5 Reasons Your Social Media Marketing Is Not Working

Do you feel like you are putting all of this content on social media, but none of it is actually doing anything for your small business?

You are not alone! There are thousands of business accounts out there and many of them are not reaching their full potential.

Here are five common reasons that your business's social media marketing is not working- one of them might just be your downfall.

1. Every post you make is a sales pitch.

Your audience does not want to be sold too on every single post you make. They are following you to learn about your products, to learn about your and your store, they want to be educated and entertained. If you are posting sales, sales, and more sales your audience is going to click the unfollow button very quickly.

2. You are ignoring your analytics and data.

The analytics and data that your social media platforms are providing you are a gold mine for understanding your audience. what time of the day are they most online? What content are they interacting with? How old is your audience? Pay attention to your analytics and data, always.

3. You have not set yourself SMART goals.

Going into social media and posting whatever and whenever is not going to get you very far. You need to set a plan in place before you start posting. Set yourself SMART goals and you will give yourself direction in which to go.

4. You have not defined your target market.

No- ‘everyone’ is not your target market, sorry! Define who you are wanting to attract to your business. Give your audience characteristics, personalise them, their ages, their interests, their values, humanise them. This profile will lead you to make decisions based on who you want to attract.

5. You are not putting in the work.

Plain and simple- you need to put effort into social media. You need to do the work. Social media is not set and forget. If you feel like you can’t put in the effort required yourself, hire someone to do it for you!

Quick Website Audit Checklist (With PDF)

Here is some news for you: a website is NOT a set and forget business tool. 

Now.. tell me, when was the last time you updated or audited your website? You can’t tell me? That is okay because I am here and we are going to run through a website audit together. 

You can pay someone hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars to do this, or you can set up the building blocks yourself. The choice is yours. 

If you have chosen to complete this website audit yourself- Yay! Hi! Let's get started. Once you have read through this information there will also be a printout checklist for you to have set next to you as you audit your site.

THE AUDIT

Design & Branding 

• Does the look and feel of your current website still align with your current brand values and presentation?
  It is SO important to have branding consistency throughout your business, you want people to look at one aspect of your business and tie it to another immediately. For example, someone who has come from your social media should know the connection between your site and your social media by the presentation and branding. Consistency! 

• Does your home page encourage people to further explore your website pages?
  Time to grab your Google Analytics and check your bounce rate. You do not want people to get to your home page and not travel any further. Your home page should be a landing pad that launches your leads further into your site. 

• Is there consistency through your website?
  Does each page flow on from the other? Do they all look like they are part of the same website? You do not want pages that look out of place and look in-no-way related to the one the user was on beforehand. You want to be consistent with your fonts, logos, background patterns, etc. 

• Does your website include strong, high-quality images and video that portray your brand and business accurately?
  Low quality or blurry images and video will make people click away from your website very fast. If they want to see something they do not want to be squinting their eyes to try and figure out what you are using this image to say. High-quality images do not have to be professional, but they do have to be appealing. Do these images and videos represent your brand, business, and product/ service accurately? 

Functionality

• Is the business easily contactable?
  This can be done through having a pop-up chatbox on the side of your screen or having an easy to navigate ‘Contact’ tab with a contact form. You can have an email address to send inquiries too, but are people going to want to go through the effort of emailing you from a different app? You are more likely to be contacted straight from your contact form. 

• Is detailed information for your products and services readily available?
  You need to have all the information someone is going to want to know right there for them to look at before making a purchase. If you don’t have the necessary information they are going to look elsewhere for a business that does have this information readily available. 

• Is the website easy to navigate?
  Here's a hint: you want to set up the navigation of your website so even the most technology-challenged person could navigate through with ease. Do not make it complicated and frustrating. People will move on to other websites with a design that is easier to understand and navigate through. 

• Is your copy clear and concise?
  Avoid lingo that only someone ‘in-the-know’ would understand, avoid waffling on about things that simply are not that important. People have a short attention span and if you spend too much time ‘talking’ with your text they are going to get bored and click away. Say what you want to say and move on. 

• Is your website designed to be used on different interfaces?
  BIG ONE! Your website must be accessible and usable on more than just a desktop computer. We aren’t looking at sites on computers anymore, we’re using smartphones and tablets and our damn TV’s. Make sure your website can be reached in these modes. 

PERFORMANCE 

• Is your website taking under three seconds to load?
  That is how long you have before someone gives up and goes to find another website to look at. Use this link to find out how fast your pages are loading: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

• Do you have your meta tags set up?
  These tags are what search engines read in order to compare your keywords and description to the visible content. You should have meta tags set up for all images and text. 

• Are there any major issues with the website you can find?
  You should have no 404 Errors or ‘page not found and no broken links. Check your links- if they are broken remove them. If you find any issues, rectify them. These issues are frustrating and so easy to have been repaired. 

• Do your pages have relevant search terms and keywords?
  Your pages are not going to rank in search engine results without the use of common search terms and keywords. This are basic SEO practices. 

• Are you adding in content regularly through a blog or similar?
  A blog is going to bring in extra traffic to your website by using different keywords and search phrases. Who doesn’t want extra traffic? 

Okay… now what?

Download THIS checklist, print a copy, and have it right next to you while you go through your website. Mark it off and at the end feel accomplished that you have completed a website audit! Better yet, snap a quick photo and post it to your Instagram stories and tag me @ejgcreative so I can be proud of you too!

How To Grow An Audience on Instagram

A popular question I get: “how do I grow my audience on Instagram?”

People want to know how to make their follow count go up, how to get more people talking to them, talking about them, engaging with them.

It is important to continually work on growing an audience because these are YOUR people, your customers, your audience.

Here are some ideas on how you can grow your audience:

1. Be consistent

Consistency is key- always be consistent. 

Be consistent with your theme. Be consistent with what you post. Be consistent with when you post. 

For new followers, your Instagram bio and the last nine posts you have posted are their first impressions of your business. What you want is for those to be cohesive, informative, and posted recently. What you do not want is for those nine posts to be confused, disjointed, and posted months ago. 

1. Post at your optimal times 

Go into your Instagram insights and find out WHEN your people are online. 

If they are online in the morning, post in the morning. 

If they are online in the evening, post in the evening. 

Post when people are already online. 

1. Use hashtags 

You have thirty hashtags you can use on each feed post and eleven you can use on your stories. USE THEM!

People go searching for relevant hashtags, people follow hashtags, people DO still use hashtags. 

Use a diverse range of hashtags- geographical hashtags, content relevant hashtags, industry-relevant hashtags, niche hashtags. 

Do not forget to include a personalised hashtag- make one up that is basically your brand name and include that in every post you make. 

1. Share User-Generated Content 

If your people are posting about you, about your brand, if they are posting images of your products, if they’re posting ABOUT your products, use that content on your own feed. 

You can find existing images from people who have tagged your account, or you can ask people to send you some images. 

You can make the request on your stories, you can put up a main feed image, you can add a little request into your next newsletter, even add in a little card saying “please share your images with the #....” when you send out your products. 

1. Use the “Tag Location” Feature to Find Local Followers

Add your location to each and every post you post to your main feed- this is just another way for people to find you!

Each location has its own Instagram feed AND its own story. Post regularly to these feeds for more local people to find your small business. 

1. Hop on trends that fit your brand. 

If a current trend aligns with your brand and would not look out of place to your followers- don’t hesitate to jump on it!

This can include trending topics, current world events, hashtag holidays, viral challenges. 

The most important thing is that you keep things aligned with your brand and make sure what you add to the conversation is meaningful 

1. Use Paid Advertising 

There are multiple Instagram options for using paid advertising on the platform- you just need to find the budget and the method that suits your business. 

There are MANY ways to grow your audience but do not forget to focus on engagement and not the number of followers you have.