Social media marketing has been shown to be one of the most effective ways to get new customers, but it’s also one of the easiest ways to waste time and money. Most businesses fall into the same trap of making these common social media marketing mistakes, but it’s important that you recognize these pitfalls and take steps to avoid them.
When you understand these common social media marketing mistakes, your business will be able to thrive without wasting time or effort on ineffective strategies.
Social media marketing can be tricky if you don’t know what you’re doing.
“Lead people with what they want. – Lead with what they’ve already said. – Lead people from where they’re at. – Lead them with the things that concern them.” – Sandi Krakowski
Here are the 10 most common social media marketing mistakes to avoid when building your social media strategy.
1.Not Having a Strategy
Developing a social media marketing strategy is crucial to executing your plan effectively. In order to have a successful social media presence, you need to be able to set SMART goals. Goals must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.
You also need a good mix of content types to keep your audience engaged—not only do you need frequent updates with quality content, but you should mix things up by incorporating visuals and infographics into your posts.
2.Taking Up Too Much Space
It’s easy to get sucked into spending way too much time and energy on social media. Use tools like Klout and Google Analytics to check your site traffic and watch out for major spikes in your engagement.
If you see a big boost in followers or retweets, step back for a moment to see what’s going on.
3.Being Late
If you’re posting at all hours of the day, week, and year, it could indicate that you’re just too busy to focus on your social media marketing. Take a look at when your target audience is online and adjust accordingly.
4.Posting at the Wrong Time
One of the biggest mistakes you can make in marketing is posting on social media when your audience isn’t there. Look at your target audience and find out when they’re most likely to engage with you.
If you want people to see your post about how to paint fingernails, then wait until late in the evening, when people are sitting around staring at their phones waiting for something to entertain them.
5.Posting Too Often
There’s no one-size-fits-all rule for social media posting. At a minimum, you should post once a day on each platform, but for maximum impact, posting more often is better.
However, don’t let your number of posts fall below two per day; if you do, it looks like you’re either losing interest or otherwise not doing very much on social media.
6.Not Nurturing Personal Relationships
Every time you engage with someone on social media, you open up an opportunity to network and build a relationship. Take advantage of it!
We all know that we’re on when we tweet or post on Facebook, but we should never let that deter us from forging meaningful relationships with like-minded individuals online.
7.Buying Followers/Likes
While it’s true that you can’t simply publish once and be done with it, social media is still about publishing—whether it’s a post on your Facebook page or a new entry in your Twitter feed.
That means sharing relevant content with your audience regularly. If you get into a schedule of publishing three times per week, for example, then sticking to that schedule is just as important as coming up with great posts.
8.Not Updating Enough
If you’re not updating your social media marketing strategy regularly, you’re leaving money on the table. Facebook alone has rolled out changes to its algorithm over 200 times in just a few years, and Twitter is currently overhauling its approach to user experience for a mobile-first world.
Updating your strategy regularly means that you can take advantage of these opportunities when they arise. Otherwise, someone else will do it before you. That’s how businesses work. Don’t get left behind!
9.Making It All About Money
When you’re just starting out, you might be tempted to jump straight into posting content without building your audience first. It makes sense; after all, you’re eager to start branding yourself and making connections with other professionals.
Unfortunately, if you don’t make an effort to draw people in before posting your content, they probably won’t take it seriously. Build a following first—even if it takes months—and then start sharing your best stuff.
10.Expecting Results Instantly
It is a common misconception that social media marketing is a get-rich-quick scheme. You will not get results overnight and it can be difficult to explain to clients why their marketing campaigns have had little success so far.
Results only come from consistent effort, so you should prepare yourself for the long haul before you can see any rewards from your efforts.
Wrapping up!
Though social media is fun, it can also be a great marketing tool for your business. When used correctly, you’ll find that it has many benefits for your company. Among other things, social media allows you to engage with your customers in an intimate way.
By using social media to reach out to your audience, you are able to establish relationships with them that go beyond simple customer service requests.
