Let’s face it – we all loved to be talked about.

We all love our customers to heap praise about us online and if we’re doing the all the right things that will flow in – Social Media is simply word of mouth amplified!!

But what if you’re not being talked about online and what if Social Media isn’t working for you. It could be that you’re doing one of the following

1. You Make People Jump Through Hoops to Find Your Social Media Profiles
When it comes to Social Media Marketing you need to put yourself in the position of the tourist

You’re doing it wrong ..

• If people can’t find your social media addresses on your website within 10 seconds
• If you don’t list your twitter handle on your business card
• If you don’t include your social media addresses on posters / menus / flyers in your physical business
• If you pay for newspaper advertising and simply put twitter / facebook logos on and not the actual addresses

I was in New York a couple of months ago and I was in the position of the tourist and it’s when you put yourself in unfamiliar surroundings that you really realise how hard it is to find twitter handles

Even in Manchester often the search functionality of social networks is not easy to navigate unless you’re a regular user so you may be missing out on the large customer base that tweet or update facebook sporadically if you don’t spell it out to people

2. They’ve Had An Unpleasant Experience and Would Rather Not Be Negative Online
With Social Media there’s always the idea that people will talk about you when they have an amazing experience or a shocking experience

What isn’t mentioned is how often people simply remain silent (won’t talk online, won’t visit again, but talk a lot offline to friends and family) when they have a shocking experience

Last week I visited a restaurant in my home town – they have at least 3 competitors within 5 minutes walk of their front door. The food was average, the service was so so poor.

Now I didn’t mention this on twitter even though I know the business uses twitter & facebook. I won’t leave a negative Tripadvisor Review (I believe that not leaving a review on Tripadvisor still means the best will rise to the top with sheer number of great reviews)

I just simply won’t visit again

Having new customers that don’t talk about you on Social Media may be a signifier that you simply aren’t satisfying them

3. You Don’t Engage With Others Online
Social Media is a 2 way conversation and rarely will I ever talk about another business that doesn’t engage online with others

Don’t believe me – look at my twitter handle @altrinchamhq and see who I Retweet and talk to – you’ll notice they’re the highly engaged accounts that care enough to talk to their customers rather than just broadcast

When people tweet to a business they like to feel appreciated, listened to and responded to and when you see a business simply broadcasting it leaves that empty feeling that you are being sold to

So so many businesses simply get social media wrong and simply broadcast – have a look at our blog What Social Media Is Not … a Newsletter, Business Card, Leaflet … and why you need to change? for more info on this!

4. You’re Not New or Fresh
Even you have regular customers that love you – they probably don’t tweet about things that are routine or default

There are hordes of people that go to the same pub on a Friday night, eat lunch from the same place each day, go to the same business networking event every week

The simple fact is even when the experience is 10/10 unless something surprises them when they do so, they probably won’t tweet you every week

I always believe businesses should market something new or different 12 times a year to remind people you exist and to get existing customers talking

Think about what new products or services you could launch, an underused service you could promote or offer a competition to generate interest and awareness

At Altrincham HQ we specialise in Social Media Marketing and getting your customers talking about you positively

Get in touch for Social Media Training or Outsourcing Your Social Media 

Call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk

Altrincham Hq

“With over 12 years experience of Social Media and 17 years experience of online marketing in other companies, clients come to myself when they want a veteran rather than a rookie” Alex McCann