Solving the 5 Most Common Social Media Marketing Challenges

The latest statistics show that 72 percent of all internet users are on social media. They are using it to connect with family and friends, but they are also using it to connect with their favorite brands.

Search Engine Journal reports that approximately 46 percent of web users turn to social media when they are making a purchase. What’s more, 73 percent of people who own a smartphone are using it to access those social networks.

This means that not only are people using social media, they are taking it with them everywhere they go. The Social Marketing Trends Report identified several social media marketing challenges.

Five most common social media marketing challenges

1. Measuring ROI (60%)

Return on investment, or ROI, lets you know that your social media marketing efforts are working. It lets you know what is an effective part of your strategy and what isn’t. Developing a strategy to measure your ROI isn’t as difficult as you may think.

Social media analytics tools are well worth the investment. They monitor your social media marketing efforts (link), allowing you to judge what adjustments are necessary. Google Analytics is a free tool, but there are paid tools as well that usually give you more insight.

2. Tying social activities to business outcomes (50%)

Customer engagement is a major concern for businesses. Social media is all about relationship building. Businesses can use social media as a tool to build relationships with their customers, but tying this back to how it impacts their business isn’t always easy. There’s a lot more to it than just counting fans.

Again, social media analytics tools allow to track metrics that are more sophisticated. This is why monitoring all of your marketing efforts is so important.

3. Developing a social media strategy (48%)

Developing a social media strategy that is aligned to business goals is an ongoing challenge for most businesses. It is crucial to find the right approach whether it is brand awareness, customer loyalty, driving traffic, or to increase sales. Many companies will just jump right into social media without any plan at all. This is not only a waste of time and resources; it is potentially damaging to your company’s reputation.

Your goals are the crux of your social media strategy. Set clear goals for your social media and make sure they are well understood. Create objectives, or benchmarks that are measurable so you can keep track. Then build from there as you would with a mobile, email or any other marketing strategy.

4. Securing enough internal resources (40%)

Businesses struggle with securing adequate internal resources to support their social media marketing. Most also struggle with identifying those resources and efficiently using them. Smaller businesses may try to take the do-it-all approach but this is a grievous error. Social media marketing takes time, so using your business’ internal resources to facilitate it is a smart move.

The person or people who handle your customer service can be an exceptional resource. They already have a finger on the pulse of your customers and have a good idea of what they respond to.

Look for members of your staff who are social media savvy and put their skills to work. Small business owners can look to friends and family for help. Use your employees to market your brand and make your customers brand ambassadors. Leverage your internal resources where you can. They are closer and more available than you may think.

5. Tracking results in a centralized dashboard (32%)

When you are active on multiple networks it can be extremely time consuming to track and manage each account individually. Having the ability to have one dashboard that lets you do virtually everything is a huge time saver and much more efficient. Finding one that really delivers is another story.

Look for a dashboard that allows all-in-one monitoring and allows collaboration among team members. Measuring your results is important so the dashboard should have advanced reporting tools to help you keep on top of your marketing. Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Sendible are three dashboards that are worth checking out – but there are others out there. Find the one that works for your business.

What's Next?

What social media problems did your company overcome? Make sure to share them with us in the comments below. I would love to read them.