Overcoming Social Media Challenges

Meet consumers where they are – But do so with a strategy

Kristen Herhold //April 8, 2018//

Overcoming Social Media Challenges

Meet consumers where they are – But do so with a strategy

Kristen Herhold //April 8, 2018//

There are 2.8 billion social media users worldwide – and number that is continuously growing.

As more and more consumers make social media an everyday habit, more companies are turning to social media to reach these consumers in ways not possible before modern technology.

Despite the growing necessity of businesses to be on social media, social networking does not come without challenges.

According to a survey of 344 social media marketers, the three biggest business social media challenges are:

  1. Lacking human and financial resources
  2. Lacking a formal strategy
  3. Struggling to build followers

Despite these challenges, businesses can find success on social media.

FINDING RESOURCES ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Twenty-six percent of companies say their biggest social media challenge is not enough resources.

There’s a reason more than one-fourth of companies struggle with this – many companies, especially small ones, barely have the manpower and funds to keep up with day-to-day tasks, let alone social media. Social media, however, doesn’t have to take up a lot of resources.

If you have multiple employees on staff, splitting up the social media responsibilities among multiple people can relieve the burden of just one person taking charge. If each person is in charge of posting to a specific channel, it can prevent anyone from becoming too overwhelmed.

Employees posting to their assigned channel once a day is much more efficient than if one person spent hours every day posting to every channel.

For those who lack financial resources for social media, you don’t have to pay for it, though social media advertising is a successful marketing strategy. if you don’t have the budget, posting organically to social media is better than not posting at all.

DEVELOPING A STRATEGY

Many business owners hand the company’s social media over to interns. This strategy, however, is ineffective. You need people who actually know and understand your company to create a social media strategy.

Creating a strategy doesn’t always mean hashing out a step-by-step, set-in-stone playbook. Creating a strategy also doesn’t have to take a lot of time and effort.

Finding a social media strategy that works for your business can simply mean testing the various platforms and seeing what works best for you.

When starting out, avoid creating social media accounts for every platform. Start with one or two that make the most sense. For example, if you think Facebook and Instagram are the most applicable to your audience, test out those platforms before moving on to other ones.

If you’re seeing a growing following on Facebook but finding Instagram unsuccessful, don’t waste your time and effort. Use only the channels that work best for you.

When you do figure out what platforms you want to use, remember that every channel is different. You wouldn’t post the same things to your personal LinkedIn as you would to Facebook, and business profiles are no different.

Figure out what types of posts work best for each platform and stick with them.

BUILDING FOLLOWERS

There is no point in posting on social media if no one is there to see it; building a community of followers is essential to social media success.

Much like developing a social media strategy, building followers takes a lot of testing. What types of content will your target audience prefer?

For example, 54 percent of small businesses post images and infographics to social media, the most popular type of content. Humans are visual beings and process images more quickly, which is why images tend to be successful on social media.

Just because images work well for most companies, however, does not mean it will work for yours. Test out which content works best for your company, and replicate the most successful posts.

If you get the most likes and shares on videos you share, post videos more than other types of content. If you give followers what they like, they will keep engaging with your posts.

THE NECESSITY OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media is not easy, but it is a growing necessity for businesses that want to connect with a wide range of potential customers.

Businesses not on social media neglect the opportunity to grow and become more relevant in an increasingly internet-focused world.

Despite social media’s necessity, it still comes with challenges, but none that can’t be overcome. Whether your company is one employee or 5,000, any business can find success on social media.


Kristen Herhold is a writer for The Manifest and focuses on social media and digital marketing business trends. Connect with Kristen on LinkedIn or reach out with any questions to [email protected].