The popularity of social media has made every consumer content creator. Everyone has something to contribute to social media marketing. They also have their unique opinion on social media marketing. While some better suggest ways to know your audience, others are emphasizing the need to create great content. Not even half of these, however, would have implemented some of these best practices that they preach.

Another observation: Everybody thinks social media marketing is about capturing peer attention. Is that so? Not really.

In reality, Social Media for business is very different from those updates that you share with your friends and family members on Facebook. It all boils down to one thing – the value that you provide in your shared content.

There are many social media marketers who may promise you maximum exposure on various platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. But is that all you want?

Ok, let us assume that you did get viral through your social media agency. What next? Do you think people will stick around after they have seen your post? If you are not actually providing any value, you will end up losing all that attention that you gained, quickly.

Social media marketing is not being in the short game. It is about providing value – the real value.

The problem with social media today is that everyone wants to be a superstar. They want everyone to like, praise and share their posts, even if they are not exactly being honest. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that anymore. It is no more a place where you can keep promoting yourself over and over again. You do that and you will only end up annoying people.

Social media is one platform that you can use to connect with your customers directly and provide them with some real value. Once in a while, you do get entitled to ask for something in return.

So, how exactly do you provide this real value?

Understand the Pain Points

Real value varies from person to person. It all depends on what their pain points are. And unless you make an effort to understand the pain points of your audience, you will not be able to provide them that real value. So next time you start work on social media marketing, try and find out what your audience is struggling with. Understand what they actually need instead of going on and on about how awesome your brand is. Instead of stuffing your social media posts with pictures of your products, make them about addressing the pain points of your audience.

Put your audience ahead of your brand

Your brand may mean a lot to you, but it means nothing to your audience. If you want to be a brand that survives tomorrow you will have to keep your ego aside and start putting people first. Make your posts and videos about real people with real voices in your industry. Have them emphasize the pain points of your audience and explain ways of troubleshooting. Make it about how you can help them instead of making a direct pitch and telling them why they need to choose you.

Always trust your readers/followers

Many brands make the mistake of making their social media posts 90% promotional and 10% value-providing. It should be the other way round. Concentrate 90% on providing value. Then you can focus 10% of your efforts on asking your audience something in return. Make your social media marketing strategies about building customer loyalty. The sales will close automatically.

At Adaan we believe in adopting a value-driven approach to social media marketing. It would be easy for us to create promotional social media posts for you. But we know they won’t lead to conversions unless they provide some real value to your audience.