Almost everyone uses social media in some way, shape or form. According to Oberlo, the most recent numbers show that there are 3.78 billion social media users worldwide in 2021, a five percent increase from a year ago. It’s also 920 million more than the number of social users in 2017, which represents a massive 32.2 percent leap in just five years.
Whether you use social media for business, to connect with friends or for sincere entertainment, I’m sure you have found yourself aimlessly scrolling for hours at a time. But, in all your time online, have you considered using social media strictly for marketing your business?
In this article, I dive into 12 major social media mistakes you may be guilty of when trying to market your business online. We’ll also look at how to avoid them and become a social media marketing pro!
The Importance Of Social Media Marketing
Let’s start with the basics, why is social media marketing so important? Well, for starters, according to CoSchedule, 97 percent of marketers use social media and 78 percent of salespeople outsell their peers by using social media for their business. . Social media marketing is a great tool for businesses who are looking to expand their brand awareness, increase their web traffic and promote their products or services. More than that, using social media is a fantastic way to share your brand’s mission and stories. Effective stories can have an extraordinary impact on your brand’s image and help encourage people to interact with your organization.
Social Media is also an extremely cost-effective way to market your business. There are a number of businesses who have not spent a single cent on a digital advertisement, and with just the assistance of excellent social media content and great interaction with their audience, they have created a customer base who connected with them. If you are looking for a way to market your business without breaking the bank, social media marketing is your holy grail.
Long story short, social media has become the most influential, cost-effective and valuable virtual tool. Platforms are not only used for social networking, but are a great way to digitally advertise your brand.
12 Social Media Mistakes You May Be Guilty Of
Social media can be tricky. It really is an art form of its own. At some point, I’m sure you’ve committed one of these fatal mistakes while implementing social media marketing. Most likely, your audience hasn’t noticed and will forgive a small error. But, are you damaging your business with these social media blunders? According to Social Media Today, there are some issues that can be easily avoided, and should be at all costs. They hurt your reputation, can lose your followers and usually undermine the work you’re putting in to build an effective, engaging social media presence. Even if you’ve been working in social media marketing for a while, it’s worth going over these common mistakes to ensure you don’t slip-up and cause challenges for your business. Let’s dive in to the 12 most common, and deadly, social media mistakes your business may be guilty of.
Mistake 1: Not having a social media marketing strategy
It’s no secret that one of the most vital things you can do to make your social media marketing successful is to have a solid marketing strategy in place. CoSchedule states that trying to build a brand on social media without a defined strategy can be totally counterproductive. You’ll find yourself just posting for the sake of it, and as a result, see no return from your efforts. You need a social media strategy because it will help you build a powerful, organic online presence. You’ll be able to arrange and schedule posts in advance. Being prepared will help you stick to social media rule number one: posting consistently. Failure to maintain consistency is one significant reason social media accounts stop growing. WordStream mentions “doing your social media marketing without knowing who you are talking to, how to market your posts, and what step to take next is like driving a car without knowing how much fuel you have and where the road is going. It’s a mistake that can make your whole campaign fall completely flat — and make all your effort wasted.” So, what’s the takeaway? Your business should have a social media marketing strategy in place, and if it doesn’t, start implementing a strategy as soon as possible!
Mistake 2: Posting irrelevant social media content
Dull or irrelevant social media content will simply be ignored. You should create customized content for each platform. People have different expectations for the content they want to see on each platform, and it’s your job to meet these expectations. If you want people to share your content, you need to give them something that is worth sharing! Whatever your social media goals are, what matters is that you bring value to your audience.
Mistake 3: Not utilizing social media analytics
Social media analytics are crucial for measuring the success of your social media marketing campaigns. SproutSocial states that the most common and often important metrics to pay attention to are engagement, impressions and reach, share of voice, referrals and conversions and response rate and time. Combined these will give you a 360º view of your social media performance. With time and new goals, you’ll add new systems of measurement to make them more relevant to your business.
Mistake 4: Thinking each social media network is the same
Although you want to maintain a consistent brand voice, it’s a mistake to post exactly the same content across all platforms. Think about each of your social media accounts, and personalize your content to fit each one. Even if you have nearly the same thing to say, make sure that your message fits with the style and tone of each platform.
Mistake 5: Not targeting your social media audience
The biggest social media mistake you can make is ignoring your target audience and their needs or expectations. What does it mean to target your audience? HubSpot states, “A social media target audience is a group of people that you’ve identified that you want to appeal to. This can be based on demographics such as age, job title, income level, education, location, or behavior. Your social media target audience consists of the people who are most likely to be interested in your product.” Make sure your posts are written specifically for your business’ target audience and they’ll be more likely to engage with it.
Mistake 6: Too much brand promotion
Instead of using your social media platforms to only promote your business, try to use them to join conversations that are already happening. Listen to what your audience is already discussing, read what influencers are writing and then design your content to respond to these signals. A good rule of thumb to follow is 80 percent of your social media content should be useful, helpful and interesting to your audience but not directly promote your brand, and 20 percent of your content should be self-promotional, talking about your products or services.
Mistake 7: Not actively maintaining your social media accounts
Hootsuite points out that social media gives you to the opportunity to connect with followers every time they log in. Post at least once per day and keep your social media content entertaining, informative and up-to-date. Your followers will be pleased to see your new content in their feeds if they know it is fresh and being regularly updated.
Mistake 8: Not returning the engagement you receive
If people are engaging with your social media content, you need to respond back! People love to interact with brands on social media, and if they have a positive experience, it helps build brand loyalty and sets you apart from the pack. If someone comments on your post, comment back and make sure they feel seen.
Mistake 9: Not including a call to action in social media posts
When posting social media content, especially promotional content, make sure to include a call to action. This could be asking consumers to visit your website, or to send you an email. Without a clear call to action, consumers can be left uncertain of what to do next. Do yourself a favor and motivate your audience to take the next step in becoming a customer by including a strong and clear call to action.
Mistake 10: Unedited social media content going live
Social Media Today states “your social media profiles, like your website, are your virtual shop windows. Making a mistake in your content – either a simple typo or a full-blown grammar gaff – can look as though you don’t care. When you’re drafting your content, make sure you proofread your copy before you publish. Or even better, share it with a colleague to proofread before posting.”
Mistake 11: Concentrating on social media quantity, over quality
When you’re posting on a regular basis, it can be easy to get into bad habits, and brands often make the mistake of thinking that posting any content is better than posting none at all. Why get 100 new followers when 96 of them aren’t the right fit? Social media is about quality over quantity. Your social media content contributes to a reputation over time and if you spend more effort on trying to post often, without paying attention to the quality and dependability of what you’re posting, your consumers will stop listening by unfollowing you or simply ignoring your posts.
Mistake 12: Not Posting On A Consistent Basis
Producing and posting social media content on a consistent basis is the true staple of social media marketing. If your business wants to build its credibility and loyalty, posting on a regular basis is absolutely key to its success. Ideally, you should post a minimum of once per day, per platform. Some platforms call for much more than that.
What’s The Takeaway?
This article is intended to put you on track to be a successful social media marketer. Building a social media presence isn’t easy, and the mistakes listed above could negatively impact your business. Keep them in mind when creating your social media strategy and get posting today!
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