With everything now going digital, businesses are now turning to online tools that would help them reach out to their consumers better than the traditional methods. Social media is one of these online tools, permitting businesses to reach a large volume of their intended market, but also promote their products with ease.

Unfortunately, social media can also be the downfall of one’s business depending on how a business owner uses their social media and its various tools.

So, if you are stuck in the middle trying to think on how you can prevent social media from destroying you, here are the five ways on how social media can cripple your business and cause it to fail so you can prevent it:

1. Your social media presence isn’t well-liked

Just like how you meet new people and make friends, your social profile should be well-balanced. It could be both welcoming and entertaining even if you are a business trying to develop a name. If you keep posting clinical and serious posts all the time, viewers will be less inclined to like or share your content.

Your social media presence for the business should not be mixed with your social media presence as an individual. Always keep your business social media account separate from your personal account because if you suddenly posted your personal belief regarding a controversial topic in your business account, people will think negatively of you.

2. You are ignoring ‘social karma’

If you are intending to get the support of fans and customers, you have to provide them something of value first. Social media users often prefer content that is fun, informative and share-worthy for those who follow them. When you do this properly, you can get the karma you are after, like likes, conversions and sales.

If you don’t do this, you are not doing your brand any favours and you won’t get the hits you are after.

3. You do not see the relationship of social media to sales

Social media is essential if you want to reach the market you want. However, you have to do it creatively because if not, you will just spend a lot of money for nothing and you will be stuck in the middle trying to sort your budget to make up for the loss.

Pay close attention to where your intended audience is mostly located and plan accordingly. You should also plan properly to ensure that your investment in social media comes back. Use Google Analytics to measure the conversions and understand how social media makes a difference.

4. You are ignoring what really matters

In social media, an individual, a company or a group can only make it big if they understand all the factors that will help them reach out to the world better. Even if your page records a lot of likes, it doesn’t mean these likes are connected to your sales or to your image to others online.

Check your page’s engagement rate and see how you can increase the possibility of it becoming conversions.

5. You are allowing untrained individuals to handle your social media

Finally, it is an error for many businesses to put the task of handling the business’ social media account to unqualified interns. Although these interns are also proficient with social media, they are not familiar with how business social media account should be done. If the intern posts something wrong in the account, your business will be in jeopardy.

It is ideal to have a social media manager to tackle your social media to prevent these possible mishaps. There are plenty of freelance social media specialists out there who are willing to take on the challenge.

Conclusion

Like any other tool that is available to use, social media must be handled with care especially if you are planning to use it for business. Before you use it, learn everything there is to know about it and be careful about how you manage it. One wrong move can spell the end, so think before you post anything!

How should you treat your customers right? Check out these articles:

What Do Customers Expect From Your Business?
Online Or Offline? Where To Start Your New Business

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