The 3 Top problems with social media marketing & How to solve them

When engaging in social marketing there are many challenges to overcome. Some marketers struggle with lead generation. For others, traffic levels and their conversion rates may not be at the level required. Excelling in one of these areas or being great at SEO can help, but all of these strategies need to be employed together, as part of a complete marketing strategy. Paying inadequate attention to one or more of these aspects of your strategy could be costing valuable revenue. Luckily, one can always improve their performance and that is the focus of this article.

1. STAYING CURRENT WITH YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY

The technological and social development of marketing has undergone a huge change in the last decade alone. Print media is effectively dead at this stage and this is why so many companies now employ online marketing methods. However, even online marketing strategies and trends can change very quickly. There has been a move to a two way method of communication, between potential customers and the companies courting their business. The rising importance of feedback has introduced a whole new dynamic to marketing. Add to this the rise and fall of social media platforms, and it seems almost impossible to keep abreast of what will work right now.

Initially, it's a good idea to revisit your strategy and go back to basics. Who is your audience? Where do they hang out? How can you best provide value for them, in order to build trust? Once you have the answers to these basic questions, you can then learn the latest strategies by following blogs that are authorities in your niche. Make a point of getting some RSS feeds from the marketers that are getting great results and study them. There are many free resources to help you, for example Hubspot has a fantastic free resources library.

2. GETTING ATTENTION AND DRIVING TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE

In order to start getting those all important conversions, you must first get the attention of your potential customers. Once you have gotten them interested it's imperative that they click on your link and land at your website. Two of the major problems that many marketers face at this stage are low volumes of traffic and using the wrong channels to generate initial interest.

To generate the initial awareness it's important that you are using the correct style of platform. Many marketing strategies don't work well if they are employed on the wrong kind of social media. This could be because the demographic is wrong or because there is no interest in the product or service. It's important to know where your audience are located and offer them something they need. This could be in the form of some free content or perhaps you have a blog with lots of helpful information for them to peruse. Remember that building trust will widen the marketing funnel and allow you to convert more casual visitors into loyal customers. Keep a close eye on your analytics, to make sure that you're getting the best results for your efforts.

3. UNDERSTAND AND IMPROVE THE ROI

Within the sphere of Facebook marketing, it is extremely easy to blow an advertising budget with nothing to show for your efforts. This can be mitigated a great deal by using the latest analytical tools and measuring the value of all your efforts. A great marketer will be able to understand the cost and value of each and every customer. Only by doing this, it is possible to prove that the return on investment (ROI) is worth the effort and budget dedicated to it.

In order to be the most effective marketer that you can be, you should know where your customers are coming from. Consider using “closed loop marketing” and focus on the actual results. By effectively using your analytics tools, find out what is working for you and scale it up accordingly. If there are any strategies that are not working, they should become quickly apparent by studying the data that you've collected. Discard what doesn't work and adapt your strategy with an eye on the ROI.

Social media marketing can be a considerable challenge for a new marketer. There are a lot of different elements to keep track of and a campaign can fail if it's not handled correctly. If you would like to know more about social media marketing, don't hesitate to get in touch with us and we will be happy to help.