{"id":355,"date":"2020-10-27T19:49:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T19:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.seohost.net\/blog\/?p=355"},"modified":"2025-06-21T19:03:47","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T19:03:47","slug":"avoiding-the-biggest-mistake-most-businesses-make-with-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seohost.net\/blog\/avoiding-the-biggest-mistake-most-businesses-make-with-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding The Biggest Mistake Most Businesses Make With Social Media"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The value of social media as a marketing tool has already been well-documented. Everyone knows by now that any brand worth its salt needs <\/em>to at least have a presence on Facebook. What people aren’t clear on, however, is what exactly that presence entails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue, as it were, is that businesses don’t take the time to learn what makes social networks unique. They treat Facebook as just another advertising platform, Twitter as a tool for rapid-fire sales, and Instagram as a product showcase. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that’s a problem. Not just because that’s not what social media is meant to be used for, but because audience attitudes towards sales-focused content have shifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dramatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today’s consumers don’t want to be sold to. They don’t want to be bombarded with marketing pitches, harassed with product information, and flooded with cold calls. Many of them have spent their entire lives dealing with that kind of thing \u2014 and at this point, it’s little more than digital white noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider, for instance, that as reported by online publication The Drum<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>a recent study by consulting firm Kantar found that just 14 percent <\/em>of people trust advertisers. The Spring update to the Edelman 2020 Trust Barometer<\/a>, which measures consumer trust in business and government, meanwhile, found that only 32 percent of people believe businesses are putting people before profits. Taken together, these two studies paint a very clear picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People do not trust any business they view as overly profit-driven. And that means that if you use social media as little more than an additional sales platform, your audience is just going to lump you in with every other brand they dislike and don’t trust. So what’s the alternative? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of focusing on your business’s bottom line and trying to drive sales, focus on your brand’s relationship with its audience. Instead of spending all your time talking about your products, think about what your audience might actually <\/em>be interested in seeing. In short, instead of using your social channels as ad platforms, leverage them for engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask yourself the following questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n