For Subscribers

3 Signs Your Social Strategy Needs Help -- and the Solutions If these warnings seem familiar, you're likely not as loved online as you could be.

By Ann Handley

This story appears in the March 2016 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

Facebook | Enhanced by Entrepreneur

In marketing, you can be too social. Or not social enough. Or social where it doesn't count -- the digital equivalent of showing up at the wrong party. How to know if this applies to you? Here, three signs that you need to fix your strategy -- and where you need to double down.

Warning #1: You aren't seeing any business results.

Solution: "Results" can mean so many things -- increasing brand awareness, building authority in your industry, boosting sales or conversions, giving your brand personality, servicing customers or something totally different. There's no way your social media presence will accomplish all those things at once, so focus on just one or two goals to start. Figure out what your top priority is, and then think about using social media more strategically to accomplish that goal.

Warning #2: You feel like you're shouting into the ether.

Solution: You may not be using the appropriate social networks. If you're a company with largely rural customers, for example, what are you doing on Twitter? According to the Pew Research Center, that platform is far more popular with urbanites. There's no rule that you have to be on every platform, so pick the ones that match your audience. One way to figure that out: Check your website's Google Analytics to see which networks are most robustly referring traffic. That's where your audience is. Now go meet them there.

Warning #3: Your followers rarely like, share or comment.

Solution: Are you being too self-promotional? Take a look at MailChimp's social media. The company sells email services, but its content focuses on making email suck a little less for us all. (Recent tweet: "Our content calendar makes us really happy. Here's why you should use one," and a link to read more.) Saddleback Bags sells leather goods, but its social content frequently focuses on the adventurous lives of people who use them. What both have in common: Rather than being self-promotional, they're creating value for their audience. Think about the ways your products or services can help people and the larger context in which your company operates. That's what your customers want from you -- and if you deliver, they'll like it (and share and comment). 

Ann Handley is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs and the co-author of the best-selling book on content marketing, Content Rules (Wiley, 2012)

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Buying / Investing in Business

Big Investors Are Betting on This 'Unlisted' Stock

You can join them as an early-stage investor as this company disrupts a $1.3T market.

Science & Technology

How AI Is Turning High School Students Into the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs

As AI reshapes education, students are turning school problems into products and building the future economy.

Buying / Investing in Business

From a $120M Acquisition to a $1.3T Market

Co-ownership is creating big opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Leadership

My Business Hit $1 Million — Then a $46,000 Mistake Exposed the Biggest Bottleneck to Explosive Growth

How a costly mistake forced me to confront the real barrier to scaling and the changes that unlocked explosive growth beyond $1 million.