The Best Social Media Marketing Avoids These Mistakes

Social media marketing is a HUGE part of acquiring new customers and inspiring customer loyalty. But 52% of consumers are exhausted by self-promotional social content, according to a report by Hootsuite. It’s time your client learned how to craft the best social media marketing they can.

In order to create the best social media marketing, Hootsuite recommends avoiding common pitfalls.

Clickbait

The best way to get your client unfollowed, hidden or even publicly shamed on social media is by posting clickbait. You know, headlines that promise something and ultimately fail to deliver. Like promising the secret to weight loss then sending consumers down a rabbit hole of ads that tell them nothing.

54% of consumers say they’ll unfollow brands that post intentionally misleading clickbait, says Hootsuite. Another 22% will hide a brand.

Luckily, overcoming this deadly sin is simple: Only post what your client means. Don’t promise what you can’t deliver, even if it’s just information.

Repetitive Content

Even the best social media marketing content your client has ever created gets stale with repetition. If all or most of what your client posts is repetitive content, 68% of consumers will unfollow or hide them.

So, no matter how great one of your client’s posts performed, don’t repost it all the time. Maybe one more time in the near future.

You don’t have to never use it again. Just space it out so that people have time to forget it before it shows up again. But only if it provides value of the same magnitude as when it was first posted, like a significant discount.

Boring Content

68% of consumers will unfollow or hide a brand that posts boring content on social media. After all, they turn to social media to be entertained. If a brand is boring, why would they bother to pay attention to its posts?

According to Hootsuite, consumers want to follow brands with social media content that:

Makes them laugh: 55% of consumers agree
Inspires them: 47%
Tells or teaches them something new: 56%
Makes them feel something: 36%
Visually engages them: 36%
Surprises them: 30%

On top of all that, consumers also enjoy when brands join in on social media conversations around:

Major sports events: 55% of consumers agree (75% of Active Shoppers do, as well)
Pop culture moments: 47% (72% of Active Shoppers)
Unfolding news events: 45% (66%)
Social justice moments: 43% (67%)
Political events: 31% (55%)

Be very careful how your client’s brand responds to the more sensitive subjects of social justice, politics and news events. 64% of consumers will choose to buy/boycott a brand based solely on its stance on a social or political issue.

So, be sure to do your research before making posts. Not only should your client be informed before posting, they don’t want to go against their target customers.

But NEVER be inauthentic about this kind of content. 68% of consumers will unfollow or hide a brand because of inauthentic content in general. If your client pretends to care about something customers do just to influence sales, the backlash will be terrible.

What if your client is ever unsure or conflicted on what to post about a sensitive topic? It’s better not to post anything at all. In fact, many consumers would rather brands stay away from posting things about:

Political policies: 46% of consumers agree
Religion and spirituality: 37%
Gender identification and sexuality: 31%

Want to find out what causes and political affiliations your client’s target customers care about? Check out their profile(s) on AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel.

Now, get out there and craft the best social media marketing content based on customer interests.

Photo by: Vitaly Gariev