Social media, a hot trend that doesn't seem to be fizzling out anytime soon, is important for businesses to communicate with their targeted audiences. Having an outlet that lets people get to know you better will help to build trust and enhance your brand. Social media is an important piece of your inbound marketing pie and should have an effective strategy to ensure success. Maybe you have a social media strategy but it doesn't seem to working as efficiently as you hoped? So why isn't your strategy working? Check out the article below to figure out what you may be doing wrong and how you can fix it. 

Too Many Self-Promotional Posts

One of the most common mistakes a business makes is utilizing social media just to promote their business. Social media is a great source to let people know who you are and what your business can do but too much promotion leaves a bad taste in people's mouths. For example, you want to go to a car dealership to browse new cars and get the information you need to make the best choice but that pesky salesperson won't leave you alone. You are constantly interrupted by someone  pushing his or her sales tactics but never fully giving you the information you really need. This will probably lead you to go somewhere else until you can find the information you need from a reliable source. The same can be said for your posts on social media. If you constantly push promotions on your audience, you will gain the reputation of a slimy salesperson and quickly drive them away. To avoid this mistake, be sure your social media strategy has a balance between promotions, informative content and witty posts that appeals to your targeted audience. 

Your Are Not Regularly Interacting With Users

Sometimes businesses get so wrapped up in what they need to post that they forget to use social media to interact with people. You should do your best to reply to all comments, good and bad, as well as supporting others by liking or sharing their information on your social media platforms. This interaction shows that you care. People want to be noticed and heard, and you can make potential customers happy by showing that you’re listening. If your business has managed to develop a following on social media, you will need to take the time to maintain those followers by engaging with them on a regular basis. This can be one of the most difficult steps for successful social media management. Reply to those accounts that frequently mention your business or industry. Then start engaging with those users to generate great conversation and buzz around the industry.

Offering New And Informative Content 

The content you create should be appealing and informative that answers common questions that your audience is interested in knowing. Repeating content every now and again is alright to expand reach but you should be regularly providing  new content as well. Knowing what types of content perform well on social media is important as well. According to Hubspot, here's a list of what types of content will help to improve your social media strategy and which posts will appeal to more people: 

• How-to posts introduce a problem, offer a solution, and then discuss each step to reach the desired result.
• Lists are exactly what they sound like -- they focus on a particular topic, offer a number of points about the topic, and provide a brief conclusion.
• What-posts provide further information on a specific topic, with many articles surrounding comparisons of one thing to another.
• Why-posts typically provide readers with a reason or purpose and provide details that support a focused conclusion.
• Videos are also self-explanatory, providing the audience with a dynamic visual of the topic discussed within the article.

Your Are Formal But Not Fun 

Even though social media allows for a more conversational tone, it's important to be professional. However, professional doesn't mean boring. Your posts should positively represent your brand and finding ways to do so with fun and witty information will capture more attention and interest. Have a little fun with your posts by adding a little humor. Both humor and creativity increase the chances that your brand is remembered.  If humor is not a part of your online brand identity, try your own form of creativity to make your company stand out. If humor is apart of your online identity, make sure the humor is consistent with your brand and what you represent.

Your Website Doesn't Display Social Media Links

Just having a presence on social sites isn't enough to advance your social media strategy. You should make finding your social media presence easy for the user by adding links on your website that takes them directly to your page. Your website is a great place to start promoting your social channels because visitors to your website are likely already interested in what you have to offer, and would be more inclined to follow your social media presence. The viral nature of these sites will allow their friends to see their interactions with your company, potentially leading to even more followers (Source).  A lot of websites display the social icons as links, which makes it apparent what site you'll be visiting. Just having the links on your site may not be apparent or appealing to click so make sure the icons are large enough to see but small so they don't clutter your pages. 

Your social media strategy is just one section of the puzzle that needs to eloquently fit in place with the other components of Internet marketing. Feel like your inbound marketing methods could use a little refresher? Check out the free Internet marketing ebook for a step-by-step guide.