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Deploying social media as part of your overall digital marketing mix can be an important way to build brand awareness, attract new customers, and sell more products. However, every now and then, a few tweaks might need to be made to the way you are using social media. Here’s a brief guide to solving the most common social media problems.
#1: Your content ranks low in search
Ranking high in Google search results is the goal of any digital marketer, since appearing on the first page of search results is the key to getting more organic traffic. So what if your content still is not showing up on top of search results? The answer might be reviewing which SEO keywords you are using for your content, and checking to see whether they are realistic or not for your business. Check out your social media pages, and see what terms and words are appearing most frequently – this will often give you a good idea of which keywords you should be using.
#2: Your customers aren’t talking about you on social media
One common problem faced by many brands is a lack of engagement across social media. You might be producing stellar content, but nobody is liking it, commenting on it, or sharing it. One solution to this problem might be re-thinking the types of content you are posting on each social media platform. For example, if long-form video updates are not performing well on Facebook, it might be time to shift to shorter video posts that can be easily digested.
#3: You aren’t reaching the “right” audience
You might have thousands of fans or followers, but what if you are failing to attract a certain demographic? The solution to this problem usually involves more time “listening” on social media, and less time “talking” on social media. So, if you are not already using social media monitoring tools, now is the time to start. See where conversations are taking place across social media, and look for ways to insert your brand into those conversations.
#4: People have the wrong perceptions of your brand
Here’s another common problem: people are talking about your brand, but in the wrong way. You can use subtle approaches here, such as inserting specific hashtags on any social media post that can suggest a certain perspective. And you should also take time to adjust the tone of your posts. If you are trying to portray a light, youthful energy around your brand, you need to talk the way young millennials actually talk (and not the way you think they talk).
#5: Other brands are getting all the attention
No matter how much content you post on social media, it might seem like your rivals and competitors are always getting more likes and more shares. This might be a good time to take a closer look at which platforms they are using, and what type of content seems to be resonating the most with their fans. It could be the case, for example, that they are simply better at cross-promoting their content, so that a new Instagram photo is instantaneously shared across multiple different social platforms.
Final thought
All of these challenges are actually opportunities. Now is the time to explore how you can use new social media tools to deliver on your core business goals. By becoming smarter about how you use social media, you can build your brand awareness, get your message out, and have fans spreading your story across different social platforms.
