If your social media marketing campaigns are failing to deliver the results you desire, these common mistakes could be to blame.
Social Media Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
Even though social media may seem simple for personal use, there are plenty of pitfalls to avoid when using it to market your business. Here are some of the most common mistakes to avoid:
1. Overpromoting
Social media can be an excellent tool for promoting your products and services, and that may be the number one reason you are on there in the first place. But if you promote those products and services too often, you can turn off your audience and lose followers quickly due to a lack of balance.
Even if your end goal is to promote something and make a sale, focus on delivering value to your audience first. Give them the content they desire, and they will return the favor via engagement and conversions.
Read: Best Social Media Optimization Tips
2. Not Engaging Enough
One of the best ways to build loyalty and trust with your audience is to show them that there is a human being behind that social media profile. How can you do that? By engaging and replying to comments and reviews, whether they are good or bad.
To make this happen, you may need a team that can respond to all of those comments and reviews in a timely manner. With a team, you will know that someone is always there to respond when you cannot. This is especially crucial if there are any negative comments, as you do not want such a conversation to spiral out of control without your input.
When selecting a team to help with your engagement, be sure to clarify what your overall message is. Make a plan on how they should respond to negative or positive posts. If someone is in charge of approving replies, point out who they are and what the process is. And lastly, give your team access to any necessary dashboards or tools, so they can do their jobs properly.
It is worth noting that even negative engagement can be an opportunity to grow your brand, provided you respond to it correctly. Whatever you do, do not ignore it or any other engagement, as creating a two-way dialogue is crucial on social media.
3. Deleting Comments
As mentioned, engagement is essential on social media. This is true even when that engagement is negative. It is important to handle negative comments with thoughtful and appropriate responses rather than deleting them altogether. Your followers will definitely take notice and comment on how you respond to criticism.
Perhaps the best way to handle a negative comment (if constructive) is to thank the person for their advice and vow to improve. If someone is simply being toxic, however, feel free to ignore them without deleting that comment. It will make them look bad without harming your brand.
Read: Top Social Media Tips for Twitter Optimization
4. Trying to Post on too Many Social Media Platforms
There is no shortage of social media platforms on the market. And while each offers an opportunity to grow your brand, that does not mean you should be active on every single one.
Try growing your presence on a few platforms at first, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Once you get going, those profiles can eventually grow organically, so they take less time investment. Then, you can move on to others.
If you try to post on every platform from the start, you may find yourself stretched thin. And if you do not get the results you desire across specific platforms, you may feel as if social media marketing is a waste of time when that is simply not true.
5. Only Focusing on Your Number of Followers
While having a high follower count could give you bragging rights over your competitors, if you focus too much on that count, you are probably missing the big picture. As with many things, you should focus on quality over quantity when it comes to your social media followers.
Even though you may not have as many followers as your main competitor, are yours engaging more with your content? Are they more active whenever you make a post? If so, consider yourself the winner, as that quality can lead to more rewards down the line versus simply having a high follower count.
By not focusing so much on follower count and instead aiming for engagement, you will have an easier time creating captivating content that moves the needle. And over time, this will help your social media profiles and your brand grow.
Read: HootSuite Social Media Management Alternatives
6. Depending Entirely on Organic Reach
It can be rewarding to grow a social media profile organically via great content and outstanding engagement over time, but it is not the only way to get the growth you desire, which is why you should consider paid social advertising as well.
When you take the paid route, you can get your content in front of a bigger audience in less time. It can lead to fast results, increased conversions, and reduced frustration that comes with trying to keep up with ever-changing algorithms.
7. Not Posting Consistently on Social Channels
Although it takes extra effort, you must post consistently to see the best results on social media. If you only post every so often, your audience will see you as inconsistent not only on social media but also in general.
Beyond your reputation taking a hit, inconsistent posting can also negatively impact you with the algorithms. The more consistently you post, the easier it is to train the algorithm to show your content to an expanded audience. The wider your audience, the more engagement and the broader your reach.
8. Lack of Quality With Your Visuals
Think of all the content someone sees when scrolling through social media. It is a ton of stuff, and they usually scroll through it quickly until they see something that catches their eye. What does not catch the eye? Images or videos that are grainy and of poor quality.
Keep this in mind when designing your visuals. Since it can be hard to create stunning visuals, you may want to hire someone who specializes in design. This can attract new followers while also strengthening your brand’s overall image.
Read: YouTube SEO Guide
9. Putting Everything on Autopilot
Since managing social media campaigns can be time-consuming, it is a good idea to use tools to help you post consistently and stick to schedules. But if you create a queue of many posts in a tool and let them go on autopilot, you may forget something essential: Engagement.
Yes, it is great to post content. But if you are not paying attention to what is getting posted and fail to respond to your audience, that defeats the whole purpose.
When you fail to respond, your audience will see that it is a one-way street. They will lose interest in engaging, unfollow you, and forget your brand even existed. In addition, the algorithms will notice that interest is waning in your content, which will cause them to demote it. Once that happens, you will find yourself buried way behind your competitors.
10. Not Testing
Unless all of your posts are a hit, you will probably need to test and experiment with different styles until you see what works. To keep your audience on their toes, post different types of content that align with their interests. If specific posts fail to stick, toss them to the side and keep using the ones that do.
Beyond trying new types of content, do not be afraid to give new platforms a shot. If you did not get the results you desired on one, you might finally get them on another. Without testing, however, you will never know.
