Today, we are going to learn about some wrong beliefs about social media marketing simply known as social media misconceptions.

Social media is a buzz term in today’s digital era. More and more people are using social media to interact with each other. The number of increased users on social networks has attracted marketers to promote their business on the platforms. Handling social media is a crucial task for a business as it requires accuracy and attentiveness to communicate with the audience.

However, there are certain social media misconceptions exist that hinder a company’s progression through social media marketing. Not sure what are the common social media myths? Go through this blog and you will find the most common misconceptions about social media.

Top Social Media Misconceptions That May Hurt Your Business

All social media channels are the same 

Each social media platform serves a distinct audience. For instance, B2B companies should be more active on LinkedIn and Twitter than other social networks like Snapchat or Instagram. In fact, as per one survey, about 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn. Moreover, creative companies should thrive on visually focused platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.

Some industries do not require social media

Social media is an opportunity for a company to present itself as a thought leader by delivering commentary on industry news. This helps to demonstrate your brand’s expertise and business offerings to your target customers. With billions of daily active social media users, it is an exceptional opportunity to apprehend the interest of prospects and nurture them with content into qualified leads.

Using more hashtags make a business more discoverable

Although hashtag is essential to make your business discoverable on social channels, do not overuse it. Using more hashtags than required, may reveal a negative impact. Irrelevant hashtags easily annoy customers. Social media is all about presenting relevant content to an interested audience. Hence, make sure the hashtags are concise, accurate, and under 3-4 per post.

Social media is free

Technically speaking, social media is free to access, however you need to invest time and resources for better results. If you’re running a small business, It’s always advisable to boost it through social media. It will help you to increase social traffic and generate qualified leads. Besides, virtually all social platforms offer the opportunity to place ads within their networks. To get the maximum exposure of your social media, you should invest in the ads.

Social media is a time-consuming process

Definitely, you need to spend quality time to maintain social media presence for your business. But, if you define strategies beforehand, you can efficiently perform social media activities along with saving time. In fact, you should use readily available social media automation tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, BuzzSumo, etc. to save time and effort. These tools help you to schedule the post so that you do not have so it manually. Furthermore, you can even use traffic analytics tools like Finteza, Socialbakers, Unionmetrics, etc. that help to measure traffic rates on various social channels.

Social media is only for the young population

It’s a common social media misconception! People of all ages use social media. According to Hubspot, more than 40% of the world’s population uses social media on a daily basis. Besides, on various social networks, you will find different age groups of people. So, use social networks with the perception that all customers are on social media irrespective of their age.

Negative comments hurt business

Customer feedback is essential to improve your business. Even you should handle the negative comment positively. Listen to the complaining customers and resolve their concerns with appropriate solutions. Thinking that negative comment is bad for your business is one of the worst social media misconceptions out there. Instead of taking negative feedback wrongly, use it as an opportunity to provide exemplary customer service and respond promptly to customers.

It’s difficult to compete with competitors’ profiles

In order to strengthen your social media presence, you need to approach the audience differently than your competitors. Identify the criteria that sets you apart like a superior product, customer service, or corporate social responsibility, and use those while promoting your business through social media posts. But, make sure to avoid directly comparing your business with others. Try to align your performance facing the intentions and milestones you determined for your organization.

Post often as much as possible

Customers are always looking for value, not just a frequent appearance. Focus on creating content or post that you would get engagement, not just for the sake of creating content in bulk. Irrelevant content has diverse effects and negative impressions of your business among the customers. Thus, post relevant content without bombarding the post (which may not get engagement at all).

Social media is only a part of a marketing plan

It is another big misconception that social media is just a part of marketing. Since the evolution of digital media, the usage of social media has been increasing. Now the impact of social channels has become more than just a marketing plan for your business. If you want to increase your customer reach, you should have a dedicated social media team for your business. You can perform multiple activities on social networks such as posting engaging content, organizing a contest/ survey /polls, etc. Hence, separate your social media plan from a marketing plan. Do not relegate social media as part of your overall marketing strategy, that is a wrong social media misconception. It is a real deal on its own.

In addition, sometimes it is misunderstood that social media is a great tool to find new customers. Nevertheless, it is a medium to interact and build a positive relationship with your brand and customers. Think of social media as a communication platform to create recognition about your business offerings rather than discovering new customers.

So, if you understand and establish strategies to overcome these social media misconceptions, you can easily empower business growth. In fact, exclude the myths while practicing social media marketing activities and promote the growth of your small business through social networks. However, if you are not sure about how to strategically use social networks, do not hesitate to seek professional help to boost small business through social media.