Businesses with overly promotional social media feeds are the Internet’s equivalent of blaring used car dealership commercials on TV. What do most people do when they see or hear something they don’t like on TV? They change the channel.
The purpose of social media marketing (SMM) campaigns is to create and post content that is highly “shareable” on a business’s social networks. The goal is to drive users to a website, and therefore gain more customers. Pay-per-click search engine marketing is considered paid media, while SMM is known as earned media, like search engine optimization (SEO) or public relations.
Cheesy marketing posts probably won’t force someone to sign off of Facebook or another social platform, but if pesky promotions keep popping up from the same company, the follower is going to unfollow or “unlike” that business, or at the very least, hide that business from their feed.
All businesses want to increase foot (and/or web) traffic and media attention, but businesses with too many sales-y posts won’t get very far. An effective social media strategy includes a mix of content that incorporates business promotion, related news and posts that are more along the lines of “fun” stuff (posts that showcase a brand’s personality). all three are equally important, as all three essentially seek to accomplish the main objective: drive business.
Promoting specials, discounts or products in general on social a great way to promote great deals and products and increase visibility, but it has to be done right. Straight promotion cannot be the subject of every post, there needs to be that mix of posts injecting more personality, posts sharing news to establish the business and/or the owner as an “in-the-know” thought leader, and promotion. Especially with more promotional posts, it’s crucial to maintain the brand voice.
Next blog we will go discuss practices widely used by social media consultants to help grow a businesses online audience through social media strategy and execution.
Here at Liquori Co, we are experts in digital marketing. We know how to drive traffic to your website, helping to increase overall sales. Business owners should know how important social media is to the growth and maintenance of their company, but they shouldn’t have to take it on themselves, it’s a full time job in itself!
