While many small-to-medium size business owners are reaping the benefits of using social media to generate traffic and significantly boost sales, some business owners have found that social media has shown few if any tangible results.

In my experience with my clients, I see that these business owners often make one or more of the following mistakes in their marketing efforts:

 1. Aiming at the Wrong Audience

One important advantage of social media marketing is that it enables you to target a particular, specific audience. If your campaign is not going as expected, take a close look at the type of traffic your social media efforts is generating. Perhaps you need to re-consider who you are trying to target and then find the best way to reach this particular audience.

 2. No (or Poor) Posting Plan

Simply engaging in social media for your business is not enough. You NEED A PLAN outlining what to post and when. Your posts must be helpful, interesting and engaging if you want to win and keep your audience. You also need a regular posting plan or a Content Calendar so that people know when they can expect to hear from you.

 3. Advertising Rather than Engaging

Social media is meant to be social, which means that it cannot be used solely as an advertising platform. Aside from promoting your products, you must also invite people to tell you what they think of your goods and/or services. Helpful, non-promotional information should also be posted on a regular basis. If you put the interests of your audience first, they will take note and show and interest in you and what you have to offer.

 4. Using the Wrong Platform

There are so many social media platforms to pick from that it would be very difficult for you to have an effective presence on each network. For this reason, it is imperative that you pick the platforms that will best enable you to reach your target audience. For instance, a company targeting women will want to have an active presence on Pinterest, while companies that engage in B2B business will want to create and cultivate a professional, engaging LinkedIn presence.

 5. Impatience

A lot of small-to-medium size business owners make the mistake of believing that a social media presence will immediately bring in traffic and sales. This is rarely the case. It takes time to cultivate an effective social media presence and for this presence to contribute to your company’s success. If you are not making the mistakes mentioned above but are still not seeing signs of significant growth, give it time. The growth you seek may be just around the corner.

If your social media marketing efforts are not having the results you expected, consider the five common mistakes outlined above and see if you are making one or more of them. If you find that you are doing something wrong, fix your errors and then allow time for your efforts to succeed. While social media marketing takes time, effort and consistency, it has the potential to be very successful if done right over an extended period of time. Remember: It’s quality over quantity!

Sign up HERE to get my blogs directly to your inbox! I keep them practical and useful to help you get results for your business.