Social Media Marketing Mistakes

Ask any digital marketing executive, “Is social media important for a digital marketing strategy?,” and they will respond, “Social media is INTEGRAL to all digital marketing strategies.” Social media is one of the best digital platforms to quickly propel a business forward, garner a client base, and market the business’s products or services. Here are thirteen of the biggest social media marketing mistakes. Avoid them.

Misidentifying the target audience.

A successful business understands who its target audience is. Sometimes, a business forgets that knowing its target audience also applies to social media. Only post content that is interesting and relevant to your followers. Keep in mind that your target audience on social media may be different from your target audience for other marketing campaigns.

Disconnected Strategy

A social media account that bounces from one topic to another without any sense of cohesion will be just as quick to lose followers as it was to gain them. Outlining a clear strategy ensures that the business will only post relevant content and in turn, attract the targeted audience. Side note: this means that a business must know who the target audience is.

Creating accounts on too many platforms too soon

Many businesses create all of their social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., all at once. Typically, a business will become overwhelmed and either post irrelevant content or stop posting altogether. Consumers distrust social media accounts that do not post regularly–seeing only posts from months earlier does not instill confidence. A business should keep its social media presence narrow and only branch out when it is positive that it can produce quality content.

Lacking a voice

Consumers desire connection. By finding and maintaining a voice, whether witty, sarcastic, or light-hearted, a business can connect more deeply with consumers.

Paying for fake followers

While paying for fake followers can quickly increase a business’s social standing, it won’t increase ROI or increase user engagement. In fact, most consumers recognize when a business has bought followers. Work to build authentic consumer relationships.

Posting too much about the business

By retweeting relevant content or sharing applicable articles, a business shows its followers that it is active on social media and willing to engage in authentic dialogue. Posting too much about the business is annoying and unwelcome. All good things come in moderation.

Using hashtags excessively

Nothing screams social media amateur like excessive hashtagging. Most millennials, in fact, will recognize over-hashtagging as the work of an older individual, an individual who does not relate to them. Make sure hashtags are relevant to what you hope to convey.

Oversaturating your followers’ feeds

Just like excessive hashtagging, excessive posting is a huge turn-off for followers. Posting once or twice a day is a great schedule to follow. Make use of a social media scheduler, such as Hootsuite or Buffer, to post with regularity and consistency.

Spamming

Don’t do it. Ever.

Broadcasting the same media across multiple platforms

Similar to the need to develop a voice, make sure that your content has a style that fits the platform. Each platform caters to different aspects of social media, thus each of your business’s platforms should have its own style of content. Using the same post content across platforms should be done once again, in moderation.

Forgetting to proofread

Humans hate grammatical and spelling errors. If the business can’t spell, how can it be trusted with important customer transactions? Proofread. It’s simple.

Forgetting to be social

Interacting with your followers and peer companies will go a long way. By responding to comments or tweeting something intriguing at a competitor, followers will feel a connection–a sense of camaraderie.

Misinterpreting a trend

Exploiting the right hashtag at the right moment can put your brand in the limelight. But when a business uses a trend inappropriately, it can have lasting disastrous effects. For example, DiGiorno royally screwed up in 2014 and offended many people.

Avoiding these thirteen social media marketing mistakes gives brands the potential to put their business far ahead of the rest. Good luck, and share with care. Want to learn more? Take a look at the 6 Essentials of a Successful Social Media Marketing Strategy for more tips.

Source: B2C