4 Social Media Tactics That Should Be Canned

Businesses can no longer ignore social media as a marketing tactic regardless of what product or service you offer. The social environment is constantly evolving which means your social media strategy needs to adapt before becoming obsolete. Considering all the social media tactics available, some are still being used which really should have been canned long ago.

These dying social media tactics can cause real problems as they are no longer effective and only eats away at your budget and time. The data you collect is also inaccurate and you will get a misrepresentation of how your brand is performing. As a result, you could take the wrong approach which could be harmful to your business.

In addition, how your brand appears online is also affected as old tactics could make you look outdated. That’s the last thing you need when trying to attract attention, gain interest and build valuable, long-term customer relationships. This is especially important when marketing to Millennials and a Generation Z target audience.

Social Media Tactics To Avoid And What To Do Instead

Social media is not a “calling all pockets” approach aiming at every Tom, Dick and Harry hoping for a result. The modern marketing approach is all about being composed, strategic and super-efficient. With that in mind, let’s take a look at four social media tactics you should avoid.

Follow Everyone

One way to gain followers quickly is to follow everyone first and every person that follows you. In some instances, a good percentage of people might follow you back and your audience will grow. It may appear as if you have a great social presence with a large following but that’s rarely the case. Large numbers don’t mean anything if they don’t engage with your brand. While it may have worked a few years ago, it’s certainly not best practice and comes with certain risks.

Today’s consumers are digitally savvy and selective about who they choose to follow. This is one of the social media tactics that could result in your profile coming across as a fake account and will hurt your online brand reputation. It’s about generating social value and this tactic often results in too much irrelevant information on your feed which will negatively impact your brand.

In addition, you will also struggle to identify the right contacts to place in your lead nurturing campaign. It comes down to where they fit into your marketing funnel and if you can’t figure that out, the good ones will fall through the cracks and you’ll end up with poorly qualified leads.

While other social media tactics to attract followers may take longer and often require a bigger budget, they are ideal for growing your audience. This includes creating and sharing quality content which will attract the more interested consumers and encourage them to engage.

Using Automated And Generic Messages

We all love how technology has improved so many aspects of marketing such as chat bots and automated messenger but it’s not always well-received. While consumers are more tech-savvy, they still value personal connections over some fancy technology. For many, the quality of personal attention is often the deciding factor in terms of where they spend their money. Let’s face it, no-one feels personally connected to a bot or any computer programme for that matter.

Not that automated messages don’t have a place, it’s just about how and when you use it. For example, when someone “follows” a brand’s social media page, they would almost instantly receive an automated message. These responses are often impersonal and generic, only acknowledging them and inviting them to look around or make a purchase. This does very little to make the customer feel special and the majority feel they are nothing more than prospects.

If you want to build a successful consumer relationship, you need to be patient. Wait until the relationship has grown to the point where they see you as more than just another brand trying to sell them stuff. Continuous engagement is key to all social media tactics in order to nurture them effectively. You should only consider sending a promotional message once they’ve warmed up to you and you’ve established some rapport.

Even then, you need to personalise those messages to match each customer’s previous interactions. There really is no point in sending all your customers the same message about a new tennis racket you have in stock if they don’t even play tennis or never showed any interest in sports equipment. Fact is, according to Marketo, 79% of consumers won’t even look at a promotion otherwise. It has to resonate with them on a personal level.

Stuffing Posts With Backlinks

There is no denying the importance backlinks play in digital marketing but, once again, it’s about how you use them. Unfortunately, there are still too many brands that think they should stuff their content filled with backlinks to their products or services. All they are doing is making it look like an advert or a sales pitch which will not bode well for conversions.

It’s important to remember that social media is not a billboard or just an advertising space to promote your business. Brands must realise that they need to produce social content that is informative, entertaining and thought-provoking. The whole idea is to educate and encourage feedback to build rapport. The 80/20 principle still applies and works well. Post quality, engaging content 80% of the time and brand promotion-type messages 20% of the time.

Use As Many Hashtags As Possible

Probably one of the most annoying things on social media is the overuse of the infamous hashtag. While it certainly serves a powerful purpose, many brands simply overdo it. Social media posts stuffed with hashtags look terrible and they are often very difficult to read. If you have to use multiple hashtags, keep them relevant to the content and limit yourself to only two or three.

Times have changed and you have to sell your brand using your authority and not necessarily your products or services. Offer your audience true value in exchange for their attention and they will soon find their way to you. Even better, if you follow a good content strategy, they will choose your brand without requiring a lot of convincing.

There is no set guide for the perfect social media marketing plan as every business is different. However, brands must keep updating their strategy to maximise exposure and conversions. A simple solution is to do a regular “social media health check” to see if your current tactics are yielding the desired results. If something no longer works, do some research and make a strategic change for optimal results.

Are there any other social media tactics that you think brands should avoid? Please comment in the section below or find us on social media.

If you need expert advice on your social media marketing strategy, please give us a call on 01453 542761 or get in touch on our website. We specialise in social media management, SEO, PPC and Marketing Automation among others.