The Internet is full of myths and earnest misconceptions about how to establish a meaningful presence and return on investment with your social media marketing campaigns. Talk to any social media marketer or lay blogger, and they will tell you that these myths pop up all the time, and for good reason too: nearly all social media marketing myths have some grain of truth. Regardless, we would like to put a stop to some of the more damaging myths. We've selected the top five most common misconceptions in order to discuss them more fully.

Automating All Posts Will Lead To Better Results

This is wrong. Successful social media marketing requires careful attention 24/7/365. Hopefully this won't be too shocking for anyone new to social media marketing, but it's the truth. To ensure that your campaigns have a strong impact, you can never completely take your eyes off your channel.

There is always data to analyze, tweets to retweet: social media never sleeps. Don't worry though, you should use some scheduling tools (we recognize that marketers need to sleep), but be sure to check in periodically over the weekend to make sure you are not ignoring any engagement.

There Is No Way To Measure ROI

This is perhaps the myth that seems to outlive and outlast all others. Part of the problem is that there are a lot of social media experts and consultants who may be extremely knowledgeable about social media networks but know very little about marketing or measuring return on investment for businesses. In reality, there are several ways to track social media’s impact on your business. 

The metrics for your social media program are not much different from the metrics of other marketing efforts. ROI isn’t just measured in conversions. Network growth, engagement and even impressions should be considered when evaluating the efficacy of using social media in your marketing efforts.

Going Viral Is The End Goal

While corporations have seemingly bottomless funds and access to creative resources to create new imaging and messaging that pulls in viewers, small businesses aren’t nearly as well-equipped to hit the big-time pay off. In fact, for small businesses, going viral isn’t all that important (although it would be awesome).

Remember, your objective is to attract a stream of unique visitors as a result of the content and value you offer. If you keep sharing quality content and offering value to your customer bases, your followers will grow. 

My Customers Aren’t Using Social Media

You would think this myth would be easy to debunk; however, it is has lived on yet another year. According to digital marketing resource Digital Marketing Ramblings, best statistical estimates find Facebook with 1.19 billion active users, YouTube boasting its own 1 billion users, Twitter with 215 million active users, and Google+ garnering 300 million active users.

Digital media research company eMarketer estimates that in total, social media reaches nearly one in four people around the globe.

Hash Tag Everything!

Nope. Using too many hash tags can and will make you look completely out of touch! Don’t get me wrong, hash tags are important to make sure you are engaging with the right audience; however, using too many hash tags is the fastest way to look crazy or desperate.

Our Business Should Be On Every Social Media Platform

Don’t believe this, unless you have the capability to do it well. As a social media marketer, you need that you are engaging with the audience with whichever social platform you choose.

While it is true that not all of your customers will be using the same networks, the key to strong strategy is to know your target audience and focus your efforts. Spend a few hours researching what platforms your target demographic uses, as this will save you previous resources that could be used on better things, like working on your campaign.

Social Media Won’t Generate Any Leads

While you won’t surpass this year’s sales goals with social media lone, taking your brand online is proven to bring benefits if carried out correctly.

 

Generating meaningful discussion about your brand on social media is a simple and easy way to raise awareness, however, you must remember that the success of your brand online is contingent on your engagement with your audience.

 

Fortunately, social networks are completely free to use with the only major investment being time. There’s a wide variety of tools that can help you manage your social accounts. If you use social media as a tool to interact with your customers and answer prospects questions, there’s no doubt that you will be able to draw in leads from time to time.

ImageWorks, LLC | Social Media Management CT

Implementing a social media strategy is not always a simple task, and can take more time than you have on your hands. When properly executed, a social media campaign can generate website traffic to your website, while bringing in new leads for your business, allowing you to connect with prospective buyers. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions, or would like to begin a social media campaign of your own!