Beware: 7 Myths About The Social Media Monster

Social media is a monster. And just like any monster, there are plenty of myths surrounding it. Some of these ideas come to us from the past when social media was still in its infancy, and others have emerged as urban legends, scary little stories businesses tell themselves when they can’t explain what they are seeing.

Social media is evolving at a dizzying pace. We scamper to keep up yet try to anticipate what’s coming next. Suddenly, everyone’s an expert Monster Tamer. Just because someone uses social media, as 81% of us in the United States do, doesn’t mean that he or she is an expert. The realm of social media is complex and requires the right mix of experience, data, and experimentation. Study the data, keep on top of industry news, be fearless fighting the monster in new ways and slay counterproductive tall tales.

Cobalt Digital Marketing wants to set the record straight when it comes to these 7 social media myths (cause no one likes a liar, liar, pants on fire).

Myth 1: You Need To Be On Everything

If you’re able to delve deep into the world of social media and handle your brand perfectly on every single platform, great. But the reality is you don’t have to spread yourself so thin, especially if you don’t have the resources or experience to handle business across multiple social platforms.

An important component to having a healthy social media presence is simply to do it well - even it it’s only on one platform. The best way to go about doing this is to:

• Recognize who your audience is and what platform(s) they are on. Data is essential in figuring this out and can keep you from wasting time on Twitter, for instance, when your market is on Facebook.
• Consider the functionality of the platform. For instance, Instagram is perfect for businesses that need to visually showcase their products, while Facebook is more effective for video content. Keep in mind your objectives and how the specialized aspects of the platform can help you to achieve those goals.
• Brick-and-mortar businesses (small businesses) need to also have profiles on platforms such as Yelp and Google+ also, in order to be found by local customers searching for a restaurant, hair salon, etc.

Myth 2: You Need To Post All Day, Every Day

Inconsistency and infrequent posting can leave your audience bored. Yet bombarding them with Tweets, posts, Snaps, and content, can a bad taste in their mouth - (the taste of spam)! Feed the monster just the right amount value added content using a social media scheduling tool.

Tools like HootSuite, MeetEdgar, and Sprout Social, are designed to provide insight, analytics, and scheduling systems to improving your social media strategy, and ensuring that you’re pushing out just the right amount of content at the right time. Keep in mind that all social platforms have high traffic times spread throughout the day and scheduling posts around these moments is a sure fire way to get your content seen.

It’s also vital to denote the availability of your team on social media in case an angry customer wants to chat. As social media allows 24/7 access to your brand, failing to contact a customer immediately can quickly lead to some dissatisfied followers and bad reviews. Let your customers know the hours you are available to chat.

Myth 3: All Content Needs To Be Tied To Your Business

So naturally, you’ll want to employ social media to talk all about your products, services, and your amazing customer care. But similar to posting 24/7, there’s a bit of an overkill when all you post about is your products. In fact, try NOT to use your content to sell at all.

Remember that social media is an entertainment and community platform. Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, SnapChat, Twitter, or any other platform, you should be providing your customers with engaging authentic content.

Content should include human interest pieces, stories, funny anecdotes, captivating images, and videos that induce an emotional response as they are much more likely to draw engagement. Talk with your audience and not just merely to them. Create content that is strategic, relevant, and will appeal to your target audience. Make it a two-way dialogue.

Myth 4: #Hashtags #Rule #The #World

“#Make #sure #you #hashtag #everything #in #your #post”, said no digital marketer ever. While it’s true that Tweets with hashtags receive twice the engagement in comparison to those without, a Tweet with every single trending hashtag is really frowned upon. There are a number of amazing tools that can help you to target trending hashtags in your industry and get you on the right path to hashtag excellence. Be on point and on trend but don’t be a #hashhole. (It’s a thing. We didn’t make it up!)

Myth 5: Social Media Doesn’t Generate Leads

Let’s put some numbers forward:

• Facebook has over 2 billion monthly users, with over 214 million of those in America.
• Instagram now how 800 monthly users and 500 daily users.
• Buyers who use social media typically have budgets that are 84% larger than budgets of buyers who do not use social media.
• Over 25% of people who see a social ad will respond by visiting the store or website.
• 53% of people recommend companies and products on Twitter.
• 64% of Twitter users and 51% of Facebook users are more likely to purchase from the brands they follow.

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Keep in mind that all these tantalizing numbers don’t mean much if you aren’t actively posting and engaging with your audience.

Myth 6: They’re All The Same (So You Can Cross-Post)

That’s a resounding NO! As mentioned in Myth #1, every social platform serves a specific audience through various mediums (i.e. Instagram = images). To assume that (A) they’re all the same, (B) that you can just choose whichever and you’ll still be able to reach your audience, (C) and that you can share the same content across all the platforms is going to lead to failure.

Posting across platforms may be extremely strategic for your business. Let’s say that you are looking to market the same product to a Baby Boomer and a Millennial. You would want to pick the right platform (most likely Facebook for the Boomer and SnapChat or Instagram for the Millennial) and craft a targeted message using the right language. Last week, at the Social Media Summit in Mission, Texas, Stephanie Gitkin Hawk was speaking about generational marketing and illustrated this point perfectly when she used this example.

“If I create a post and say “Yajaida is lit.” it will mean different things to different people based upon which generational demographic they fall into. If you are a Baby Boomer, you will think that Yajaida is illuminated. If you are a Gen Xer, like me, you will think that Yajaida has had way too much to drink. And, if you are a Millennial or a Gen Zer, you will think that Yajaida is cool.”

Like language, imagery should also be specifically targeted to audience and platform. Curate the right look and feel for your brand in the way your target audience wants to consume it on that platform.

Myth 7: All You Need Is Social  

Social media is, undoubtedly, a remarkable tool that can be used by even the smallest of businesses to leverage their product and compete with the big dogs. But even it has its limitations.

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The perfect digital marketing strategy not only includes social media marketing but also SEO, PPC ads, content creation including written articles, email marketing, landing pages, an appealing mobile-optimized website, and more. While social is definitely a focal point for any digital marketing strategy, you’ll get the biggest ROI by implementing a comprehensive plan to maximize your digital presence.

Leverage your social media presence with the Cobalt Formula™.

Our proven Cobalt Formula™ integrates social media, website design, PPC, content, SEO, and email marketing, to harness the power of the internet and get you tangible results.

GET SOCIAL WITH US and let’s battle the monster together! If you’ve found this blog helpful we’d love for you to like, comment, share, post, tweet, and/or retweet this blog. If you’re ready for backup,
contact us today and let us turn your dreams of social media domination into a reality.