Why is Social Media Not Working Well For Your Campaigns

If you’re a struggling digital marketer, here’s an important question: why is social media not working well for you?

Social media platforms are a mainstay of digital marketing and can be a powerful tool for B2B campaigns. However, if you do not see the expected results, some factors could be at play, preventing your campaigns from success.

Many determinants influence how well social media will work for your marketing strategy, and it is important to understand these before you begin troubleshooting.

Let’s examine why your B2B social media campaigns are struggling and what you can do to make them work better for you. By the end of this article, you will better understand how social media works and how to keep it from underperforming for your campaigns.

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Key Takeaways

• Social media campaigns may underperform due to content that lacks creativity and relevance, failing to capture the target audience’s attention in a competitive digital environment.
• Choosing inappropriate platforms for B2B campaigns can lead to poor visibility and engagement, as the success of a campaign heavily relies on being present where the target audience has the most influence and interest.
• A lack of integration between various marketing channels and social media efforts can confuse potential customers, weakening the overall impact of the marketing strategy and hindering business opportunities.

Reasons Why Social Media Might Not be Working for Your Campaigns

Let’s get right to it. Here are six possible reasons why your social media campaigns are not working as well as you want them to.

Powerless Content

There’s no sugarcoating it – if your social media content is weak, uninspired, and dull, your campaigns will not see the sunshine. You exist in a fast-paced and highly competitive digital landscape, so your content must be attention-grabbing, relevant, and informative.

If your content doesn’t stand out from the crowd, you will get lost in the shuffle and miss out on key opportunities to connect with your target audience.

We will talk about social media content strategy in a while.

Inappropriate Platforms

If you’re a fan of the old Flintstones cartoon, you might remember an episode where Fred and Barney set up a pet rocking chair business. After toiling away for hours with no customers in sight, they had a “Eureka!” moment and realized they had been setting up their stand in the wrong part of town.

So they packed up their chairs and headed to the other side of Bedrock, where their business took off almost immediately. 

The moral of the story is that choosing the right platform is essential for success. The same can be said for social media B2B campaigns—if you want your campaign to succeed, you need the right platform.

There are several ways to tell if you’re on the wrong channel.

• your ads are being seen by people who have no authority within their organization
• you’re not getting high-quality leads that convert into customers
• you’re not seeing a good return on your investment
• the platform does not have a large enough or relevant enough audience
• it is difficult to navigate or doesn’t allow for customization that you need

Of course, it’s not all on the platform. Probably there are features that you have not optimized yet, or that you do not know about them. It happens to the best of us. We will get into how to choose the right social media platform for your business a little later.

Lack of Integration

Your business likely has multiple channels through which it communicates with customers and prospects. These might include email, your website, phone calls, in-person meetings, SDR sessions, and social media.

For your customers and prospects to understand who you are and what you do, it’s important that all of these channels work together seamlessly.

Lack of integration occurs when there is a disconnect between these channels. For example, someone clicks on a Facebook ad that directs them to your website, but the message on your website doesn’t match the message in the ad.

That’s a lack of integration. Or if someone reads a blog post on your website about a new product but can’t find any mention of that product on your social network channels, that’s also a lack of integration.

Lack of integration confuses customers and makes it difficult for them to understand your business. As a result, they are less likely to do business with you.

How to Fix It

The first step in fixing the problem is identifying where the lack of integration occurs. Take a close look at all your communications channels and look for discrepancies between them. Once you’ve identified where the problem lies, you can start working on fixing it.

Depending on the nature and severity of the problem, fixing the lack of integration might be as simple as updating some copy or redesigning your website. In other cases, it might require major changes, such as revamping your entire social media strategy.

Failure to Keep Up with the Trends

Another reason your B2B campaigns are falling flat might be that you’re not keeping up with the latest trends. Let’s look at three social media trends B2B marketers need to be aware of to run successful campaigns.

The Rise of Stories

One of the biggest social media trends is the rise of stories. Stories are short posts that disappear after 24 hours. They’re trendy on platforms like Instagram and Snapchat but also gaining traction on third-party social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

For B2B marketers, stories offer a great opportunity to show off your products or services in action, give behind-the-scenes looks at your company, and humanize your brand. 

The Decline of Text-Based Posts

While stories are on the rise, text-based posts are on the decline. In most cases, people aren’t as interested in reading long blocks of text on social media as before.

That’s why it’s important to mix things up and use various content types in your B2B campaigns, like images, infographics, videos, and Live videos. 

The Importance of Visuals 

Speaking of images and videos, visuals are more important than ever on social media. In fact, tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than tweets without images. And posts with videos are 12X more likely to be shared than posts without videos.

So, if you want your B2B campaigns to be successful on social media, incorporate plenty (but reasonable) of visuals into your content mix. 

Too Much Reliance on Organic Means

With the algorithm governing news feeds constantly changing and organic reach declining, it’s important to supplement your organic strategy with some paid ads. Doing so will ensure that more people see your content and that your campaigns are more likely to be successful.

Let’s take a closer look at what this means and why too much dependence on organic means could hurt your campaign’s performance.

Organic vs. Inorganic Reach

When we talk about organic reach, we’re referring to the number of people who see your content without you having to pay for it. It can happen in many ways, such as through someone following your page or by someone visiting your content in their news feed because a friend or family member shared it.

In contrast, inorganic reach occurs when you pay to boost your posts or run ads. Obviously, organic and inorganic reach have their place in a successful social media campaign. However, if you put all your eggs in the organic basket, you might miss out on reaching a larger audience.

Why Organic Might Not Be Enough

The problem with depending too heavily on organic reach is that the algorithm governing what appears in users’ news feeds is constantly changing, and there’s no guarantee that your content will be seen by even a fraction of your followers, let alone enough people to make a difference for your business.

In addition, the organic reach of individual posts has been declining for some time now, so it’s getting harder and harder to get your content seen organically. This is why complementing your organic strategy with some paid ads is crucial if you want your social media campaigns to be successful.

So, those are the reasons why social media may not be working well for your b2b campaigns. Perhaps you’re not keeping up with the latest trends, or your content is powerless without a solid strategy to back it up.

Maybe you’re using the wrong platforms or not integrating your social media efforts with other marketing channels. Without effective promotion, your posts may never reach their target audience. And if you rely too much on organic means instead of paid ads, you could miss out on many potential leads.

Don’t let these common mistakes keep you from achieving success with social media. In the following sections, we will cover how to choose the right platforms, how to develop a social media content strategy, and how to optimize your social profiles.

Buckle up!

Choosing the Best Platforms for Your Industry

You can’t just focus on one platform and expect to see results. Different platforms are better suited for different industries and social marketing goals. Here are things to ponder when choosing the best channel for your business.

• Define your business or website and your target audience before choosing a platform.
• Consider the different features offered by each platform.
• Find a balance between ease of use and cost when making your decision.
• Make sure the platform you choose is compatible with any existing enterprise tech you use.
• Pay attention to customer service and reviews before committing to a platform.
• Which platforms will be most helpful in reaching your target market?
• Which platforms will be most effective for promoting your products or services?

Here’s a brief overview of some of the most popular social media platforms to help you decide which ones to use for your business.

Facebook 

Facebook is the largest social media channel, with over 2 billion monthly active users. It is a great platform for businesses of all sizes to connect with their target audiences because it allows you to control who sees your content through developing targeted audiences.

Additionally, Facebook provides powerful insights that can help you track your performance and adjust your strategies accordingly. 

Twitter 

Twitter is a microblogging platform that allows users to share short posts (called “tweets”) of up to 280 characters. It is a great platform for real-time customer service and sharing timely updates about your product or service.

However, because tweets are so short, they can be difficult to use for more in-depth content operations. 

LinkedIn 

LinkedIn is a professional networking platform with over 800 million monthly active users. It is a great platform for B2B companies and businesses looking to recruit talent because it allows you to connect with people in your industry and build relationships with potential customers and employees. 

Instagram 

Instagram is a visual-centric social media platform with over 1 billion monthly active users. It is a great platform for businesses with visual products or appealing visuals (e.g., lifestyle brands and restaurants) because it allows you to share high-quality images and videos that tell a story about your brand.

Instagram has powerful targeting features that allow you to verify that your content is seen by people most likely to be interested in it. 

Snapchat 

Snapchat is a mobile application that allows users to share short videos or images (called “snaps”) that disappear after they have been viewed. It is a great platform for businesses targeting younger audiences because Snapchat’s user base predominantly comprises teenagers and young adults.

Snapchat’s unique features (e.g., filters and lenses) can be leveraged by businesses to create fun and engaging content. 

Social Media Content Strategy

A social media content strategy is a plan for what you want to post on social media, how often you want to post it, and who will be responsible for creating and curating the content.

Creating a social media content strategy will help you save time, ensure that your content is aligned with your business goals, and improve your overall social media performance.

Here are some things to consider when developing a social media content strategy: 

• What type of content do you want to post? (e.g., blog posts, infographics, images, videos)
• When and how often do you want to post this content? (e.g., once a day, three times a week)
• Who will be responsible for creating and curating the content? (e.g., in-house team, social media agency, freelancers)
• What platforms will you be posting on? (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Instagram)
• What are your goals for this content? (e.g., increase brand awareness, generate leads, drive traffic to the website)

By creating a systematic content process, you will align your content with your business goals and make the most efficient use of your time.

Relevance, engagement, shareability, and conciseness are four important factors to consider when creating content for social media. 

Be Relevant

The first step to creating excellent social media content is to make it relevant to your audience. That means writing about topics that they will find interesting and informative.

To figure out what kinds of things your audience wants to see, look at the kind of content that performs well on your page and try replicating that. Odds are, if something did well in the past, it will do well in the future. 

Another way to make your content relevant is to keep up with the latest trends. What are people talking about? What are the hot topics in your industry?

Staying current will not only ensure that your content is relevant but also that it is timely. Timely content is more likely to be shared, which means more visibility for your brand. 

Be Engaging 

Once you have figured out what kind of content is relevant to your audience, make sure that it is engaging. After all, there is no point in writing something if no one reads it. There are different ways to make your content engaging. 

One way is to write catchy headlines. A headline should be attention-grabbing and make people want to read more.

Another way to engage your audience is by using strong visuals. People pay attention and remember something if it has a memorable image.

Finally, you can also try using storytelling in your content. Weaving a personal story into whatever you’re promoting will help people connect with your brand more emotionally. 

Be Shareable

If you want people to see your content, you need to make it easy for them to share it. The best way to do this is by including social media buttons on your website or blog. That way, people can share your content with just a few clicks. You can also try using hashtags to make your content more discoverable.

Be Concise 

People don’t have the time or attention span to read long paragraphs of text. That’s why it’s important to be concise when writing social media posts. Get straight to the point, and avoid unnecessary fluff.

At the same time, don’t go too overboard with abbreviations and acronyms—keep things readable! Essentially, you want to find a balance between being informative and concise. 

Tips for Optimizing Your Social Media Accounts

A few simple tweaks can make a big difference in how people perceive your brand. Here are six tips to get you going:

Choose the Perfect Profile Picture

Your profile picture is one of the first things potential customers will see when they visit your social media profile, so it’s important to choose an image that makes a strong impression. The ideal profile picture should be simple, recognizable, and closely associated with your brand. 

Complete Your Bio

This is your chance to tell your market who you are and what you’re all about. Your bio should be complete and up-to-date. Include relevant information about your business, such as when it was founded, its mission, or what products or services it offers.

Be sure to include links to your website or blog so people can easily learn more about your business. And don’t forget keywords that describe you and your business. If you’re a real estate agent, for example, you might want to include keywords such as “buyer’s agent,” “realtor,” and “real estate.” 

Be Consistent

Your customers should be able to easily recognize your brand and know what to expect from your content. If you constantly change your account name, profile picture, or description, it will be difficult for customers to find you and connect with your brand.

It is also important to maintain a consistent posting schedule. If you only post sporadically, customers may forget about your account or become frustrated with your lack of content. A consistent social media presence is crucial for attracting and retaining customers.

Engage

Social media is about building relationships. You must interact with your audience to get them to notice and care about your brand. Try to respond to as many comments and questions as you can.

Even if you can’t respond to every single one, acknowledging that you saw it shows that you care about what your customers have to say. You can also try running contests or promotions to get people engaged with your brand.

Use Hashtags Judiciously

Hashtags are a great tactic to make your content more discoverable. They have become essential to social media communication, allowing users to categorize and find content that interests them. However, hashtags can also be misused, resulting in clutter and confusion.

When using hashtags, it is important to use them judiciously. It means using only a few relevant hashtags to help people find your content. Too many irrelevant hashtags will only clutter your post and irritate your followers.

If you want to maximize hashtags, use them sparingly and strategically. It will help you reach a wider audience without turning off your potential customers.

Conclusion

If you do not see the results you want from your social media campaigns, don’t despair just yet. It could be that you just need to switch up your strategy a bit. From knowing which platform will work best for them to having a solid content strategy and making sure profiles are optimized, a lot goes into making social media an effective tool.

Following the tips above can turn your social media efforts into a well-oiled machine that helps support and grow your business.

FAQs

Here are other frequently asked questions about why social media is not working as it should. The answers to these questions will help you optimize your social media campaigns.