It might appear surprising that most social media strategies fail despite being crafted by experts. But on a second thought it doesn’t look surprising because success in social media optimization/marketing depends on connecting the dots, which most entrepreneurs fail to perform.

A strategy is nothing if not implemented in the correct way. The implementation part is really hard, and the marketer needs to realize that. Understanding social media platforms, getting familiar with the tools, tracking consumer behaviors are all important. But the defining characteristic of a comprehensive strategy is it ties all these together.

If a marketer identifies the reasons behind the failure of a particular strategy, then he becomes better equipped at the time of crafting a new strategy. In this article, we’ll discuss why most social media strategies fail.

Misunderstanding of social media

Many marketers have a misunderstanding of social media. Such misconceptions need to be shrugged off. Noted social media strategists said social media is an effective tool for marketing but if not used in the right manner, then it won’t work. The very first priority of a marketer is to identify his target market and focus on it. If the marketer fails to identify the target market, then the result will be devastating for his campaign. He’d end up shelling out money, but won’t see any positive result.

Lack of engaging content

What does the phrase “engaging content” really mean? Content that only triggers engagement doesn’t qualify as engaging content, engaging content is something that assures conversion through engagement. There’s hardly any point uploading a beautiful image on a social site if the image lacks information and doesn’t invoke the users to click on the call-to-action button. It’s nothing but a misconception that adding images and videos automatically make the content engaging. Even text content can be engaging if it can balance information and engagement.

Make them listen without shouting

As a marketer, you need to make users listen to you. The mistake committed by most marketers is they shout and users end up pissed with the earsplitting sound of the shout. Marketers should never push a product or a service; instead they should take time understanding the psyche of an ordinary user and design the product or service accordingly. Then, the marketer doesn’t need to disturb the user, rather, the user will become interested to the product. Seasoned marketers know the subtle ways of promotion, which successfully convey a message to users without disturbing them.

Evaluating a strategy

To measure the success of a social media campaign, a marketer first needs to define what success stands for in this context, and how to measure it. The success of a branding strategy cannot be quantified, and so it cannot be measured in the conventional way. To measure a social media strategy’s success, the marketer needs to repeat applying it. Oftentimes, it becomes difficult to spot the actual cause that is fetching success, more so because additional factors often accompany it. The strategy being repeatedly applied helps a marketer gain insight on the strategy's usefulness.

Being one of the crowd

You need to do something different in order to entice your users. There are hundreds of social media marketing agencies, and they all promise the same things, better visibility, and better engagement. But how many of them live up to what they promise? A few, too few to be correct.

To gain success, you need to stand different from the crowd. Being one of the crowds implies you have something entirely run-of-the-mill on your offering. Why would a brand hire you when it knows you are going to offer him a solution that thousand others can offer too? So take time and strategize how you are going to stand different.

Lack of consistency

A campaign needs to be consistent in order to be useful. If a social media fan-page posts an update today and then after a week, then clearly it lacks consistency. Such a campaign can never be successful. Being a social media marketer, you need to be consistent, otherwise your campaign will fall flat.

The tips above can help you craft a social marketing strategy that is effective and useful. Just be consistent and see your campaign is bringing you desired result.

Image Courtesy: marketingland.com