8 Social Media Myths to Unlearn

You know the way canines wag their tails once they’re completely happy? Well, it seems they really don’t. Tail wagging can symbolize a wide range of feelings, particularly relying on the course and pace of the canine’s tail.
Myths and misconceptions like these exist in all places, however they’re extremely frequent in matters that folks really feel accustomed to. Take social media, for instance. The extra individuals use social, the extra they suppose they perceive the interior workings of social media advertising.
The results of it is a lot of social media myths which have gone unchecked. Some are innocent, however some can enormously influence how social media and advertising professionals work. That’s why advertising leaders want to equip themselves with the best data to get their groups up to pace.
To assist, we used information from The Sprout Social Index™ and different sources to dispel eight frequent social media myths. Let’s get into it!
Myth #1: Memorable content material makes manufacturers greatest in school on social
“Let’s make this go viral!”
You’ve in all probability heard this or one thing prefer it from a well-meaning colleague or two. In a crowded social media panorama, everybody needs their flip within the highlight. This want for mass consciousness is why many entrepreneurs imagine creating memorable social content material is crucial facet of turning into greatest in school. Consumers, alternatively, suppose in any other case.
The Index discovered 51% of customers imagine responding to prospects makes manufacturers memorable on social. Prioritizing authentic content material over traits and viewers engagement additionally make customers take discover.

While this can be shocking to your higher group, it’s additionally a useful manner to reset some inner expectations. After all, virality is extra luck than technique.
Next time somebody asks you to add “going viral” to your to-do listing, listed here are some extra impactful motion gadgets you may supply as an alternative:
Speed up your social media response time
Nearly 70% of customers anticipate responses inside 24 hours or much less on social. Improving your social media response time can help buyer retention whereas giving your model a aggressive edge.

But timeliness is just a prerequisite to shopper expectations for buyer care on social. Index information exhibits 70% of customers anticipate manufacturers to present customized responses to customer support wants. We additionally discovered 76% of customers discover and recognize when firms prioritize buyer assist. This means groups have to be proactive to obtain top quality buyer care.
Create an escalation administration technique
Preventative measures like outlining an escalation administration technique creates a course of for responding to well timed points–good or dangerous. Highlighting a response protocol together with instance eventualities will assist your group perceive how to handle the considerations individuals floor on social. Remember: You can by no means be too ready.
(*8*) your social media administration platform throughout your martech stack
To present the best service on social and obtain the personalization prospects search, entrepreneurs want visibility into the end-to-end buyer expertise. Drafting a social media administration integration plan can assist take away the digital silos that stop your workforce from providing superior service.
Myth #2: Follower rely is a conceit metric
People have known as follower rely a conceit metric ever since shopping for followers in bulk rose to recognition within the early 2010s. On the floor, this argument is smart. After all, what does a excessive follower rely matter in case your engagement fee is low?
As it seems, it might probably rely for fairly a bit.
Writing follower rely off as a fluff metric lacks some crucial nuance. Mainly, it doesn’t account for the “90-9-1 rule”. According to this rule, only one% of social media customers create content material, 9% share, like and touch upon that authentic content material and 90% of customers merely lurk. Lurkers could not contribute to your general engagement fee, however that doesn’t make them any much less priceless.
Our Index information exhibits 68% of customers primarily comply with manufacturers on social to uncover new services, adopted by having entry to unique promotions (46%) and entertaining content material (45%). Just as a result of they’re not liking or commenting doesn’t imply they’re not gathering data that may ultimately drive shopping for choices.
Myth #3: Consumers aren’t closely swayed by influencer advertising
Our Q3 2023 Pulse Survey of 309 US-based entrepreneurs discovered 79% of entrepreneurs describe influencer content material as mandatory for his or her prospects’ experiences, and 81% describe influencer advertising as an important a part of their social media technique. The information additionally reveals social entrepreneurs fee influencer advertising as having a major influence on their model’s efforts together with model consciousness (89%), elevated model fame (87%) and buyer loyalty (87%).
Consumers are on the lookout for genuine, partaking content material and collaborating with the best influencers can assist obtain that genuinity. In our LinkedIn influencer advertising roundtable, Peter Kennedy, founding father of Tagger, emphasised how influencer content material usually fuels increased engagement than branded content material. Lia Haberman, Insider’s Top Creator Economy Expert, additionally shared a number of examples of influencers doubling and tripling engagement in our webinar, Making Dollars and Sense Out of the Creator Economy.
But to reap the advantages of influencer advertising, figuring out the best influencers is essential. The influencer identification course of is one element of measuring influencer advertising return on funding. Another frequent false impression surrounding influencer advertising is that they’ll’t be used throughout the shopper journey. When most individuals consider influencer advertising, they think about purchase-stage content material like product opinions and tutorials, however entrepreneurs can companion with these digital trendsetters throughout the complete buyer journey.
Myth #4: Social information is strictly a advertising useful resource
Social information is invaluable when it comes to informing workforce choices, however savvy manufacturers know it may be used for far more. The 2023 State of Social Media Report reveals that organizations view social information as a multi-team technique useful resource, increasing its influence nicely past the assumed advertising silo.
Brands are utilizing social media information to inform their group’s enterprise technique from customer support and model consciousness to lead technology and product improvement. The report additionally discovered 95% of enterprise leaders agree firms should rely extra closely on social media insights to inform enterprise choices outdoors of selling.
Although leaders agree social information is a priceless useful resource past advertising efforts, practically 7 in 10 agree that social information and insights are underutilized. However, a majority say they plan to use social information extra within the subsequent three years.

This indicators the present period in social media administration software program the place analytics are used for proactive resolution making. From product improvement to buyer assist, social information can reply crucial questions on how to handle and broaden a enterprise throughout each division.
Grammarly, for instance, makes use of social listening insights to floor priceless consumer tales for his or her product and consumer expertise groups. With Sprout’s Social Listening software, they flip suggestions from precedence platforms into actionable suggestions for the enterprise.
If firms need to dispel this social media fable as soon as and for all, they’ll want to rethink how different components of the group see social. Start by figuring out areas of your small business that may profit from social insights, and construct your organization-wide social listening technique from there.
Myth #5: Social entrepreneurs have perfected video manufacturing
The worth of video on social can’t be understated. The 2023 Content Benchmarks Report exhibits over two thirds of customers (66%) discover short-form video probably the most partaking content material format, adopted by static posts. However, with restricted bandwidth and sources, video manufacturing nonetheless feels out of attain for a lot of social entrepreneurs.
While there have been a number of developments in distant video manufacturing instruments over the previous few years, for some it might probably nonetheless really feel like an excessive amount of to tackle. But entrepreneurs can’t afford to abandon video utterly. Social networks are rolling out extra video-focused options, so calls for for video content material creation will solely rise. Getting forward of those requests by preemptively rising your workforce can assist manufacturers preserve an enticing social presence whereas mitigating the chance of burnout.
If your workforce isn’t in a position to absolutely embrace the position of video in your social content material technique, it might be time to construct a case for enlargement. Consider how to optimize your video conversion fee to assist safe extra buy-in and sources.
Myth #6: You want to be on each social media platform
Our benchmarks report exhibits that just about half (46%) of entrepreneurs cite new platforms as a problem when planning and scheduling content material. But your model doesn’t want to be on each social media platform. Meeting your audience the place they already are issues greater than attempting to stability content material on each community.
That doesn’t imply you shouldn’t contemplate rising networks like Threads or rising applied sciences just like the metaverse, however manufacturers don’t want to hop on each new wave. Focus on nurturing high quality throughout your related networks and experiment as wanted.
Index information exhibits 64% of social media groups are organized by community. This means one workforce member could also be accountable for TikTookay whereas one other focuses on Instagram. But with frequent modifications to the social media panorama, this strategy could dissolve sooner or later.
As new platforms emerge and shopper preferences shift, staffing workforce members to particular networks can create each gaps and redundancies.
Myth #7: Artificial intelligence will change advertising roles
The rise of synthetic intelligence (AI) in advertising has sparked enthusiasm and skepticism. With extra organizations implementing AI in social media, some entrepreneurs worry being changed. But our Index information disproves this social media fable: greater than 80% of entrepreneurs say AI has already had a constructive influence on their work.
There are so many AI use circumstances in advertising from scheduling and posting to advert reporting. In 2024, entrepreneurs plan to use AI to assist social media information evaluation, content material creation, marketing campaign concentrating on and extra.

But you don’t have to wait till the brand new yr to make investments and undertake as a result of the way forward for AI in advertising is right here. Chief advertising officers are efficiently reaping effectivity beneficial properties by utilizing AI in advertising to assist brainstorming and different duties.
Myth #8: Third-party platforms hurt publish visibility on Facebook
There’s been a variety of discourse surrounding whether or not third-party social media administration platforms that supply scheduling and publishing performance negatively influence publish visibility and engagement. The quick reply isn’t any.
There aren’t many research on the subject, nevertheless it’s essential to observe it’s tough to pinpoint the precise cause a publish was profitable as a result of there are such a lot of variables. Each social media community has its algorithm and necessities for extending attain and engagement. For instance, Facebook customers as soon as had the choice to disguise content material scheduled through third-party apps. However, this characteristic was eliminated by Meta on November 15, 2023.
Social media myths, busted
It’s straightforward for individuals to get caught up in what they suppose to be true, particularly once they’re not retaining tabs on the fixed evolution in social media. Advocate in your workforce by persevering with to debunk these frequent social media myths. Tapping into the ability of social doesn’t simply profit your workforce’s advertising efforts—it advantages your complete group.
For extra insights on the panorama of social media is altering, obtain The Sprout Social Index™. Inside, you’ll discover extra analysis on how companies are utilizing social media to set themselves aside from their rivals and meet tomorrow’s buyer expectations at present.

https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-myths/