Social media is a powerful tool in today’s business world. It is not just a place where people connect with friends and family, but also serves as a central hub for information gathering.
While many people have a basic understanding of social media, not everyone knows about the mistakes that can be made on these platforms.
There are many success stories of how social media made mad an enormous impact and help some businesses thrive and beat their competitors.
Stories of how Facebook has brought a company truckloads of leads. How a business coach garnered countless clients through Linkedin. And how an Instagram influencer brought thousands of sales for a specific brand
The list goes on…
These examples prove that social media marketing (if done right) can yield tremendous results and help businesses grow by leaps and bounds.
Top Social Media Marketing Mistakes To Avoid
Using social media for business marketing has become one of the best ways to generate sales and build a brand.
It’s also worth pointing out that SMM (social media marketing) can also wreck your business — if you’re not careful with how you run your campaigns.
In this guide, we’re going to share with you the top social media marketing mistakes that can damage your business.
Not Publishing Unique Content.
As a child, the game of “I’ll repeat everything you say” was cute.
As an adult, it’s not cute anymore. Originality counts.
While there is value to be had from sharing other people’s content, if you want to get real results from your social media marketing campaigns, you have to produce original, high-quality posts and content.
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In addition, to sharing other people’s posts — which can be perfect for relationship building — you need to come up with your own high-quality content that people are interested in reading and sharing.
To help you come up with content topics that are likely to go viral, you can use an online tool like Buzzsumo as a way to generate ideas and to see what’s trending.
By using this tool, you can find the most popular posts and topics, and see which ones get the most social shares.
This way, you can uncover topics that your audience is most likely to engage with.
Once you find trending topics, you can use this knowledge to create content that is still original but covers the popular topics you discovered. This will improve the chances of your content-generating the buzz and traffic.
Another strategy you can try is doing competitor research to better understand what your competitors are up to. By analyzing their results, you can build upon their marketing methods and strategies and try to produce better content resulting in higher rankings and traffic.
Targeting the same audience they’re targeting while offering better content is one of the best ways to stay ahead of your competitors.
Take the time to study other popular social media accounts and you’ll be able to come up with many ideas to use for your social media marketing campaigns that your audience will love.
Ignoring Your Metrics
If you want to get the most out of your marketing campaigns, you need to track your numbers.
Without analyzing the data, you’ll never know what to improve, how to improve, and when to implement your new initiatives to get better results.
When you use analytics, you’ll know what works and what doesn’t. Here’s an example of how your numbers look in Facebook ad manager.
As you can see, you’ll know which campaign garnered more comments, reactions, etc. You can use these as a benchmark of sorts to determine what works and what doesn’t.
Imagine running a duplicate Facebook ad with the only difference in the ad image you used.
Since everything is the same (like your audience, date and time your ad ran, and your ad copy, etc.), you are bound to see better results on one ad over the other.
This tells you that the image you used on the ad that gained better results is better — all because you track your numbers.
With that information, you can use the same image on your other ads so you can get better results.
If you find tracking your numbers too complicated, as some online entrepreneurs do, then you can go to freelance market platforms like Freelancemyway to look for a seasoned social media marketer to help you with running your paid ads.
With the help of a marketing expert, you will be able to get better results without learning the complexities of running a marketing campaign. However, before hiring someone, make sure they have a proven track record of success.
Not Setting Clear Goals
Another major mistake is pounding your followers with tons of posts and tweets without a clear goal or strategy.
If you are one of the companies that share something every few minutes … STOP!
Most followers say that if the business or a brand overshares and publishes too many posts, they will unfollow them.
Study big brands that are successfully running their social media campaigns. Because they have big budgets to spend on marketing, the chances are they work with top agencies and use proven social media marketing strategies that have been shown to get results. Try to learn from them and apply their methods to your marketing.
Also, you might want to stick to the 80/20 ratio rule. Keep 20% of your posts promotional, while the other 80% content that’s interesting and engaging and not pushing products or services.
Not Staying Up-To-Date On Current Events
In today’s societal climate, being labeled insensitive can crush your brand in a matter of minutes.
A perfect example of this would be the Papa John’s debacle where the CEO decided to make comments concerning NFL players kneeling and hurting the franchise’s bottom line.
The CEO was removed from the board of directors and can no longer make any decisions regarding the company.
That’s fairly extreme, but it’s a great example of what had to happen to fix his insensitive comments.
When using social marketing, make sure you are up-to-date on major current events and trends. From political stories to anti-gun sentiments to LGBTQ movements, make sure you stay on the upside by staying out of any VOLATILE current events.
To see what topics are trending, you can use a free online tool like Google Trends. To give you an example of how the tool works. I entered the phrase “Influencer marketing.”
This is what Google Trends came-up with.
This will show you how popular the topic is over time.
Oversharing & Posting Inappropriate Content
Another big no-no, similar to posting too many times, is oversharing.
Old social marketing techniques believed in the mantra of “in their face, in their minds.” Because of this, they would post content constantly just so they get seen.
What happened, over time, as they lost followers?
Unless it is relevant to your brand or your company message, it is best to leave it alone. Don’t waste it on an unrelated meme and/or political message (which could be social suicide itself) unless it helps build your brand.
Think about the things that are important to your audience.
Post content that your followers would find interesting, fun and educational instead of something irrelevant and potentially harmful to your business.
Putting Social Media on Hold
Not responding to audience inquiries or relevant comments is a HUGE mistake. The reason is quite obvious: a response is a fundamental customer service expectation. If a customer calls your place of business with an inquiry, you know their tolerance for being put on hold is very low. Don’t put your followers on hold. Be proactive by responding to your social media followers’ inquiries both on and off your page to make a connection with your audience.
Not Paying Attention To Your Competitors
You’re off to a good start by reading this post, but it’s important to be mindful of what your competition is doing. Nearly everyone has adopted social media as a marketing weapon, so educating yourself on what “the other guy” is cooking up will help you generate ideas and innovate for your own success. Take good notes on what is working for them or looks appealing, and brainstorm some ideas of your own original content that will wow audiences even more.
Not Understanding Your Social Media Platform
You have to figure out what type of social network fits your business. For some companies with limited time to dedicate to social media marketing, it can be frustrating to try to keep up with every hot new social media platform available.
Use the platforms your audience is most active on to avoid wasting time as well as have clear goals and a solid content strategy for each platform.
Not Staying Current on Latest Social Media Trends
Social media is constantly evolving, and what worked yesterday might not work today. By staying current on trends, you can ensure that your content and strategies are relevant and effective.
Knowing what’s trending can also help you create fresh and engaging content that resonates with your audience and keeps them interested and engaged.
By being aware of the latest developments, you can ensure that your business is not being left behind by your competitors.
Conclusion
Social media is a powerful tool for businesses and can help generate leads, attract clients, and drive sales. However, it is important to avoid common mistakes in order to effectively use social media marketing to grow your business. By staying aware of these mistakes and implementing strategies to avoid them, you can ensure that your social media marketing efforts are successful and help your business thrive.
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