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Solving the 8 Most Common Issues With Social Media Marketing Plans

Solving the 8 Most Common Issues With Social Media Marketing Plans

It seems like everyone is on social media these days. And why not? These channels put the world at our fingertips.

In fact, over 3 billion people use social media. Whether for connecting, searching for products, or engaging with brands. And this rising number of users isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.

As a marketer, you need to up your social media marketing game if you want to stand out. But this is easier said than done.

Even seasoned marketers find it challenging to market on social media. Thankfully, these challenges can be resolved.

Here’s what you need to know about the most common issues with social media marketing plans and how to solve them.

8 Most Common Issues With
Social Media Marketing Plans

1. Your Content Isn’t Gaining Traction on Social Media

Finally, you’re on social media!

You’re consistently pushing out content. You use the right hashtags, and follow all the rules in the social media playbook. But your content is still struggling to gain traction.

You wonder, “What am I doing wrong?”

One of the most common mistakes that brands make is posting anything and everything on their feed. Here are a few things you need to know:

Your followers won’t engage with content that isn’t valuable to them.
Posting consistently isn’t the only factor needed for social media success.
In fact, flooding your followers’ feed might lead to a lower engagement rate.

So, how do you solve this challenge?

First of all, think quality over quantity. Provide your audience with valuable information. For instance, you can post a carousel, a short IG video, go Live on Instagram or use other forms of media.

More importantly, know your audience. Learn what questions they have. And the kind of content they prefer. Do they like photos or videos or do they prefer podcasts?

2. Not Knowing Who Your Audience Is

As stated before, posting whatever comes to mind on social media isn’t a smart move. Even if it’s on-brand.

These channels are all about engagement. It’s about opening discussions between your brand and audience.

That said, you need to know who you’re talking to. What their interests are. And what they’re saying about your products or services.

How do you overcome this issue?

First, you can consider using social listening tools. These tools allow you to understand your brand’s position in the market.

Additionally, you can learn more about your competitors. And you can also find out the key terms that are relevant to your audience on different social media platforms.

Another option is to create a survey. Here are a few tips:

In your survey, use questions that are interesting to your audience.
Avoid business jargon. Use plain language.
Your survey must be short yet concise.
Ask open-ended questions. Let your audience write down their thoughts or opinions.

Doing so will help you learn more about your target audience. You can learn about their demographics as well as their jobs, challenges, and more.

3. Hashtag Hijacking

Hashtags are a powerful tool to use in your social media marketing strategy. A well-executed hashtag can boost brand visibility and awareness.

These tags will help spread your social media campaign as well as promote your events and products. Best of all, your audience will use them to find your content.

These are prominently used on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and most recently, Facebook.

But sometimes, when a branded hashtag trends, some people might use it for other purposes. This process is known as hashtag hijacking or hashjacking.

Hashjaking isn’t a common social media problem, but it does happen. So how do you avoid it?

If you’ve already brainstormed a list of possible hashtags, choose those that are difficult for people to abuse. Make sure that it reflects what your brand is about.

Here are a few more tips:

Keep hashtags short
Make them exclusive to your brand
Consider using call-to-action phrases
Keep your campaign message in mind
Make it unique

Most importantly, create a social media crisis management plan in case your hashtag does get hijacked. Refer to this crisis plan when your brand faces negative feedback online.

4. Low Engagement Rate

So you’ve done your research about your audience. Then you created a high-value post. You believe that this post is worth sharing and can go viral.

But you’re still not seeing a rise in engagement.

A low engagement rate is frustrating, even for seasoned marketers. But don’t fret. There are ways to address this issue.

Don’t Get Stuck on One Type of Post.

Just because a high-value carousel post did well the past few weeks, doesn’t mean it’ll still go well the next time.

So make sure to create diversity in your feed. Consider posting other types of content in different mediums. For instance, post an Instagram Reel or an FB animated video.

Think Outside the Box

There are different ways to encourage customer engagement. For instance, you can host a giveaway. Or you can create online polls or ask them to send in their questions.

Make your audience feel like they’re a part of your brand. It gives them a reason to interact with your brand. Best of all, it gives the impression that your business is listening to their voice.

Partner With Other Brands or Influencers

This helps spread brand awareness. How?

When you partner with other brands or influencers within your industry, you’ll also be tapping into their audience. This means putting your products or services in front of a wider audience.

With more people seeing your content, it will attract attention to your profile. A successful partnership can…

Boost brand awareness
Build a stronger and bigger community of followers
Increase website traffic
Generate high-quality leads
Improve conversion rate
Reap Higher ROI

Here’s a tip: Partner with brands whose products or services complement yours.

Additionally, when choosing an influencer, don’t only focus on their number of social media followers. Instead, take into account their engagement rate.

5. Failing to Answer Comments and Queries

Your high-value post is getting the engagement you’ve predicted. Do you think your job is done?

No. Your social media strategy doesn’t end there.

You also need to respond to comments and DMs. Don’t leave your customers and prospects hanging!

Today, people are using social media channels to research brands, products, or services. They’re seeking answers. So they might leave comments or send a DM to inquire about products or services.

In fact, 84% of individuals from the United States say that companies responded to their questions on social media.

That said, focus on responding to comments and direct messages. Nurture conversations around your content. In doing so, you’ll likely see an increase in sales and a boost in website traffic.

6. Staying Up-to-Date With the Latest Trends

As a marketer, you need to know the latest trends.

In the past few months alone, we’ve seen the rise of TikTok. Then the Instagram Reels feature was released in selected countries.

To say that social media platforms are an ever-evolving arena is an understatement. These channels keep marketers, content creators, and business owners on their toes.

So how do you adapt to these changes?

First of all, take a deep breath and let go. You don’t have to jump into the latest trends every single time.

Not a fan of Instagram Reels? Then don’t make one.

Your audience will not care. What they care about is what they’ll get out of your content. Will your content make their life better?

Although you don’t need to always jump into the latest trend, here are a few you need to consider:

Make your audience an essential part when creating your content strategy
Use dynamic and direct social ads
Meet your customers where they are in their journey. This is made possible with Facebook’s personalized ad experiences. This feature promises to deliver a personalized version of your ad based on who sees it.

7. Social Media Automation

When scaling your business, there’ll come a time when you need to automate certain tasks. This is true for marketing on social media platforms as well.

This means using software or other tools that’ll automate specific tasks needed to run your social media campaign. Some of the tasks you can automate include:

Posting a new blog post to your social channels
Curating user-generated content
Posting status updates
Auto responding to frequently asked questions about your brand or product.

Why is this important?

So you can continually provide personalized and useful content without burning out. Here are a few more reasons:

Your account will stay active. There are tools you can use to schedule posts. Some tools even help jumpstart the buyer’s journey by auto-responding to anyone who uses your branded hashtag.
Consistent engagement. As mentioned in the previous sections, engagement is key. And prompt responses will boost positive customer experience. So automating certain tasks allows you to focus more on engaging with your audience.
Streamline your workflow. When you automate repetitive tasks, you can get them out of the way. As a result, you can focus on scaling your business.

Unfortunately, social media automation also comes with a few challenges.

Some of these tools are not fully developed. You might experience glitches here and there.

Another challenge is the lack of budget. For small businesses, automation tools can be expensive. Especially those with more in-depth features.

So how do you solve this challenge?

Create a list of all the tasks and processes you want to automate.
Take a look at the automation tools that come with your social platform. For instance, Facebook and Youtube let you schedule your posts natively on their platforms.
If you want more in-depth features, carefully select the automation software or tool. Choose the one that lets you do most or all the tasks on your list.

Most importantly, make sure to continue listening to your audience. Respond and address their concerns appropriately. Remember, even if you run your campaign on autopilot, nothing beats human-to-human connection.

8. Focusing On Business Goals

By now, you know the problems associated with jumping into the newest trends as well as using automation tools. That said, set aside time to explore them.

Don’t have a knee-jerk reaction to these tools. Always keep your focus on your business goals. So think whether this new technology is necessary for your social media strategy.

If it doesn’t help your brand take a step forward towards your goals, then you’re better off without it. Why? Because you’ll end up with unnecessary costs.

Which brings us to the next common social media marketing problem: Losing focus on business goals.

Do you remember when you first created your marketing plan? You probably wrote down the end-game you have in mind. Your business goals.

It could be about growing your social accounts. Or spreading brand awareness. Or increasing engagement and conversion rates.

No matter what problems will come up throughout your marketing journey, don’t lose track of your business goals.

Keep them in mind when creating a strategy. Additionally, your strategy must be scalable, predictable, and repeatable.

This is made possible by knowing what is most important. Know your channels, audience, and your brand. Most importantly, focus on what matters most.

Have You Experienced Any of the
Social Media Marketing Problems?

Marketing, especially in the digital arena, is full of ups and downs. And when you’re marketing on ever-evolving social media platforms, you need to always be prepared.

Social media platforms generate amazing results for marketers and brands. That’s why more and more businesses are making their names known online.

So if things don’t go according to plan, don’t get too frustrated. Keep at it.

Remember, social media marketing is a marathon. It’s not a sprint. So be consistent in delivering high-value content. Engage with your audience. And work with reputable brands or influencers.

Most importantly, create a social media plan that is scalable, predictable, and repeatable.