Social media is an important tool for lead generation and affiliate marketing programs. While these networks can help your brand connect with a wider audience or reach more qualified prospects, it’s important to avoid any significant missteps with these platforms. Here are some crucial errors that you need to prevent:
1. Taking advantage of inappropriate news events
While some real-life events can be used to express a viral brand message like Oreo’s tweet about the power outage at the 2013 Super Bowl, not everything is fair game on social media. Some brands found themselves in hot water this year after putting a promotional spin on inappropriate events, according to Tech Republic. The same goes for getting involved in trending hashtags without researching them first. It’s crucial to think about how something may be interpreted by others before posting to avoid reputational hazards.
2. Being too self promotional
This is an especially important lesson in the business-to-business community. Leads don’t want to see too many post about how great a brand is. While you should share any earned press coverage and promote events, social media should be a combination of highlighting relevant industry news and promotional posts.
3. Not using enough visuals
Social media is an increasingly visual platform, especially with tools like Twitter’s lead generation cards. Videos and images measurably boost audience engagement, but only 53 percent of Facebook posts and less than 15 percent of tweets include visuals, Marketing Pilgrim reported. While it can be tricky to find the perfect image that is on message, it can lead to more interactions. Photos used to be unique on Twitter, but many brands use them now, so you need to implement unique, visually appealing images to stand out.
4. Ignoring LinkedIn
This is another critical mistake for B2B marketers. Because of its professional emphasis, LinkedIn is one of the best ways for people in the B2B sector to connect. LinkedIn can give B2B marketers an audience of more than 30,000. It’s harder to command attention for a niche product on networks like Facebook and Twitter, although these platforms should not be overlooked. However, many marketers only post to LinkedIn an average of three times per month.
While social media is one of the most important modern marketing tools, it’s important to use it correctly to maximize your impact.