4 Common Social Media Misconceptions: Busted!

News

Social media is a part of digital marketing that is constantly updating and evolving, and with so many resources and opinions out there it can be difficult to know the ‘dos and don’ts’ of all the different platforms. As a result, there are all manner of misconceptions online that can make things a bit confusing, especially when you’re just starting out.

To help you on your way we’re busting some of the most common social media misconceptions we’ve come across to make sure you can make the most of your online activity.

Brands have more influence than people

It might seem pretty straightforward that a business page with hundreds of followers would have more pull online compared to a personal profile, but this isn’t actually always the case. Particularly on LinkedIn, the personal connections made by your employees and partners can have an incredibly large influence when it comes to increasing engagement and reach.

Encouraging your employees to share and comment on the posts on your company page will help get your content onto even more people’s news feeds, which in turn increases the likelihood of bringing in new followers and potential paying customers. What’s more, many of the people connected with senior figures within your company will be doing so to make the most of their industry knowledge, so by sharing content they can add their own insights and show off the expertise within your business.

Followers are the best measurement of success

It’s always great to see that your followers have increased every time you go onto your profile, but a large follower count doesn’t always mean that your social media marketing efforts have been successful. Ultimately, the way to best measure success on social media will be different for every single business, depending on their specific goals.

If you’re a new business that is simply wanting to increase your brand awareness and reach, then metrics like followers and impressions likely will be the benchmark for your success. But if you’re wanting to use your social profiles to create connections with customers or increase sales, you’ll want to focus on metrics such as engagement rate and click-through rate. This is why it’s so important to not compare your social activity to your competitors’, as you may not be working towards the same objectives.

Social media is all about sales

While social media is an amazing platform for increasing your customer base and therefore your sales, it’s important that you don’t forget about the social aspect of it all. Through comments, polls, direct messages or groups, social media is the perfect place for creating direct connections with both existing and potential customers, allowing you to find out more about them and vice versa.

Some of the most successful content out there focuses more on company culture, updates, or news instead of products or services, especially for B2B businesses. Any charity efforts, award nominations or events you attend make for perfect social media material that will help to showcase your industry expertise, trustworthiness and corporate responsibility, which could ultimately encourage someone to choose your business over a competitor.

Content can only be used once

It can be disappointing to see that content hasn’t performed as well as you were hoping after putting a lot of time and effort into it, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be shared again. By utilising the analytics on each platform, you can gain an understanding of why it may not have received as much attention as expected; Was it the day you posted? The time of day? Was it shared on the same day as another post that announced some big news? Was the link not prominent in the post? This information can help you tailor future posts to achieve better results for the same content.

 

If you still have questions about your business’s social media presence or just aren’t sure where to start, the team at Verto are here to help. Get in touch to arrange a consultation, or sign up for our free social media webinar, hosted live by two of our in-house specialists, where we’ll go through the basics of all things social, from the platforms you should be using, to the ways you can track your analytics.

Got any questions about search engine optimisation too? We’ve busted some SEO myths as well to ensure you are on the right track with your website.

More News

Video

Welcome to Verto

News

Social Media Trends For 2024