Top 5 Reasons Your Social Media Profile Isn’t Growing
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You know that you need to use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to promote yourself and/ or your business. You’ve set up your profiles and are active on the sites. However, your following on the sites isn’t growing. Why? Here are five of the leading reasons that you may not be gaining a following on your social media sites:
1. You constantly post promotional messages. Many people get frustrated by the fact that you are supposed to use social media to spread the word about your work but you aren’t actually supposed to excessively promote yourself. This may seem ridiculous. Let’s put it in a context that may make a little bit more sense. Imagine that you are going on a first date with someone. If they spend the entire time telling you that they are smart and funny and great then you are probably going to get really sick of hearing it and want the date to be over. If they instead show you that they are smart and funny and great then you’ll like them and want to see them again. It’s the same sort of thing with promoting yourself on social media sites. Show people what you’re all about without constantly bombarding them with links and announcements about it. Be confident but humble at the same time.
2. You are inconsistent when it comes to updating your social media sites. You want to remain fairly consistent when it comes to your posts on these sites. This means that you are consistent in the frequency with which you post. (Of course, you’ll post more some days than other days but you don’t post ten things in one day and then ignore the site for three weeks.) You are also consistent in the message that you send which should in turn be consistent with the message of your business. Consistency helps people get to know what you’re all about and that draws people to you so your “brand” (which is essentially what the profile is) can grow.
3. You don’t understand who your followers should be. If you don’t know who should be following you then how are those people supposed to know that they should be following you. Clearly identify in your mind who you want to follow you on these sites. Who is your target customer and what are you offering to them? For example, you may be targeting stay at home moms looking for deals and you offer them deals. Alternatively, you may be targeting college students seeking information about academics and you provide links to that information. By identifying who your followers should be and making sure that you post with them in mind you’ll naturally attract more of them.
4. You are active on the sites but not interactive. These sites have tons and tons of activity. Spend an hour straight on Twitter if you want to see just how much activity we’re talking about here. People easily get overwhelmed by profiles that are just talking at them even if they’re providing useful links and information. Instead, you want to work on chatting with people on these sites. You want to interact with the people that you’re following and the people that are friends with you. You should comment on what they post with intelligent statements and questions (not just Twitter RTs or “likes” on Facebook). It’s more effective to be interactive with a handful of people who will then spread the word to grow your following than to be active but not interactive with a lot of people.
5. You aren’t promoting your social media profiles. In other words, your following might not be growing because people don’t know where to find you. Is the link to each profile obvious on your contact page and home page of your website? Is it listed on your business card? Do you have it on your email signature? The more you publicize the availability of your social media profiles, the more people are going to follow you.
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Thank you. This helped me a great deal Keep up the good work
Best hub I've read on this subject matter. Thanks for the valuable tips.
I learned more about my social media mistakes in 5 minutes on your hub than I have in the last year.
Great effort, very helpful. Thank you.
Thanks for this hub. A good one. :)
Hi Kathryn!
I agree with you about people treating social networking sites as a billboard for their businesses. In the past, I've bombarded Twitter with links to my websites and got a lukewarm reception. Since I started replying, re-tweeting and mentioning my followers' posts, I've gained many more "targeted" followers. Great hub...keep up the good work :)
Great info Thank You. It all takes effort and time. It is not hard more time consuming. Interaction is the key to open the doors for a business. I will take one social media per every couple or three days and spend 30 minutes fvvv . We reap what we sow. It is pretty amazing the diversiy out there in cyberspace. We are so fortunate to have these great tools to reach all the corners of the world. m
Great hub, Kathryn. Yes, there is an art behind being successful in social media. It is a terrific platform, but we need tips like this to be able to make it work.
Great hub,i am x social sales board dude.
Great hub,have good information, thank you.
Seems to be simple basics: Treat others as you want to be treated. Works for me. Everything human endeavors require a relationship... It is up to us to nurture and develop a synergistic one...
Very good tips. I hadn't thought about the interacting part.
Thank you for sharing these great tips.
Very interesting and thought-provoking. Especially the difference between being active vs interactive.
Very informative. I agree--I actually "unfollowed" someone on Twitter because all she ever posted were 'tweets' along the lines of 'come look at my shop and buy something.'
She would never reply to a comment or question, and seemed much too self-absorbed. It got boring, and as you know, Twitter carries an overwhelming number of tweets hourly, so it is important to make those tweets count!
Glad you posted this...I hope at least a few will take notice. ;-)
fabulous article! very right and very informative and can help a lot of people who don't understand why their profile is not growing.
this hub is very useful. thanks.
You are right. Many profiles of hubpages too look very inactive.
I agree with the points you have made.
Great and perfect advice. Thank you.
I agree with your views. There is increasing "noise" in social networks which makes it very difficult to communicate. Thanks.
Hi Kathryn, great page. Please review my page about restaurant marketing and let me know your thoughts! Thanks http://hubpages.com/hub/Pizza-Menu-Printing-7-Ways
I agree with you that consistency is critical for growth in the social media world...good stufff!
this is aweosme and has given me a few pointers, as It is not so much promtion (overly or otherwise) but I think teh tpe of promotion. So this has given me some thinking about.
Thank you for this hub!
Thank you very much! Very interesting as I speak fluent idiot with social media.
I think points 1 and 2 are the most important. People easily get bored of you if you try and sell to them too quicly or too often
Its important to be personal...RT other's posts, ask genuine questions...be engaged. Social is about being social...not intrusive with messaging.
Great hub. I totally agree with you. Today, social media has become the prime source of advertising. The majority of internet marketers have understood this fact and trying to make the most out of it. However, if we over promote our profiles, it might boomerang on us.
Great Hub. People need to remember to communicate and interact with their fans and followers by offering useful information and advice. The sales will come naturally once the relationship is built.
Interesting points. Thanks Kathryn.
This is a great hub. The advice is simple and straight forward. Thank you.
Great post - fantastic advice!
Excellent hub! All too often, people forget that social media requires time, effort and planning. To use social media to its full potential, it is necessary to focus some real energy on it and not just slap something together--there IS a science to doing it the right way!
Another reason why your following might not be growing is because you offer no incentive to your fans/followers. Remember, they need a reason to follow you.
Good stuff, Kathryn! Ya know, some people get upset with folks posting all about their businesses. I don't mind everyone and their brother posting their products and services....I have the option to "ignore" content that doesn't "do it for me." I like what you said in point #1 about not just promoting yourself, but "showing" people your positive attributes.
What you are really saying is this: don't tell people about the value that you bring to the market place....just bring the value. People will notice the difference between you (the pro), and everyone else (the amateurs).
That market place pays for value! You either have it or you don't. And the consumer voice out here in cyberspace is educated enough in 2011 to tell the difference!
I am new to this and your hub helped. Thank you, great hub.
I have been using social media for a long time but it is not paying off at all. I think you hub will really help me improve the output.
Good and informative hub, Truly Social media requires time and effort from our part to keep up the growth.
Great points in your hub! Thanks for sharing!
I love this hub!i like your topic"You are active on the sites but not interactive" really people make more and more friends on social media site but not interacted with him.
katrinasui Level 3 Commenter 19 months ago
Hi Kathryn Vercillo, this is really useful hub. I think i am also doing few mistakes that's why my social media profile is not growing as it should be.