateur people take on the responsibility of managing the social media account.

Social media metrics and management are integral to the process of marketing and development of a business image, that’s why hiring an expert with sufficient experience is always recommended. An expert can help you to establish your brand awareness, trust, authority among the new and potential consumers.

Myth #7: Having Thousands Of Followers On Social Media Platforms Will Be Beneficial For Your Business

Fact: Only having many followers on social media isn’t the parameter for success

Getting thousands of followers on your social media alone will be of no use if you don’t know how to engage them. Moreover, the virtual space is crawling with users, so it has become extremely difficult to distinguish the genuine followers from the fake ones. 

In this case, you must remember that Rome was not built in a day, and the same can be said about your brand’s social media presence. Creating and maintaining a solid follower base demands considerable time, thorough understanding and efficiency. 

Myth #8: You Can Use The Same Type Of Content On Multiple Platforms

Fact: Every social media channel works differently, and you should have different approaches to deal with each one of them

In an attempt to save time, often business owners present the same post for every social media channel. But the fact is every social media platform requires distinctive strategy regarding what should be posted on it. Don’t just post the same content on each platform.

However that doesn’t necessarily mean that you cannot post similar kind of content on every social media platform,?just make sure you present content according to the requirements of the particular platforms.

Myth #9: You Can Post On Social Media Platforms At Any Point In Time

Fact: There are particular times to share an update on social media.

Not many people are familiar with this but there are specific times when posting an update on social media is likely to drive more traffic, engagement, and followers. According to various studies, the best time of the week to publish your content on Facebook is during any weekdays, specifically Thursdays or Fridays, when the engagement is at its highest. Learning about these simple aspects will help you to organize your social media posts in a much better way

Myth #10: Social Media Is Just Another Tool To Increase Sales

Fact: Being excessively promotional on social media does nothing to engage people

If you think social media sites are only for making an enticing sales pitch, just pause for a moment think about what you use it for. You don’t log in to the social media sites to only look at advertisements. You check the sites to socialize and read intriguing content. So the same thing applies to every other social media user as well. When the audience finds something interesting enough, they’ll be drawn to it automatically. So stuffing your social media pages with promotional posts isn’t going to help your case. 

Now that you have gained quite a few insights on the social media dynamics, you can use them to your business’ advantage.