There are several myths surrounding social media management that can hinder the efficiency of your online marketing campaigns. If you do not nail down the essentials, your team could end up spending time and money on a campaign that may have very limited reach. This is why, in this article, we’re going to cover some of the most common social media management myths in Chicago to help you improve your efforts.
1. Posting times are set in stone
This is a very common myth that inexperienced social media marketers fall for. However, the success of a social media campaign largely depends on the industry, target market, platform, and audience. For example, a restaurant will have different peak hours than a convenience store, where most people visit restaurants during the evening on weekends, while a convenience store is most packed at the end of the workday.
While this provides a solid principle for understanding the ideal posting time, you can dig deeper and become even more specific to reach a wider audience. Maybe a large segment of your target audience thinks about making reservations a few hours before the evening, or there’s a segment of the audience that is interested in having a cocktail later during the day? Identifying these different segments and addressing their needs can be done through analytics, and it can increase your turnout by filling time slots that usually see less client activity. As such, there is no one time of day that makes sense across the board for all social media marketing campaigns.
2. It’s all up to the algorithms
Social media algorithms can be quite a mystery, so many marketers will adopt a fatalistic outlook on their posting times. After all, if you cannot figure out the algorithm, you cannot really determine what is optimal and what isn’t. However, this is not really true. While there are many aspects of these algorithms that are hard to peer through from the outside, their goals can be inferred. It is in the interest of social media companies to promote accuracy and relevancy, and they achieve this by collecting and analyzing millions of data samples. These samples help the algorithm to match the best content with the right audience. So, while there is an apparent lack of control over whether your content is considered better for your audience than the content of another company, you can still analyze your audience’s behavior and make sure that you are there on time, at the very least.
3. In order to stay relevant, you have to post daily
While consistency is important, you should still prioritize quality over quantity. You will almost always see better results if you put out quality content consistently, rather than decent content on a daily basis. This is largely due to the algorithms, and the way that marketing works in general. If you publish relevant content on a fairly regular basis, that sends a signal to the social media algorithm, and your content will be pushed to the front of the line in the future. In terms of marketing principles, your target audience may only see your content on the weekends, or during certain days of the week. By putting out content daily, you waste a lot of time into crafting posts, articles, infographics etc. that may not be seen by your prospects.
Do you need help with your social media management efforts in Chicago?
Social media takes some time to master, both in our personal and professional lives. However, when there are budgets on the line, and target numbers to hit, the pressure is on. Hopefully, by clearing some of the myths surrounding this marketing tool, we’ve helped you improve the effectiveness of your campaigns. If you would like to know more about social media management in Chicago, contact us today.