5 Mistakes You May Be Making on Social Media

There are many social media mistakes that we all know to avoid, but there are also an abundance of less obvious blunders that you may not actually be aware of.

I have put together this list of the five most common mistakes you may be making on your social media profiles based on what I have seen as a social media marketer thus far in 2018.

1. Not Knowing Your Audience

One of the biggest mistakes you can make on social media is not knowing who your audience is. Every business, especially dealerships, will have an idea of a customer persona and who their target audience is. Understanding your social media audience and who is affected by your online presence is just as important as knowing the needs of customers who visit your physical dealership.

This can include everything from knowing when your followers are active, to learning what interests and lifestyles your followers may have, so you can understand which type of content resonates best with them.

With so much content being pumped into social media every second, one of the best ways to make your business stand out from all the noise is tailoring your own content to best suit the needs of your audience.

Your followers want to know that you have more to offer them than just pushy sales messages. Modern day social media is about providing value, for free.

2. Not Responding to Comments/Complaints

Number two in this list should go without saying. ALWAYS respond to comments and messages, as it shows your audience that you care and appreciate them taking the time to engage with you. This should be the case regardless of whether the comment is positive or negative. You should also always respond to a negative review; if you fail to do this it shows that you are not bothered about the negative feedback someone has given on your business.

You should always respond as fast as possible, acknowledge any mistakes made and apologise, personalise your message with a conversational tone and if the issue has escalated, you can always take it offline by informing the user that they are free to give you a call or drop you an email so you can fix the issue.

The last thing you should resort to however is deleting the negative comment. You should never delete comments people have made about your brand as it could come back to bite you in the future.

3. No Strategy

A good social media strategy will help you stay on track. Many brands make the mistake of not having a plan in place when it comes to social media but will have a plan for other channels of marketing, although they shouldn’t be any different.

Having a plan and strategy will allow you to maximise results, keep your audience interested and boost engagement.

4. No Defined Branding

In the current digital world, not having a defined brand voice is a big mistake. Again, to break through the noise and stand out, you need a well-defined sense of what your brand is. This can include things such as:

• Defining a ‘tone of voice’ for your captions.
• Creating a brand related theme for your feeds.
• Learning to post content relevant to your brand.

This requires figuring out what your brand’s story is and working out a way to communicate it in a way that is meaningful to your target market.

5. Incomplete Social Profiles

The number of brands that are yet to finalise the set-up and optimisation of their profiles is surprising. Failing to complete your bios and other profile information is a big missed opportunity.

When a user of the social media network stumbles across your profile, you have a few seconds to capture their interest and tell your story. If you do not have your profiles set-up properly, it is very difficult to do this.

To speak to Ronnie about managing your dealership’s Facebook account, or for more information on how Click Dealer’s team of in-house social media specialists can help you with social media marketing, get in touch today via marketing@clickdealer.co.uk, 01782 478220 or through our contact page!