3 Social Media Marketing Worries and How To Solve Them

Are you worried about your social media marketing right now?

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Or, maybe you’re worried about business profits and turnover in general, and your thoughts are turning to social media to gauge how well it’s working out for you?

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Should you spend more money and hope to get better results, or should you cut your budget… and your losses?

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If you’re stuck in limbo wondering which path to take next, then this post is for you. Written by our very own Social Media Strategist & Coach, Marie Nayaka. Marie works with people in various stages of worry, overwhelm… even panic over their social media marketing. The three most common problems that arise are:

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• “We just don’t know what to talk about on social media, we don’t know where to start!”
• “Our fan base is stagnant: we just can’t seem to attract any more new Likes, Followers, etc.”
• “We’re spending a lot of time and money on marketing, but our social sites aren’t generating sales.”

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If these worries sound familiar then stay tuned for some practical advice on how to move forward in the direction that supports your goals, your brand, and your budget.

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Worry #1: You don’t know what to talk about on social media

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A lot of people feel this way… even experienced business owners and marketers!

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It can be exhausting to struggle for content on social media (and blogging… email marketing… your newsletter, etc!)

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Whether you don’t know where to begin, or if you’ve started strong but now you’re scraping the barrel for what to say, I really empathise with this worry because I’ve been there myself, and it can paralyse your progress.

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The best news here is that planning ahead is the number one thing that will get you inspired and keep you rich in social media content all year round. Planning may not be super sexy, but it works!

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Try this…

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• Create a content planner: This is a simple document that helps you draw out all your brand stories and lets you save them in one place as a bank of future inspiration. You can plot out stories for a whole year in advance and save yourself literally hundreds of hours, whilst also making sure you’ve got on-brand, interesting and relevant updates to share.

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• Batch process your social media posts: I can’t recommend this highly enough. If you try and sit down at the start of every day and think about what to post, you’re wasting valuable time (and money!) that you could be spending on other money-making marketing tasks. Batch processing is when you create content for the week, month, quarter or year in one big hit, then schedule it to go out at the right intervals… with minimal hands-on work from you. Batching can change your life!

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• Do a competitor mapping exercise: look at your competitors and see what they’re doing online. Take inspiration (but never copy) and use your findings to inform your content planner. Look at your direct competitors in your town / location as well as other brands that also serve your target market further afield. I always like to see the creativity that’s coming out of the US and Australia and once or twice a year I’ll have a peek at other social media coaches to see what they’re up to. It keeps me passionate about what I do and helps me keep my message on-point

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Worry #2: You’re struggling to get new Fans or Followers

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It’s actually really common to land on social media with a bang and attract loads of new fans, followers, etc to your pages and then experience a lull in new fans and engagement.

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Fast-forward a few months after your initial marketing and your growth has slowed considerably. The only people liking your updates are your staff. And your mum.

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The good news is that it’s absolutely possible to invigorate a flagging social media fan base, so long as you have a plan of action and are willing to take consistent action towards improving your rankings.

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Think of it this way: just imagine you have hundreds of friends and for a time, you’re the new kid on the block… the life of the party! Then you drop off the scene suddenly and don’t check in for a few days. Then, a few weeks…

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… Fast forward a few months and you’re back, but your old pals have forgotten about you and what makes you so special. They need reminding, but you can’t just tell them once and that’s it… you need to spend a bit of time working your way back in, proving to them that you’re an awesome friend who is fun to have around. Make sense?

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Here are some tips to regain your status:

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• Check that all your marketing is working together: Social media used to be a bit of a lone ranger, but now it can be fully integrated with the rest of your sales and marketing pipeline. Use it in your website, email marketing, online check-out process, after-sales care, offline customer service & sales… all customer touch points in your business. People are more likely to engage with you on social media soon after they’ve had a positive experience of you (i.e. they’ve just bought something from your online store) so leverage this sentiment to your advantage.

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• Enlist the genius of Social PR: Struggling to get in front of lots of your target market at once? Social PR is when you connect with other influencers in your field – brands that compliment you, not compete with you – and use them as a platform to attract new fans. Social PR can be a game changer for your brand and should be an integral part of every social media marketing strategy.

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• Tailor your marketing to your ‘ideal customer’: your social media marketing updates must be relevant to your target audience. Stick to your topic and talk about things that your ideal customer is interested in, in relation to your brand. Show them what they can expect when they visit your profiles. This stimulates engagement, which improves your rankings and gets your pages seen by more relevant people.

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• Post consistently: This is so, so important. Just like in my example above, you will do infinitely better when you have a consistent presence in your social feeds. You don’t have to post 10 times a day, but certainly at least once every day or so. Again, this impacts your rankings on each site and ensures you’re seen by as many relevant people as possible.

Worry #3: Social media marketing isn’t bringing in any sales

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Although this isn’t necessarily a difficult issue to solve from a business and marketing perspective, it can still be hard to move on from this, from an emotional standpoint.

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When you’re spending time and effort on your social media with no sales to show for it, it hurts.

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Setting a strong foundation made up of the points we’ve covered earlier in this article can solve many issues relating to sales via social media.

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Here are my best tips…

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• Invest in a commercially-focused strategy that supports your goals, time and budget: A great strategy will be your hardest working asset when it comes to generating sales from your social posts. Get your whole team involved, plot out your major business goals and use social media to help you reach your targets.

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• Check the details: When you’re posting on social media, check you’re actually asking for the sale: always use calls to action (CTAs), make sure links are accurate and include visually appealing images to grab attention and stand out from the crowd.

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• Psychological triggers: include simple psychological triggers in your marketing copy (the words you write) to influence buyer behaviour, make your updates irresistible and get more conversions for your posts.

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• Invest in your success: work with a coach, consultant or trainer to fast-track your strategy and keep your marketing focused on your ultimate business goals. You could do something as simple as a social media marketing audit, or choose bespoke strategy creation, a course of 1:1 coaching sessions or ongoing mentoring for yourself or your team.

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How to change your relationship with social media…

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Depending on the severity – and history – of your social media marketing worries, it can be a daunting challenge to change your mindset and get the inspiration to influence rapid change.

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For a confidential discussion on your next steps in your social media marketing, get in touch.

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You call us on 01305 783222 or email info@inthebagpr.co.uk and we’ll give you our honest perspective on your requirements.

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