7 Reasons Why Your Social Media Presence Is Not Growing
Nowadays, you can’t picture building your brand without a social media presence. Social media activity is crucial to establishing and growing your brand.
Whether you are trying to send people to your website or boost your professional profile, social media needs to be a part of your strategy.
Therefore, you are putting effort into creating a presence on one of the most popular platforms, Instagram. Instagram is a fantastic channel to grow your brand safely.
You are doing everything right, from making your Instagram stories shoppable to using clickable hashtags. However, despite your efforts, your website doesn’t receive new visitors. What does this happen?
Reason #1: You Need A Digital Strategy
You would never think of building an entire plumbing system and then trying to fit it retroactively into the house structure.
For a house to be coherent and functional, it makes sense that every element needs to be planned together. This allows constructors to arrange the bricks in such a way there’s room for the plumbing pipes.
However, when it comes to digital strategy, most people continue to adopt a compartmented approach. You build your website; you create your social media profile.
But at no point do you follow an overarching plan that determines how every single one of your platforms should work together for growth. If you want your social media activities to affect your website positively, you need to work closely with a digital marketing agency to create a coherent combination of activities across all channels, including advertising, social media content, tracking, etc.
Reason #2: Your Sponsor/Partner Has A Bad Rep
As a blogger, you can monetize your social media presence for influencer marketing activities. Becoming an influencer means you can partner with brands through your content.
It’s a fantastic opportunity for bloggers to support their favorite brands and make money in the process. However, you need to be careful about your chosen partner.
It’s a good idea to keep track of brands’ activities and strategies so you don’t associate your brand with a controversial company. For example, when a partner company commits a social media faux pas, it can affect you negatively.
Reason #3: You Need to Improve Your Pictures
If you are the kind of person who needs many shots to get the right selfie, you could benefit from a crash course in photography. Taking top-quality Instagram photos can make a big difference in the long run.
The social media audience is growing tired of influencers using heavy filters on their pictures. People seek a relatable image that doesn’t promote unhealthy goals.
Therefore, edited and filtered photos are becoming a no-no online. While it doesn’t mean you can’t use a filter to enhance the light or the color in a shot, you should stay away from filters that create unrealistic beauty expectations.
Instead, learning a few smartphone camera tricks can make a huge difference. Avoiding portrait mode for inside shooting in low light is the best practice.
Even if you are shooting a portrait, this automatic mode is best suited for outdoor photos. Mastering the depth of field and the composition rule will add a new dimension to your photos with no need for filters.
Reason #4: You Need to Build Awesome Engagement
Social media is a two-way road of communication. Ultimately, you need to engage with your audience to bring your social media activities to life.
Posting photos or updates without replying to comments or mentioning other users is the digital equivalent of a monologue. It destroys any attempt at creating a conversation.
The failure to acknowledge your audience can damage your brand in the long term. People may stop connecting with your posts as they feel their input is not valued.
Instead, you can build engagement through different techniques:
- Answer questions asked in the comment section
- Mention users and brands in your post
- Like other people’s content
- Ask open questions on social media and react to the comments
- Throw a content contest, such as asking people to share their favorite photo relevant to a topic
Reason #5: Not On the Right Social Media Channel
Instagram is a popular social media platform. However, it is one of many platforms available:
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Snapchat
- Discord
- Etc.
Depending on where you want to grow your brand, you may need to diversify your social media platform. For instance, if you’re active on Instagram but want to establish yourself in Asian regions, a platform such as Line, the Asian WhatsApp equivalent, could be a game-changer.
On the other hand, if you want to reach out to a B2B audience, LinkedIn and Twitter are desirable platforms.
Reason #6: You Need More Content Diversity
Diversity is a buzzword that’s often misunderstood when it comes to social media content. If you manage multiple social media platforms, you need to be conscious of your audience choices and preferences.
It is unlikely the audience on Instagram will expect the same content as followers on LinkedIn. Adjusting your content to each platform means you can better target the audience and maximize your visibility.
Additionally, you can vary content formats. For instance, an Instagram post could show the behind-the-scenes preparation for a research project.
On the other hand, you could publish the resulting graph displaying your analysis on LinkedIn. You can use Twitter to share a link to an article commenting on the results.
The bottom line: It’s not about creating different content information but about showing the different approach angles through your entire social media presence.
Reason #7: Not Keeping Up With the Latest Trends?
Last but not least, you should keep track of the latest actualities and innovations in your sector. Suppose you are a fashion blogger.
Your audience expects you to be knowledgeable about the latest fashion collections. If you are a tech blogger, people want to read about tech news and innovations.
Failing to address trends puts you at risk. Indeed, social media platforms are highly competitive. If your audience notices that you discuss trends always AFTER your competitors, they may lose interest.
Growing your brand online is no easy task. Your social media presence acts as a thermometer to take the temperature of your brand.
If your social media reputation grows, you can expect more visitors to hit your website and more profit. Therefore, it’s crucial to be strategic about your social media activities.
