by Logan Taylor, Social Media Coordinator
Here are 8 things that people don’t tell you about social media marketing, but might be important to know.
- There are no shortcuts.
Growing your social following and engagement on the page requires research, analysis, and consistency. The only way to guarantee success is through the consistent application of a strong strategy.
- It can be very tedious work.
It’s far from simply throwing an image up and posting with a relatable caption online. It’s analyzing, adjusting, and re-configuring along with creating the posts, choosing an appropriate schedule, performing updates, advertising, and much, much more.
- A big or fast-growing following isn’t always a measure of success.
What's more valuable - 50,000 followers or 5,000 who actually engage with you, and will go on to become actual, paying customers? Success lies in many factors combined.
- A lot of time goes into engagement.
Social media is more than pretty pictures. With the number of users on social media today it is important to take time to engage with your audience.
- Not everything can be directly tracked.
There are best practices, strategies, and tactics out there but let’s face it, people change. They’re unpredictable. Everything is dependent on a range of factors, which are often completely different from brand to brand, retailer to retailer, or location to location. It’s not always linear, but you'll establish your own best practices as you go.
- Things change in a New York minute.
Beyond new platform updates, there are a lot of things that regularly change on the back end. Algorithms get updated, functionalities change, product offerings cease to exist, and much more.
- Your social media marketer will need creative help.
When working with an outside marketing agency, remember it is difficult for them to know what is or isn’t in your store. They will need your help by either taking or sending pictures so they can do what they do best - providing and executing a social marketing strategy that clearly defines your brand. Understand the limitations they have on their capacity and work together to achieve success.
- The industry is saturated.
There are businesses and individuals who claim they can “do social media” but really they’re just full of one-off tactics that can’t deliver consistent results. Social media is used by everyone, practically every day, so, it’s easy to assume that a frequent user will be a great social media marketer for your business. Remember, social media marketing is so much more than just posting a picture and matching it with a few hashtags - a serious social media marketing professional will offer a lot more than that.
Read more here.
