Social media is integral to the modern business world. There’s no better place to find new customers, nor a better platform to convert prospects into a loyal following. Simply having an online presence can bring a lot of new custom your way, and even if you don’t hit the big goals that are common in marketing, there’s a lot of expansion to be found here.
However, there’s a lot a new business owner can misunderstand about running a social media account. Getting signed up and starting to post is all well and good, but if you’re operating under a few assumptions that aren’t really true, you’re going to end up accidentally limiting yourself. That’s quite the big mistake to make in marketing, and you might not even know you’re making it.
But what are these misconceptions that a lot of new business owners fall into? Well, the more you know about the myths below, the better your social media strategy will work out. At the very least, with the right information to work off of, you’ll be able to pinpoint what’s actually going wrong and what you can do to improve.
Only a Certain Generation Uses Social Media
When we think of an online user, the picture that pops into our head is probably of someone between the ages of 18 and 25. Rarely do we picture someone of an older age bracket being the one on the other side of the screen.
As such, anyone who operates a social media profile may try to appeal to this younger audience at all times. Stay on trend, make sure you’re creating content that relates to the current zeitgeist, try to be ‘down with the kids’, etc. However, this then discounts anyone outside of this generation, despite the fact that around a third of all online users are in their mid 20s to mid 30s, and in the same dataset, those in their mid 30s to mid 40s were found to be the second biggest portion.
The internet comes with all ages, and if your customer base has a similar diverse age range, it’s best to cater to them all. Don’t try to impress one over the other, and do some research into finding out where the age ranges in your audience are collecting when they’re online.
You Need to Be on Every Social Media Platform
You don’t. That’s really the long and short of it. You only need to be on the platforms that are actually bringing in results. You’ll have to do some investigation into your analytics to find out which platform is performing best, but you may also have a good idea already. After all, if most of your customers are messaging via Instagram, but you’re getting nothing through X, then it’s likely the former is more your scene.
Indeed, a lot of businesses think they need to get themselves on every single platform that’s got a decent user base, simply because there’s a chance for exposure there. However, if you never really get any engagement, and your views are very low as well, you could just be wasting time and money. Focus only on the social media that’s bringing in likes, comments, new followers, and plenty of visits to your website.
You should also think about branching out into platforms you may not see as viable social media. We all know the big four: Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok, but platforms like Bluesky or Reddit can often be left out of the social media strategy.
Reddit alone can bring in great engagement when you have a few accounts active in related ‘subreddits’, which are specific topic/niche forums that your business won’t look out of place in. Similarly, Bluesky is gaining a lot of traction at the moment for being a great X alternative and the user base is getting bigger every single day.
Long story short, focus less on where you think your presence should be and actually do a little bit of research and experimentation.
The Algorithm Doesn’t Tend to Disfavor Content
There’s a lot of content on social media at the moment in which account owners share the thought that their content isn’t being promoted on purpose. Within this, there’s a belief that the algorithm is disfavoring them and making it hard for any of their posts to gain traction. Some people may even claim that they’ve been ‘shadowbanned’.
And it can certainly seem like this is true, especially if you used to get great engagement but your numbers have been dropping off recently. But in reality, social media algorithms have a lot of work to do and a lot of content to filter through. Your content is another entry to this pile.
Algorithms are made from the ground up and institute machine learning to stay ahead of the content curve, and rarely do social media platforms let slip how their content sorting machine really works. Algorithms change over time as well, and what may have worked before may not keep on working.
There’s also a strong preference for and easy shareable content. Second to this is whether or not that content is high quality. Finding the balance between the two is very difficult, and thousands of businesses experiment with content every single day to see what really sticks.
No One Likes to Read So There’s No Need for a Blog
You’re probably constantly being told that short form, easy to digest content is the best for getting your business out there. What you share on social media needs to be easily accessible and immediately understandable with just a quick scan of the screen.
Really, the point seems to be that no one is going to stick around to find out more, or want to waste their time reading through something that’s longer than 10-20 words. They’ll simply scroll past to the next post that does cater to this short and ineffective attention span.
However, this viewpoint only works for a certain group of online users. Anyone outside of this – and remember, there are billions of people online – do still enjoy long form content that has something to say. That’s why blogs still work in 2024, and why they’ll probably still work for at least another 10 years yet.
And when it comes to capturing someone’s attention, don’t forget that research is starting to show that attention spans aren’t really decreasing. What feels like them getting shorter is actually a much more complex set of variables at play, including having to divert your attention a lot more often.
In fact, people love to get stuck into a post that’s at least 1000 words long, and a blog is really the only place that’ll let you make such content. Of course, there is also research to show that you only have a few seconds to catch someone’s eye when they’re online, but that doesn’t mean you need to always keep things short and sweet.
To make this work for your blog, be eye-catching at a glance. Buzzwords and strong colors, rhetoric statements that generate hype, etc., but then have something deeper there for people to get into. Make a post that achieves all of this for your Instagram or Facebook, which can then link back to a recent blog you’ve published where readers can get the actual information you’ve sprinkled in front of them.
If the Numbers are Big, Your Profit Will Be too
We all like to think that massive success on social media means a big profit that’ll keep your business turning over. All of those followers must bring in a good amount of sales each month, right? This won’t always be the case, and when it comes to defining your social media goals, it’s best to leave numbers out of it.
Focus too much on the numbers and you might find that you forget about what it takes to convert followers into customers. You’ve secured their following, absolutely, but for every new follower you get, it’ll be a while before they buy from you.
This means the work doesn’t stop at the numbers. They’re the first point on the list you’ll want to cross out, but you’ve got to keep the quality content coming. Don’t get lazy about this; be consistent and focus on what they need from this point on.
Social Media and You: What a New Business Needs to Remember
If you’re a business on social media, don’t let misunderstandings hinder your content. Pick your platforms right, according to the niche you’re in and the traffic you’re getting, post for every age group that forms your customer base, and don’t let yourself think the algorithm is out to get you.
And remember, a big following isn’t always the best metric to measure success by. If you’ve got the numbers but no sales to back it up, your audience needs a little more engagement to get them going. But don’t worry, you’re perfectly capable of making that happen!
About The Author
