We recently wrote about how to convince your company to let you start a blog for them. A lot of the time, this will entail also doing social media in order to promote the content or simply just doing general social media. There are a lot of myths out there when it comes to social media marketing that you need to be aware of so you can get going in the right direction. Here are a few:
- You have to spend all your time on Twitter to get any traction.
What are you, a Kardashian? Getting a solid following on Twitter for your company doesn’t mean you have to spend hours a day tweeting. A better strategy is to hold a Twitter chat at a certain time every week and let all your current followers on Twitter, Facebook and email know right away. Get informative branding hashtags ready for the chat and then be sure to end the chat with a reminder or CTA (Call to Action) to join your email list or follow you on Facebook.
- Blogging and Tweeting will give away all your secrets.
Ummm… If I talked with Julia Child for hours about everything she cooks, I still don’t think I’d be able to make a crème brulee that was edible. Same idea applies here.
- You don’t need Google+.
Google+ has somehow taken on the role as the accidental surprise unplanned fifth child in the land of social media. But Google+ has major SEO potential. Blog posts from Google+ are indexed in the SERPs (search engine results page) and the Google+ profiles of posts’ authors show up next to those results. This could mean a major pickup in the rankings.
- It is only important to get followers on social media that will be customers.
Just because a follower may not be in your target demographic, doesn’t mean they won’t pay off. Followers can give you access to more followers, along with a great source of referrals and if they share your content, your SEO can improve exponentially.
- Facebook ads only lead to likes, not customers.
Not true. Advertising on Facebook can help your company increase its presence online, get more fans and increase customer engagement.
- If a campaign doesn’t go viral, it’s pointless.
Not true. Getting one huge viral hit is not the only measurement of success when it comes to social media marketing. It is about creating original content that people want to share, that will bring value to your company over time.
This piece was written by Meredith Lepore and is reprinted by permission.
Image credit: CC by Jason A. Howie
