Everyone is on social media these days, but very few know what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong. The top social media mistakes brands make today are doing unspeakable damage, not just to image and lead flow, but also to engagement. And engagement is what your whole strategy should be about. Because without engagement, you might as well be talking to a wall.
Check out the list below, and make sure none of these common mistakes find their way into your social media practices:
1. Canned Responses: Do you have automatic messages set up on Twitter and copy-and-paste sheets for Facebook, etc.? While you should have policies in place for how to handle certain feedback, what tone to use, and even certain talking points to emphasize, you should not rely on strictly canned responses. Be real and spontaneous. Your audience can tell the difference.
2. Narcissism: When you go to a cocktail party or networking event, do you spend the entire time talking about yourself and your business? I hope not. Neither should you spend the majority of time posting about your business on your social channels. Remember, social comes before media. Share an interesting mix of useful, funny, and newsworthy information with a little bit of your own info sprinkled in.
3. Buying Followers: DON’T DO IT. You must understand the point of social media is to have a conversation that helps your target audience and points them toward your business. If you buy fake followers just to boost that number on your page, you are effectively killing the conversation. We’re talking stone cold dead.
4. Not Listening: Not to beat a dead horse, but if you aren’t listening to the other half of the conversation you need to happen online, then how will you know what your audience even wants to hear about? Don’t guess – listen! Find where they hang out and listen to the questions they ask, the related brands they follow, the problems they have that you can help solve.
5. Typos: No, it’s not as big a deal on social media, but it is still not cool. If you sell BBQ on the side of the road, people might not care about your spelling or how well you can string a sentence together. But if you are serious about building a brand that is trusted and valued, don’t take typos lightly.
6. Tagging Everyone: It’s good to connect with people online and to occasionally even tag them on social media. But it should be very occasional, not the rule.
7. Over-Scheduling: Your social media presence has to be spontaneous, live, and authentic. People go there for a human connection. And while some scheduling is unavoidable, most of your interactions should be handled by a real, live human being.
8. Ignoring Paid Ads: Maybe you occasionally boost a post on Facebook, but chances are, if you’re like most brands not doing well on social media, you don’t have a budget for paid, social-media ads. This will destroy your brand by letting it starve to death. Algorithms just like Google’s now dominate social media, and you must pay to play. Fortunately, at this stage in the game, you can get far more advertising bang for your buck with social media than traditional media.
9. Measuring Wrong: Guess what. The measure of your success on social media isn’t your number of likes or followers. There are other numbers you should be paying far more attention to – like your engagement rate, your website traffic driven from social media, your reach, etc. These key performance indicators (KPI) tell you how healthy your social media presence is and whether or not you’re actually going to get more business with social media.
10. Not Creating Content: If you are only sharing company updates and content from 3rd parties, you really have nothing unique enough to attract and keep followers. Sure, your page might have a lot of interesting news stories or jokes or pictures to keep a small following. But the secret to building your brand’s credibility and conversion power is thought leadership. Content marketing is the meat and potatoes of a vibrant social media strategy. Ignore it at your own peril.
Which of these was a surprise to you? Let us know in the comments. Perhaps we can help your brand put together a solid strategy to master social media. Contact us about our personalized Success Roadmap right away!
