The Biggest Social Media Challenges According to 80 Social Media Managers (2023)

The life of a social media manager includes various social media challenges that you have to deal with every day.We asked88 Social Media-Profisto tell us what they struggle with the most. We have received feedback from freelancers, brands and agencies. They considered engagement, algorithms, content creation, and measurement of results, among other things. Below are their biggest social media problems and solutions.

The biggest social media challenges in 2022:

commitment and scope|trends and algorithms|content creation|Strategy

authenticity and relevance|Measure return on investment|Social media management

The main challenges of the social networks of MMS

Social Media Challenge #1: Engagement vs. Reach

32.2% of surveyed social media professionals struggle to engage and reach their target audience.in an increasingly competitive environment.

Main pain points:

• Make the audience take notice and engage with the content
• meet the audience
• New Social Media Algorithms Degrading Engagement
• stand out from the growing competition

Solution 1: Collaborate with a micro-influencer

Social media users are inundated with content every day, so the biggest challenge for our company was getting our content onto their screens. You can use all the right hashtags and try to improve your content, but sometimes it still doesn't cut out all the noise. But what ultimately worked for us was partnering with a micro-influencer.

As a small business, it wasn't realistic for us to partner with a very popular and well-known influencer, so we thought if we could work with someone a little less mainstream but with the same niche audience as us, we could be successful. . And we have!

Larry Snider, Vice President of Operations @Holiday homes

Solution 2: Make decisions based on data

We have noticed that our organic reach on the most popular social networks has started to decrease in the last two years. Things like the pandemic and the constant introduction of new algorithms are contributing to this.

It's disheartening when something you post doesn't work well after you've put a lot of time and effort into it. However, we've found that digging deep into your audience and finding the right mix of content that works for them has been very helpful in increasing reach.

Track which posts are well received and which are not. Do you see any patterns in your performance? For example, are posts with photos better than ones without? What is the best time to post on social media in your industry? Use these social media insights to make data-driven decisions on how to evolve your content strategy.

David Reed, co-founder @LLC-Sterne

Solution 3: Make it easy for your followers to interact with you

One of my biggest social media challenges that I've struggled with for a while is getting followers to actually engage. Even though I had grown my accounts and had a large following, most of the time I didn't feel like they were as involved as I wanted. I am finding more and more that people are spending less time liking and commenting on posts and instead just watching and moving on.

I fixed it when I realized that followers wanted to interact whenever it was more direct: through stories and messages. Especially on Instagram, I started using polls and question boxes to give my followers a chance to weigh in on the content I post and share their opinions and thoughts on various topics. And now I really feel like I've become a community and not just followers. So I think it's about finding the right form of engagement and interaction for the type of followers.

Shane Paarman, Founder and CEO @great things 365

Solution 4 – Increase Posting Frequency

We found a challenge on social media where our engagement rates plateaued instead of increasing. We found that our content was not resonating with users as well as before. We found that the best way to address this issue is to take a two-step approach to content realignment.

First, we did extensive research to understand what our audience wants to see: not just in terms of content, but also in terms of common questions and pain points. We realized that while our content was engaging and relevant to the industry, it wasn't enough to align with what our audience was actively thinking.

We then committed to posting more frequently, at least once a day, and creating content based on our research. With this targeted approach, our social media engagement increased by over 50% in the first two weeks and grew to a staggering 110% in the months that followed. People just want to feel like they're being heard, and the content they engage with is no different. Make sure to always ask yourself what your audience wants to see before proceeding with any content marketing approach.

Aaron Gray, co-founder @agency 101

Solution 5: Know your audience

The biggest challenge for our social networks was the first year of my existence. We didn't fully understand who our target audience was, so the content we posted simply didn't generate clicks. To get around this problem and find out who our target audience really was, we started using social media analytics tools to determine our target market.

These tools helped us discover the specific demographics of our target audience: age, gender, location, income, etc. Understanding these demographics allowed us to better understand their behaviors and desires, which helped us be more effective.Select the best content.

Jeremy Yamaguchi, CEO @love for the grass

Solution 6: Try paid ads

Growing your following through organic content and getting your new followers to engage and interest can be difficult. In this noisy world where there is so much competition, reaching your target audience is not as easy as you think. It is extremely difficult to make a big change, especially when you start from 0.

Solution: Some paid ads can help you improve your social media results. You don't have to pay a lot of money, just consider it an investment. It can help you make a difference with your channel and will allow you to see some scaled results. The investment is worth it.

(Video) IF I HAD TO START FROM 0, THIS IS WHAT I WOULD DO | DO THIS to Hit 10k Followers On Instagram

James Parsons, Founder and CEO @content driven

Social Media Challenge #2: Trends and Algorithms

21.8% of responses said they had trouble with ever-changing trends and algorithms.any social media platform.

Main pain points:

• Authentic content means spending time getting to know each social media platform.
• Juggle multiple social media platforms at the same time
• Keeping up with social media algorithms
• Avoid long-term campaigns in favor of temporary trends
• Choosing between brand identity and trend campaign

Solution 1: Consider everything in your prices

One of the most difficult aspects of effective social media marketing is that each platform has its own quirks when it comes to jokes, language, and memes. To generate authentic content for these platforms, social media teams really need to spend a lot of time on the platform just browsing and interacting. It is something that we must price this type of business and staff appropriately if we want to get the best results.

Adam Rossi, CEO @full shield

Solution 2 – Schedule posts ahead of time

I think the biggest challenge in managing social media is simply keeping up with the demands of the job. Social media is constantly evolving, with different trends hitting the market almost every second. I meet implementation strategy sessions andplanning elementA few weeks notice ensures that I am in the know and never search for content when I need it most. A huge catalog of content and posts will ensure you're always in the game!

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Nick Mueller, Operations Manager @hawaiian islands

Solution 3: Hire Social Media Experts

The biggest challenge for a social media business is keeping up with ever-changing algorithms and trends. Social media platforms are constantly adjusting their algorithms to give their users the best possible experience, which requires companies to constantly adjust their strategies to keep up. Also, with the evolution of social media and the constant emergence of new platforms, companies need to be flexible and adaptable to stay ahead.

The best way to stay up to date on social media is to constantly learn about new trends and features to get the most out of them. It's also important to listen to your audience and respond to their feedback promptly. Finally, you should consider working with and investing in social media experts who have experience in this rapidly changing space to stay ahead of the game.

Darren Litt, co-founder @Hello cheers

Solution 4: Create a brand manual and aSocial Media Calendar

When we started, our main focus was that Facebook is the only great platform. Today, many channels are equally important to us. Delivering relevant content in the right format at the right time across multiple social channels is challenging. We learned early on that a "one size fits all" approach is ineffective.

We already had our default brand guide, but we added a section for each channel. A defined tone and style that appealed to any audience, along with a social media posting schedule, allowed us to create messages that maintained our brand but easily cut through the digital noise.

Amy Bos, Director of Operations @medium chat

Solution 5: Be persistent and keep up to date

The biggest challenge of social media right now is the algorithm of the different social media channels. It may seem like I'm fighting a losing battle with the exposure I get as a result of these changes. The algorithm changes quite often, and just when you think you've cracked it, it changes again.

The best way to overcome this is through perseverance and patience. The more you research current algorithms, the more successful you will be. Figuring it out can be a long process, but when you do, it will be beneficial and have a positive impact on your content.

You should take a look at what works for other people, and then take a look at your own analytics to see which posts work best. This will help you know what currently works and what doesn't for each social media platform.

Aimee White, Don't Forget @Keyboard-König

Social Media Challenge #3: Content Creation

When asked "What is your biggest social media challenge?"12.6% responded content creation. The biggest concerns when creating content for social media are not knowing what content to create, how to get noticed, and how to scale your social media content.

Main pain points:

• not knowing what kind of content to share
• little time to create new and quality content
• Creativity matters more than accuracy of information

Solution 1: offer value

I was having trouble knowing what content to share. As a service provider, I wasn't sure how much is too much when I'm giving away my secrets. But then I realized that there are already thousands sharing the entire game. And that I needed to share my knowledge so that my audience would know that I was the expert here.

Therefore, my content is always aimed at education, encouragement, and entertainment. With an attitude of giving and adding value to others, I am able to create freely and overdeliver. This draws people to my brand as a resource and someone they trust and want to work with.

Christianna Johnson,Founder and editor-in-chief @de Christianna

Solution 2: Share industry data

Research shows that social posts with images have higher engagement than posts without them. That doesn't mean that everything you post needs an image, as some posts don't really require an image.

Showcase key industry data in an infographic, share statistics from a report in a colorful graph, or add a relevant GIF to a Question of the Day post to get people to stop scrolling and pay attention. Once you have their attention, you'll see these engagement numbers and metrics skyrocket.

Kristin Stump, Jefa de Marketing @my enamel pins

Solution 3:

Creating new content from conception to publication is time-consuming for small businesses with limited manpower. Reusing content significantly reduces time and allows you to skip the conceptualization step, which itself can be tedious.

My team and I have found that breaking relevant long content into short videos is very effective and shortens the process to a manageable length.

james chapman,Founder and Director @beautiful bathroom

Solution 4: Strike a balance between creativity and integrity

Curbing creativity in the fight for objectivity

On social media, not everything that is presented to an audience is true. However, despite this distortion of the truth, these posts are creative enough to grab a lot of attention and give a brand a lot of traction. However, what turns out to be a difficult choice is choosing one over the other.

And that's a challenge social media teams running brand campaigns face every day. The solution is to find a balance. While creativity is key when it comes to designing social media campaigns that grab everyone's attention, it's equally important to maintain your brand integrity by avoiding any temptation to falsify or misrepresent the facts.

Maria Jürgensen,Community Outreach Director @Gary and Mary West Time

Solution 5: Share Inside Information

One of my biggest challenges on social media has been coming up with new ideas for my social media content. I tried many different ideas, but none worked that well. In the end, I realized that posting my daily thoughts is the easiest way to get people talking. I woke up thinking about something related to my industry and immediately posted a question on my social media profiles.

It seems to me that many people have similar ideas to mine, so posting these ideas on my social networks is enough to start the discussion. Today I enjoy posting random thoughts and questions on my social media and sharing unique screenshots/conversations with people in the industry that I talk to every day (with their permission) and it keeps me fresh and happy every day.

harry campell,CEO and Founder @The rideshare boy

Social Media Challenge #4: Strategy

9.2% of social media professionals shared that their biggest challenge is developing and executing a social media strategy.. The hardest parts of this process are tracking results, monitoring performance, and focusing on too many platforms.

Main pain points:

• Define marketing objectives.
• Implementation of a social media strategy.
• Create content that generates leads
• Choosing the best social media platform for the brand

Solution 1 – Set clear business goals

I find the first step in social media marketing, defining marketing goals, to be the biggest challenge. If the business can't paint a clear picture of specific marketing goals across all platforms, the whole process is useless. Marketers often get confused when it comes to increasing brand awareness, generating leads, increasing web traffic, improving community engagement, and increasing brand audience as KPIs.

Measuring and demonstrating marketing performance to stakeholders with unclear KPIs becomes difficult. My advice to social media marketers is to ask questions about the business objectives and the purpose of the company's social media presence to clarify the company's social media objective. Then move on to SMART goals, ie. h Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound goals for each marketing campaign.

Rakhi Oswal,Social Media Manager and Founder @Edrio

Solution 2: Focus on content that generates leads

While our goal is to educate our audience so they can make informed decisions, a large part of our content strategy relies on lead generation. We're not at a point where we're using influencers to help us create content, we're doing it internally.

Now we're producing a variety of social posts, each with a link to a different profile, so we understand what we're doing right, so we can do more of it. This simple technique gave us the information we needed to produce content that resonates with our audience and generates leads.

Keron Howe,Co-Founder and CEO @property nation

Solution 3: Create separate landing pages

My team and I regularly post to various channels. We use images, videos, and short content posts to engage our audience. As our channels matured, some posts needed to be sped up, but which ones were determined to be a mystery.

After some testing with PPC with little return, we decided to create a separate landing page for each campaign. This follow up simplified and clearly showed what worked and where we need to improve.

Andrew Porwol, owner @Shopping at the garden center

Solution 4: Focus on a single platform

Determining which social media platform to market your brand on is one of the social media challenges businesses face. Many social media platforms have gained popularity in recent years.

While you may think managing accounts across all of these platforms is best, it's best for your business to focus on just one platform. Talk about quality instead of quantity. It is not a one-size-fits-all strategy. What worked for one platform may not necessarily work for the other.

Ryan O'Donnell,co-founder @Answer

Social Media Challenge #5: Authenticity and Relevance

6.9% of marketers say their biggest challenge on social media is staying authentic and relevant.. Most of the responses mentioned how difficult it is to stay relevant across different platforms, as fleeting trends and algorithm changes come and go all the time.

Main pain points:

• Making brands sound more human
• maintain a consistent online presence
• Defining the voice of the brand in social networks

Solution 1: Show your humanity

One of the biggest social media challenges businesses face is not using social media like a human being. A business can post and ghost, which means they don't stick around to answer the comments and questions their followers ask. Or they speak too formally and seem like a robot instead of a human.

When a business uses social media, it should be personable and authentic. Even if they are in a traditional field, like medicine or
finance.

We encourage our clients to have a conversation. you can be funny You can use emoticons and emojis. Jargon and colloquialisms are perfectly acceptable ways to communicate with your audience. And you should respond to comments left by your followers, even if it's something simple. People need to know that there is a real person behind the screen, a person who cares, and not someone who just posts for the sake of posting.

Devin Schumacher,Founder @SERP

Solution 2: Share stories of satisfied customers

Brands can have a hard time staying relevant and engaging on social media. But brands can share user-generated content (UGC) on social media to provide social proof and drive sales. Your customers are likely already excited about your brand by sharing photos, videos, and reviews.

With consent, you can use this content as a simple way to show your audience that your customers love your products. This is likely to continue to be a trend on social media, with brands using Instagram and Facebook Stories alongside TikTok to showcase their satisfied customers.

Rahel Roff,Founder @urban skin

Solution 3 – Establish your own identity

Maintaining one's position as an up-and-coming company is a huge challenge. First, focus on establishing your own identity and community instead of obsessing over others. It's easy to get stuck comparing follower count and interactions, which doesn't do you or your followers any favors.

Remember: a smaller, thriving community is more valuable than vanity metrics. Creating a distinctive brand voice is one way to differentiate yourself. Don't underestimate the power of personality (think humor, trustworthiness).

Austin Dowsy, CEO @target vein

Solution 4 – Be a conversation starter

While you don't want to get too personal, it's important to write about things that people in your community can relate to, such as: B. Favorite podcasts, business books, or that fun team-building event your company just held. Tweeting about topics that people can easily respond to will drive more engagement on your feed and increase your brand awareness.

Chris Gadek,Vice President of Growth atAdQuick

Social Media Challenge #6: Measuring ROI

5.7% of respondents said their biggest challenge is measuring the ROI of social media.

Main pain points:

• Measurement of overall marketing efforts
• Measure the impact of a single piece of content

Solution 1: Use SMART goals

You'll have a hard time measuring the effectiveness of your marketing and demonstrating its value to stakeholders if your goals aren't clearly defined. This could affect your campaign budget in the future.

Start with large imaging targets. Think about why your company is on social networks. This exercise will help you determine the business goals you want to achieve through social media marketing. Then you can start thinking about it.Your social media marketing goals.

Then set SMART goals for each campaign. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound are the acronyms for SMART goals. SMART goals help you stay on top of your marketing and stay on budget. The SMARTER your goals are, the more effective your campaign will be. Plus, you can benchmark your KPIs against your goals and get administrative support for your next quote.

Jenny LyEntrepreneur @Hiking

Solution 2: Set measurable goals

The ROI of social media is not the same as the ROI of traditional web marketing. As a result, it can be difficult to see the value of your tweet or shared post compared to ad clicks.

This challenge has occupied us for years. But in 2020, we are taking the time to evaluate and revise our existing social media strategy. We make sure to aggregate well-defined objectives with measurable goals so that we can get accurate numbers for our ROI.

Allan Borch,Growth Hackers & Founders @dotcomdollar

Solution 3 – Maintain Performance Reports

A common challenge for social media is generating ROI from social media strategies. Not all strategies will bring you the results you expect. This is where most marketers get stuck on the journey. The solution here is to keep performance reports on your social media campaigns and connect them to specific goals and KPIs that you can set beforehand.

This will also help you understand the right direction in which to invest your money and energy. At the same time, you can discover different aspects of your social media strategy that can be improvised for better results. So you can adjust your tactics based on the KPIs and generate more expected results. Also, constant performance tracking helps you stay up to date and understand if the campaign is doing well or not.

Christian Welitschkow,co-founder @Twiz

3.4% of social media managers surveyed said that managing social media is one of their biggest challenges.

Main pain points:

• Management of many social media platforms.
• Automation of the management of social networks.
• post schedule

Solution 1 – Plan ahead

Social media platforms are a great way to present interesting information to an audience. They are also great ways for the public to communicate with your brand. This means that with every social media handle you create, you'll add another communication channel to your list.And yes, any message or comment on a social media handle should be just as important as an official email or any other type of communication. This simply needs to be planned in advance because when there is an opportunity to contact you or leave a suggestion or complaint, the audience will inevitably take advantage of it.

Konstantin Kuligin,owner @k5 mortgage

Solution 2 – Use a social media management app

As a small business without a dedicated social media manager, the task of scheduling posts across multiple channels can be a burden on your team. Using a social management app has taken the pressure off and simplified our publishing approach.

We schedule content creation, prioritize posting across all channels, and use the management app to ensure it's delivered at the right time. In my opinion, social media automation is essential for any small business.

tom bruzek,co-owner @sell land fast

Other social media challenges

8% of social media professionals surveyed had specific social media challenges that they are trying to overcome:

• Balancing organic and paid content
• Social media budget management
• Get customer buy-in
• Navigating collaboration with clients
• Dealing with fake accounts/trolls
• How to deal with negative comments
• Explore partnerships and promotions
• Dealing with unrealistic expectations