Social media marketing is quickly becoming the way of the future in the marketing world. Because of the massive takeover that we have seen in the way of social media marketing, it is understandable that businesses and marketing professionals alike have struggled with interacting with this new way of marketing products and services.

With any new or novel thing, there is room for growing pains. However, it is best to keep in mind the pitfalls of others when trying to avoid experiencing the same growing pains that others have. This same principle applies to the difficulties of social media marketing.

So, what are the primary reasons why social media marketing efforts fail? In this article, we will explore twelve reasons why social media marketing can take a turn for the worst.

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing refers to the marketing of brands, products, and services online through social media platforms. This can mean placing advertisements on social media, but it can also refer to general brand presence, interactions with customers, and everyday posting on social media websites and applications.

Common social media platforms for this sort of marketing are Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. Again, it is important to remember that social media marketing is not just strictly paid advertising. This is a common misconception and is actually our very first reason of our top twelve reasons why social media marketing can fail.

Let’s dive right into our list!

What Are the Reasons that Marketing on Social Media Can Fail?

Reason One: Focusing more on advertising through social media than brand presence.

Brand presence is the number one way to promote trust between your brand and your potential clients and customers. Without the clear brand message and social media presence to back up your advertisements, your prospective customers are going to have a hard time buying in (literally) to your products and ideas.

Reason Two: Ignoring social media analytics.

What your viewers are liking, loving, and commenting on is important to your success while marketing on social media. If you are not paying attention to the analytics features that social media websites offer you, you are likely ignoring a lot of clues on how to improve your social media strategy. This is a very costly error to those who are new to the world of social media marketing.

Use these analytical tools to your advantage on social media to learn what you’re doing good at and what you could improve upon.

Reason Three: Not engaging with your audience.

Your audience wants to hear from you! This goes back to the main tenet of marketing in general: promoting trust. Not interacting with your audience is a surefire way to leave your prospective customers feeling ignored, not cared about, or disinterested. Make your target market interested in you by being interested in them.

Reason Four: Flat out not posting enough!

This simple and costly mistake can waste your time when you advertise on social media without the social media page to back up the advertisement.

Let’s take the example of an advertisement on Instagram:

You successfully reel in a viewer on Instagram, and they click on your ad! This is incredible news… but then they click on your Instagram page, and it is empty, dated, or there is not much attention paid to brand presence and social media focus.

This possible customer has now been turned off by your lack of visibility on Instagram and will be much less likely to be a positive conversion into a sale. Trust is something that you must promote between your brand and those who are viewing your social media profiles and pages.

Reason Five: It is too early to see growth.

Online buyers are finicky, and this is a larger problem in the world of internet sales and e-commerce. New brands have a difficult time breaking out because people are less likely to trust them. If you have only had a social media account for a week, customers are going to have a difficult time believing in your product or service.

The proof is in the pudding for online shopping and people want to see reviews and posts.

Reason Six: You don’t know who you need to market to.

This is not a problem that is unique to social media marketing, but it could be the reason that you are not seeing success. Take a step back and reevaluate who your products and services are for. Are those the people that are clicking on your posts and engaging with them? If not, you may need to reconsider the approach that you are taking, and you may even find yourself redefining your target audience.

Reason Seven: You are too focused on followers.

It is a common misconception in the world of social media that followers = social media success. However, even in the world of social media influencers, follower count does not mean nearly as much as clicks and engagements. Pushing your social media account to increase in followers is the wrong approach to take because followers do not work to gain you sales, views and interaction are the answer you are looking for.

Reason Eight: You are trying too hard to make sales.

Remember that people that are interacting with social media are most likely not on social media to be advertised to. Instead, most people use social media as a way to relax and unwind. If your posts are coming across their feed as overtly advertisements, they are more likely to skip past your sales pitch than sit through it while trying to enjoy some leisure time. Instead, try to be more subtle with your social media posts and advertisements in order to keep people looking at your brand on social media.

Reason Nine: Lack of consistency in your posts.

One of the many pitfalls of social media marketing is inconsistent posting. By this, we are not referring to inconsistent posting of social media posts, but rather an inconsistent approach. Trying too many approaches at social media marketing can make you look disorganized and unprofessional. Stick to one strategy and acquire the data that you need on that strategy before shifting gears.

Reason Ten: No team cooperation.

You may have seen this on social media yourself, but this ties into our Reason Nine. Without everyone on board on your brand presence, marketing plan, and posting schedule, your team can make costly errors to your social media marketing schemes through lack of teamwork. Remember that people associate so many things with your brand – consistent posting, tone of voice, graphic design choices, brand colors, brand aesthetic. All of these things should be agreed upon by a team.

Reason Eleven: Refusal to learn, grow, and adapt.

We touched on this a little bit when talking about not taking advantage of analytics, but more specifically, social media marketers that refuse to adjust to the market itself are sure to see failure. Our world is constantly growing and changing. Products that were used ten years ago have long been abandoned and new websites and social media platforms pop up almost daily. Stick with the times and update your practices and processes in order to avoid falling behind in social media marketing.

Reason Twelve: You don’t take advantage of the concept of community.

Community is so crucial to marketing, but you might be misunderstanding it. Just as focusing too much on followers is a costly pitfall, so is assuming that your followers will be fanatics of your brand. You will need to continue to provide content to these loyal followers in order to keep them engaged, just as you need to cater to new followers and prospective followers. This same concept applies in sales as well.

For example, only offering sales coupons to new customers or clients through social media will frustrate your loyal buyers who would love to see a loyalty discount. Do not make the costly mistake of alienating your most loyal brand followers by trying to grow your community. Instead, focus on building it. Get the best of both worlds by showing your new customers that your loyal customers are valued, and they will want to be loyal customers too.

Conclusion and Takeaway

When discussing what are the primary reasons why social media marketing efforts fail, we must look at the common truths between social media marketing and all marketing. We know that trust is the key to making sales, and social media efforts should be first focused on making that bond rather than making quick sales. If this principle is not followed, we see the mistakes made on this list.

Unfortunately, these errors in social media marketing can be costly and can be extremely detrimental to a brand if not corrected. Whether you are beginning to market on social media or you need to spruce up your tactics, we hope that this list has provided you with the tools to promote trust between your brand and your target market on social media.