Today, the success of a business often comes down to how successfully they communicate their worth online through interacting on social media. The problem is, many businesses are shooting themselves in the foot by making these all-too-common, deadly mistakes.
Flying Blind
Businesses know they should be active on social media, but they often fly blind, not understanding the dangers of common pitfalls. These businesses may be spending tons of money trying to build a social media presence, or they might be trying to go it alone and failing. Either way, the deadliest of all social media mistakes is not knowing which mistakes YOU are making – and continuing on your way as though nothing is the matter.
Which of These 5 Social Media Mistakes Are YOU Making?
1. Boring Your Audience
Ever known someone who always talked, but never listened? Chances are, they bored you. Guess what – if you haven’t conducted a comprehensive listening phase to seek out your target audience and find out what interests them, you’re probably boring your audience to death! This means they either stop following you or they don’t engage with your posts, meaning your page withers on the vine. Make sure you’re not just blathering on. Find out just what your people want to hear about!
2. Too Much Automation
Hello! Social media should be SOCIAL! Stop plugging a bunch of posts into that cool automation tool you discovered and invest time into chatting with your tribe. Marketing these days is all about relationships. You have those, right? If not, it’s probably because you’re acting more like a robot than a human online.
3. Buying Followers
This goes back to the point of being human in your online marketing. The point of social media is NOT to have a bunch of followers. It’s to have a bunch of MEANINGFUL relationships online. If you’re paying someone to magically give you thousands of followers, those aren’t real people. Those are fake accounts who will not interact with your page, will not drive your solutions forward, and will not buy from you.
4. Posting at the Wrong Times
Most people don’t even realize it matters WHEN you post on social media. For example, did you know that posting on Instagram before 8:00 pm is a surefire way to be completely overlooked? Did you know that the best time to post informational items on Facebook is typically around noon on a weekday? Pay attention to when your audience is online, and what they want to see at various times. It can vary from audience to audience, platform to platform, and even from content type to content type.
5. Not Measuring Results
If you’re not measuring the success of your social media activities, how are you supposed to know what’s working and what’s not? And if you don’t know what’s working and what’s not, how are you supposed to improve? Studies reveal that more and more businesses are investing in social media, but are frustrated by a lack of ROI due to not measuring key performance indicators (KPI).
Social media is far more complex than most people imagine. Don’t underestimate it! Don’t throw away your valuable time and money flying blind. Watch out for these common social media mistakes and make the most of your efforts.
Curious how your business is performing on social media? We specialize in analyzing social media strategies and providing step-by-step recommendations for your particular situation. Ask about our personalized social media Audits/Success Roadmaps!
