19 Reasons Your Social Media Strategy Isn’t Working

If your social media marketing strategy isn’t working, chances are it isn’t Facebook’s fault.  It probably isn’t Twitter or Google+’s fault either.  Whose fault is it? Ultimately there could be quite a few reasons why your efforts are falling short of producing real measurable results.  

During the course of any given week, I get at least one if not more calls from people who want to know why social media isn’t working for them.  Sometimes the questions come in Facebook or LinkedIn groups.  Often the person isn’t asking, they are simply declaring social media to be useless and insisting it brings no results.

Today I wanted to share just a few of the reasons why social media and, in fact, other marketing efforts as well, may not be working for your business.  Consider these items carefully!  Are you guilty? It’s ok! We’ve all been guilty once or twice of at least a few of these reasons.  The important thing is to consider these reasons carefully, be honest with yourself and then make a change to your attitude and your behaviors.  Your results will soon follow!

19 Reasons Your Social Media Strategy Isn’t Working

1.       You don't have clear expectations or a clear plan of action.  If you don't know what you expect to achieve from your efforts and you don't have a clear plan laid out for achieving it, then chances are you won't get the results you want.  

2.       You’re thinking of no one but yourself. If you are only concerned about what YOU want or need for your business, and you don't genuinely care about helping your target audience then no one else is going to care about you either.

3.       You’re trying to control your audience.  A past client once said to me, “I haven’t got time to talk about what they want.  I need them to talk about what I want!”  Can you guess what her results were?  That’s right. She got nothing and eventually I let her go because she never cared about anyone but herself.  If you aren’t willing to meet your target audience where they stand, discuss what’s important to them, make them laugh, make them cry and help them solve their problems then don’t expect them to show an interest in what you have to offer.  Life doesn’t work like that.

4.       You refuse or simply don’t make the time to create content.  82% of marketers who blog see a positive ROI for their inbound marketing efforts. Regardless of whether you choose blog posts, videos, podcasts, events or some other type of content marketing tactic, if you want to achieve real results, you need original quality content.

5.       You’re relying on a social media team to do it all. No matter how great your team is, you must participate in your own strategy in order to see the results you want. You can’t outsource, walk away and expect results.

6.       You spend too much time online.  You heard me correctly! A marketing strategy doesn’t mean you need to sit behind your desk chatting with everyone you meet 40 hours a week.  A good business strategy requires so much more than that! Content, email marketing, joint ventures, online visibility, etc.  Sitting around posting and chatting won’t get you far at all.  Instead, take a step back and create a combination of activities that will bring you more visibility, engage your target audience and encourage people to buy from you and recommend you to others.  This entire process will be much more effective and much less time consuming than any Hope Marketing strategy you’ll ever use!

7.       You’re using someone else’s strategy. It’s important to read case studies and see how other businesses are producing results.  Your strategy, however, must be customized to your own goals, capabilities and budget. 

8.       You spent all your money on development and left nothing for marketing.  This is HUGE! I see it all the time. Entrepreneurs come to me with an incredible idea.  They’ve spent tens of thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars developing something incredible.  Then they scream when I propose a marketing budget.  They spent everything they had on development and left nothing for marketing.  The “If you build it they will come” strategy doesn’t work!! At this point, no one sees the value of your product or service except you and it’s up to you to convince a potential audience of the value of what you have to offer.  If you leave zero money for marketing, you can expect zero visibility.

9.       You’re relying on social media all by itself to build your business. It doesn’t work like that.  Posting alone won’t do much for you.  Online conversations are only a part of what’s involved in your strategy. Content creation, email marketing, PR and many other things must be combined in the right amounts in order for your plan to produce results.

10.       Your only goal is clients. I often say, “If your only goal is your next client then you’re thinking too small”.  Online networking opens the door for referrals, recommendations, testimonials, content sharing, brand advocates and so much more!  THINK BIGGER!

11.   You treat your networking sites like your own personal billboards.  Posting “Buy from me” 7 days a week might make you a few sales but it won’t build your brand in a big way.  Sharing poorly planned promotional posts that don’t help anyone but yourself is never the way to build a community that happily buys from you repeatedly and recommends you to others!

12.   You’re listening to the wrong people. One of the biggest challenges with social media today is that there is another “expert” on every corner.  Sometimes that person is a qualified strategist with many years of experience but oftentimes that perceived expert is your neighbor’s nephew fresh out of college or a best friend who has a Facebook page.  Unfortunately many of these people throw up a website and actually charge money to spout information they received while taking someone else’s class.  They never implemented a successful strategy themselves.  They can only discuss one small piece of the puzzle and, if you aren’t careful, you’ll fall for their advice.  It’s good to get different opinions.  It’s bad to try and follow the advice of everyone you hear talking about social media.

13.   You expect something for nothing.  Guess what? Running a business isn’t free.  It isn’t cheap either.  The internet certainly made things more competitive for small businesses but at some point you’re going to have to pay for training, tools, advertising, a website and more.  That’s life.

14.   You haven’t invested in your presence.  If you want to appear credible and you want others to see you as a reliable business then you need to invest in your online presence.  You must have a website and you must have social media sites.  I received an email last week from some self proclaimed guru who said “You don’t need a website to make money online!”  My answer to that?  88% of shoppers research before making an online purchase so if you decide not to invest in a website or social media sites…. Good luck.

15.   You’re solely focused on immediate results.  In business, it’s important to focus on short term and long term goals.  There are some goals that every entrepreneur should have and those don’t necessarily include getting sales right out of the gate. Know what it’s going to take to be successful with your online strategy and then stick with the plan. Success takes time and effort.

16.   You aren’t willing to do the work.  Success in business isn’t just about getting yourself set up properly and then waiting.  You’ve got to invest in your business and then you’ve got to do what it takes to be a success.  Can a good strategy tell you what you need to do?  It can certainly help! The thing that helps most, however, is your ability to implement your strategy and then be flexible enough to change as you begin to see results from your efforts.  Once you begin implementing a strategy, you’ve got to review your results, make adjustments as needed and keep working toward your long term goals.  If you aren’t willing to do the work it takes to be a success then you’re destined to keep jumping around from one strategy to another and hoping.

17.   You jump from one strategy to the next.   Social media didn’t work last month? Maybe PR would be a better way.  Nope, just pay for an ad and see what you get from that this week.  If that doesn’t work just do a few Google searches and see what the next big thing is.  Business doesn’t work like this.  There is no Holy Grail activity that will guarantee you success immediately.  Carefully create a plan of activities and stick with it!

18.   You refuse to get offline. If you want to market your brand and your business then you’ve got to get offline! Online marketing strategies do a lot for your business.  They provide, credibility, familiarity, information and the opportunity to create real relationships that will ensure you meet your short term and long term business goals.  At some point, however, you need to invite someone you meet to have a conversation with you. You have to attend a Facebook Live or Zoom meeting and say hello to people. You have to meet someone in person.  Online opportunities are just that… online opportunities. Be willing to take those opportunities to the next level if you want your business to go to the next level. 

19.   You’re trying to do it all yourself.  The reality is that there are only 24 hours in a day and most of us don’t want to work them all.  There are things you should be doing for your business and there are things someone else can help you with much more affordably and with much greater results.  Get an assistant. Get some help with the tasks that someone else can do so you can free up your time to work on the high value tasks that bring in the most money for your business.

If you want success with online marketing, you’ve got to be doing it strategically.  Notice I didn’t say success in social media this time? That’s because social media is just one part of the puzzle.   So many people think that social media is the Holy Grail. It isn't. It is an excellent tool for providing visibility and credibility for the business. It's a layer of PR, marketing and customer service efforts that can "help" build a business but it won't do everything by itself. Strategically planning out a business strategy that includes SEO, opt ins, email marketing, content marketing, advertising and social media in the right order and the right amounts is what will make you achieve the results you’ve been working toward.

86% of the most effective marketers have someone who oversees their content marketing strategy.  Do you have someone to help with yours? Reach out and ask for assistance with your marketing strategy. We’d love to help you achieve your business goals this year!