3 Reasons Why You’re Not Seeing Results On Social
Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
Improving Your Content Strategy
Tracking & Scaling Social Media Success
Implementing Your New Social Media Strategy
Social media marketing is polarizing – it’s either adored or despised. But, regardless of your own personal views, it’s an essential asset for any business to build and sustain connections with current and potential customers. When considering any strategy, it’s crucial to note the numbers: 97% of online shoppers interact with social media at least once a month, and 67% expect brands and businesses to utilize their social media presence for some type of customer support.
Truthful answers only – are you keeping up with this demand? Odds are, you have a profile at the very least (if not, that’s an entirely different conversation). So, let’s say you do. You’ve been posting consistently and appear to do everything to a T. And yet, results aren’t where you’d like them to be. This leaves you scratching your head in wonder as to what’s missing.
Enter: this troubleshooting article. Think of it as a guide, really. In my time working within the social media realm, it’s safe to say that nine times out of 10, a social media strategy requires three main components to truly catch someone’s eye. Read on to learn how to accurately troubleshoot your own approach to social media and track success as your followers, engagements, and overall strategy scales.
Why Aren’t You Seeing Results on Social Media?
Reason 1: Your Content Strategy Lacks Relevance and Cohesion
While sharing snapshots of the office dog or lunch outings adds personality to your company feed, it’s important to rotate between content like this and other types of post to stay relevant with your audience. Consistently posting irrelevant content that has nothing to do with your business or your audience is a great way to lose followers and interest.
Instead, refresh your content strategy to include different pillars or post types that address your audience’s’ needs and preferences. Remember to include trending topics and user-generated content (UGC). This could be anything from a viral TikTok trend to a testimonial from a past customer. The idea is to walk a fine line of being educational, yet approachable.
How to Improve Your Social Media Content Strategy
First, carry out a content audit. This can either be done internally within your company or you can get a professional opinion from your local social media marketing agency. Once you have a better understanding of where the holes are in your organic presence, you can create a more suitable content calendar to nurture and engage your followers.
A word of caution: NEVER buy followers on any platform. This is considered “sus” as the young kids say and will hinder your organic visibility.
Need a plan for your Instagram and other networks? Learn how to use a content calendar for your social media.
Reason 2: You’re Not Targeting The Right People
Perhaps you’re diversifying your content, yet the engagement metrics remain stagnant. This could suggest your not targeting the right people, or that the right people don’t follow you (yet). There are a few ways to get your brand in front of the right audience. One is using hashtags to expand the reach of your organic posts and place them in the right silos or communities where your target people tend to be. Use a mix of topic hashtags and location hashtags for hyperlocal visibility and brand awareness. Here’s an example:
By utilizing hashtags that are both brand and location specific, this account improves their chances of getting in front of people looking for posts or information relevant to these hashtags.
Now, there’s also your target audience’s demographic, interests, and behaviors to consider. This is where your fresh content calendar comes into play. Make sure your posts look, sound, and feel like something that your target audience would engage with. In other words, speak their language! If you’re noticing an FAQ about a certain service or product, use that to inspire your next social post to address the question and deliver engaging content for your followers.
How to Grow Your Follower Count (Authentically)
Posting quality content is essential, but without the right audience, it’s like shouting into the void. Fortunately, there are genuine ways to expand your social media following without resorting to buying fake accounts.
Consider running a ‘likes’ campaign. It’s a tried-and-true method that not only boosts brand awareness but also places your ads in front of a vast segment of your target audience. Another effective strategy? Host a giveaway contest!
Success Spotlight: Arc Solutions
Before Arc Solutions could launch their Facebook ad campaign, their business page needed some refining. We began by crafting a robust Facebook strategy, initiating with a monthly content calendar that showcased their product collections, sales, and behind-the-scenes glimpses. After a month of organic posts, our focus shifted to enhancing page likes. To ensure our ads resonated with the right audience, we needed genuine page likes.
The magic of a giveaway contest is undeniable. Most of us have come across them. For Arc Solutions, we conceptualized a contest where participants could win free welding equipment. The participation rules were straightforward:
- Like the Facebook Business page.
- Like and share the post.
- Comment and tag a friend in need of welding equipment.
The results? A whopping 234.7% increase in page likes within 30 days! This organic growth not only enhanced their visibility but also improved the metrics Facebook uses for creating lookalike audiences for paid ads:
- Facebook page likes: 234.7% increase
- Facebook page reach: 687.4% increase
- Facebook page visits: 290.6% increase
- Facebook paid reach: 82% increase
The success was so profound that the contest became a staple in their strategy, especially when engagement needed a lift.
Now, think about your business. What products or services could you offer as part of a giveaway to skyrocket your follower count?
Reason 3: Your Profile and Posts Aren’t Engaging Enough
You’ve nailed your content and zeroed in on your target audience, but the crickets are still chirping on your posts.
Let’s face it, low engagement can tank your social strategy quicker than the collective groan that echoed when SCOTUS nixed student loan forgiveness. Boosting engagement seems like a no-brainer, right? Yet, many businesses overlook the simple truth: people crave interaction with familiar brands. It’s the cornerstone of authentic connections. Engage in live Q&As, initiate polls, or direct followers to your bio link. The possibilities are endless!
My best advice? Look into influencer marketing. If it makes sense for your brand to pursue this, I promise it’s worth the investment. You basically craft the messaging and hand it to someone who is already well-known in the space as far as social media goes. As always, experience with different types of engagement to see what works best with your own followers and niche.
How To Track and Scale Social Media Success
Rolling out a fresh social media strategy can sometimes pose more questions than solutions. By monitoring your benchmarks and evaluating month-over-month (MoM) performance, you and your internal team can better understand, measure, and adjust your approach to maximize the likelihood of success. Here are a few tips to help get you started:
Define Your KPIs
Begin by familiarizing yourself with the key performance indicators (KPIs) specific to social media. These metrics will serve as your compass, guiding your efforts and illuminating your path. Create a KPI spreadsheet or dashboard tailored to your needs. This centralized space will offer a snapshot of your performance, ensuring you’re always informed and ready to pivot.
Reference Analytics Often
Leverage advanced analytics tools to dive deep into your campaign’s performance. These tools offer insights that go beyond surface-level metrics, revealing patterns, strengths, and areas of improvement. Make it a habit to regularly review your metrics. This not only keeps you updated but also allows for timely adjustments to your campaigns, ensuring they remain relevant and effective. In other words, don’t just collect data – act on it.
Review, Reflect, and Execute Your New Social Media Strategy
Social media might seem like a wild beast, but it’s certainly one that can be tamed. To stay ahead of this constantly evolving landscape, social media pros must keep themselves and their strategies agile. This means being open to new data and trends that can be incorporated into upcoming content calendars and testing new methods to grow follower counts. Remember, every question that arises from a new strategy offers an opportunity for growth and refinement.
With a dedicated team and a data-driven approach, the potential for success on social media is boundless. As you move forward, embrace the challenges, celebrate the successes, and always be prepared to pivot for optimal results.
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