What’s the #1 biggest mistake social media marketers make every day?
You might think it’s a misspelling or a faux pas in a caption. Maybe you think it’s waiting to post too late on a current trend and missing the boat. Maybe it’s going rouge from a social media plan – or not having a plan at all.
All of these are definitely regrettable mistakes – but they’re not #1.
The biggest mistake? Forgetting to invest in the future.
Right now, only a small section of your customers are ready to buy from you. If you only market to them – then you’ll quickly find the well runs dry.
Why? No one else knows who you are.
Turns out, it’s much harder to convert a customer that’s never heard of you than one who’s built a relationship with you well in advance.
Many social marketers and managers fall into the trap of focusing solely on tactical marketing like competitions, two-for-one deals, flash sales.
It makes sense: pressure from inside organisations often focuses on generating immediate ROI – only recognising success in terms of clicks and conversions.
The immediate results from direct response marketing can feel satisfying – but there’s a problem.
While it’s nice to see a spike in our metrics, this can only go so far.
If the only time a brand turns up is when they’re offering a special or CTA – rather than becoming more likeable – then we’ll start to see an erosion of the brand and what they stand for. Without a strong foundation of awareness, likeability, and trust, your customer is likely to take their options (your competitors) into consideration.
Evidence from brand marketing experts shows that a cycle of solely focusing direct response marketing will ultimately lead to diminishing returns over the long term. Leading expert on brand James Hurman describes brand building as “an investment into the future behaviour of customers.”
“If all we do is the short-term stuff, then we’re going to get to next year and find the performance marketing doesn’t work quite so well”, states James, “because we haven’t done the important job of priming the market”. “If we sacrifice the long term for the short term, what we’re doing is really short-changing our future selves.”
Brands that focus too heavily on direct response marketing and converting their existing audience on social will lose respectability, salience, and eventually run out of buyers. It’s a hole that’s hard to get out of.
The most important thing to any marketer – and that’s including social marketers – should be a strong brand.
Your brand is what makes you familiar to your audience and what will create a consistent funnel of buyers. This means you’ll be able to go beyond those that want to buy right now, to also capture those who may want to buy in the future.
Your audience needs to know your brand well in advance – so you become their go-to option when they pull the trigger. Keep in mind that brand is more than how your brand looks – it's how it sounds, what it says and how it says it.
In fact, Zavy co-founder, Connon Bray, sees brand building as another name for relationship building – “It’s about letting the consumer get to know you...Think carefully before you redesign your packaging, shake up your brand tone or launch a new product.”
This is where social becomes a superpower.
On social media, content that builds likability, engages with your audience, or shares your story all contributes to building brand. It’s a great tool to create a relationship with your future buyers, build their familiarity with your brand and develop trust.
Ultimately, a strong brand means better margins on your product over the longer term. We know this first-hand. Zavy analysed over 2,500 businesses over three years – and we proved there’s a direct link between social media and revenue growth, based on your social brand presence.
People love brands that provide true connection, value and quality content, and tactical marketing performs better when it has a strong loved brand behind it.
So, you’ve decided that you’d like to invest in your brand building, and you’re creating quality, shareable content that does just that. How do you justify this inside your organisation, in the ROI terms they understand?
Brand building is harder to measure on social than direct response – but it’s not impossible.
Most social media tools deliver a lot of metrics for a piece of content, but without a meaningful way to roll that up to a brand level or put that in the competitive context.
This is where Zavy can help.
Zavy provides marketers with the insights they need to understand how social media activity impacts their overall brand health.
This means marketers can measure and improve brand activity on social - increasing customer loyalty by doing more of the things people love.
Zavy insights enable our clients to increase social media engagement, gain a competitive advantage, understand the ROI of social media brand-building, optimise your content strategy, and more.
Because of all of this – and more – Zavy is the best way to connect the dots between your social media presence, your brand, and your bottom line.
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