Why Your Social Media Account Might Not Be Generating Any Business

According to internet marketing websites and blogs by SEO gurus, social media lead generation represents one of the best ways to improve website traffic. It’s also a favoured technique for converting potential customers into actual ones, turning enquiries into transactions. Experts highlight the fact social media accounts are generally free, providing instant two-way communications which help to reinforce brand values with every post or update.

Unfortunately, social media lead generation often proves frustratingly elusive. Carefully crafted posts can sink without trace, attracting desultory volumes of likes or shares. Faced with general indifference, it takes real determination to continue generating content which is vanishing into a void. That’s especially true given the time required to produce, proofread, and publish social posts worthy of distribution.

Fail to prepare…

A lack of opportunities to create engaging content is a key reason why social media lead generation could fail. The internet is saturated with interesting and original content, which means a tweet saying “another successful day at the [insert industry] coalface!” isn’t going to impress anyone. Ditto grainy, blurry, or poor-quality photos. In fact, it’s not even worth posting images which aren’t (a) immediately clear and (b) aesthetically pleasing. Audiences will pass judgement on low-quality content by simply ignoring it. If you’re in IT or finance, there are probably few opportunities to produce original insights or upload high-calibre photography. You might be better off not setting up an Instagram account for your translation services, for instance.

…prepare to fail

There are other common reasons for struggling to achieve social media lead generation. If your chosen social platforms support hashtags, deploy them judiciously without resorting to spamming. Failing to do so means your content might be missed by everyone beyond your existing network. 

If you don’t post regularly, people will forget about you, and social platforms increasingly populate timelines based on previous interactions. If you post once a week on a particular platform and never comment on other people’s content, don’t expect the algorithms handling timeline generation to prioritise your posts. You have to engage with other people through comments and interactions, rather than just clicking ‘like’ occasionally.

Epic fail

Perhaps the biggest mistake is neglecting social platforms while expecting them to deliver results. The only real benefits provided by a dormant or forgotten account are inbound links and a chance for people to discover your brand through search results. Facebook pages for small businesses often appear higher in ranking results than the companies’ own websites, though this tends to indicate flaws with the website’s SEO and content.

Equally, it’s important to recognise when a chosen tactic isn’t working. If every tweet receives zero likes or retweets, consider why your content isn’t engaging audiences. Look at competitor brands to see how they do things and how their audience figures stack up. Every social account started off with no followers; even if they have more resources to throw at the situation than you, there may be valuable lessons to learn from their social campaigns and activities.