As with all online and offline marketing strategies of the past decade social media has had plenty of time to accumulate some big and almost always inaccurate myths. And while many of the numerous myths have been disproven, as it is an industry that is continuously changing and evolving sometimes it can be hard to keep up. So today we are here to help shed some light on the truth and really help you to understand the importance of social media marketing for your business in this day and age. So yes, social media marketing landscapes change every day. As a marketer or business, it's important to identify myth from reality in order to create an effective social media strategy.

While the practice of social media marketing has evolved as a business process, some common myths and misconceptions around social media as a marketing tool still exist, and can still cause confusion. The truth is that social media marketing takes time. It takes time to build brand awareness, a community, time to establish connections and form trust with your audience. From there, businesses and individuals can establish a foundation for ongoing relationships - but the idea that Facebook will give you an immediate audience of millions, that your Instagram post will 'go viral', or that adding a hashtag to your tweet will essentially give you ad reach for free - these things are not exactly correct.

We’re about to embark on some serious myth-busting today, talking about social media marketing and some of the biggest myths that definitely need to be disproven.

3 Common Myths

Social media is now completely integrated into our lives, and businesses can use social media to uncover new revenue and streams to connect with current and potential customers. However, the following are some things that you should keep an eye out for as they’re not quite what they seem. We’ll discuss the myths that are hurting your business and the truths you should rely on instead. 

Myth One: You should only schedule posts during the work week

While you shouldn't force your social media manager to work on the weekends, you certainly can schedule posts or launch social media ads on the weekends ahead of time. There are many different great scheduling tools available to allow you to push content out to your audience everyday of the week. But that doesn't mean it correlates to when people are using social media. For each business and all their channels the best time to interact with their audience will be different. So it is important to track and analyse your online content in order to improve your efforts, understand your audience and gain the best results. Many sources would say that social media engagement usually peaks during the middle of the week, during the weekends and in the evenings. But each channel will be different and that’s why it is so important to customise it to your businesses audience. 

Myth Two: Social media marketing tactics don't drive bottom line results.

Aside from allowing your business to virtually connect with people, social media is a lead generator, a non-organic traffic tool, and a great place to share your businesses best content. If you publish valuable posts, they might not always stimulate conversation, but they could lead people to your website and products. You can actually generate value beyond just "engagement" and "brand awareness" from social media. Social media helps to drive leads and customers. And here are some stats to prove it: 

- 45% of digital marketers would state that social media has a below average cost-per-lead compared to other channels.

- 62% of businesses using LinkedIn for marketing have acquired a customer from it.

- 52% of businesses using Facebook for marketing have acquired a customer from it.

Myth Three: Only young people use social media

Thinking that the only people who are on social media are Gen Z and millennials? Think again. Yes, 90% of 18 to 25 year olds were using social media in 2019, but, according to Statista, over 80% of 30 to 49 year olds, and nearly 70% of 50 to 64 year olds are on social media. And due to Covid-19 this has furthermore changed the way everybody has been using social media in order to connect with one another. 

Social media marketing can provide a wide variety of different opportunities to businesses, and though it is an ever changing field it is important to know the truths from the myths. Being able to make the most of this marketing avenue to achieve the greatest results for your business. At Firefly we are experts in the digital marketing industry, we live and breathe digital and we know the facts. We offer a range of different digital marketing services including social media business strategies. If you’re interested in helping your business to archive some great results we are the team for you! Get in contact with us today for a no obligations quote. And let’s take your business to the next level!