Mistakes Your Business is Making on Social Media
Photo from Stock That Rocks
It’s no secret that social media is a powerful tool for business. It provides a way for brands to build and maintain relationships, gain customers, increase awareness, drive sales, and more!
However, it’s important to understand that while social media can be an amazing tool for success, it can also hurt your business if it’s not used in the right way. Unfortunately, we’ve seen many brands fail time and time again due to the same mistakes. So, we decided to compile a list of the most common social media mistakes to help you out as you go about building your brand’s online presence!
Let’s dive in!
Not Understanding What You’re Using Social Media For
First and foremost, it’s important to ask yourself why you’re using social media! Is it to build brand awareness? Drive sales? Gain customer insight? Increase web traffic and search rankings? Find out what your competitors are doing? Share content in a quick and easy way?
The list of reasons that brands use social media goes on and on, and rightfully so, because social media is a powerful tool! However, it’s important to define exactly what you want social media to do for you. For example, here at Bloguettes, we use social media to engage with the creative community and spread the word about the resources we offer for creative entrepreneurs!
If you don’t have a clear understanding of what you’re using social media for, you’re less likely to reach your goals, because you won’t know what to focus on. So, set aside time to do some brainstorming and nail down at least 2-3 reasons for using social media.
Ignoring Your Audience
Ever heard the saying, “the customer is always right?” Well, the same concept applies to social media.
If you start posting without first determining who your target audience is, you most likely won’t be very effective. However, if you do your research to determine the characteristics of your audience such as age, gender, location, and likes and dislikes, you’re much more likely to connect with who you want to.
Similarly, once you’ve been posting for awhile, it’s so important to take follower feedback into consideration. Are your posts receiving likes and comments? Are you gaining followers? Are the comments you’re receiving positive? These are all factors worth paying attention to. If you ignore them, you might find yourself losing customers and not capitalizing on big opportunities!
Trying to Have a Presence on All Platforms
We get it….as a #girlboss, you do it all! However, sometimes it’s better to do one thing well rather than trying to juggle multiple things at one time and not mastering any of them.
When it comes to social media, there are so many different platforms out there–Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+…you catch our drift! It’s nearly impossible to kill it on every single one of these platforms, so rather than trying to stretch yourself too thin, we suggest finding what platforms work best for your brand and sticking with it. Here are some things to consider when choosing the right platform for your brand:
The platform your audience spends a majority of their time on (ex: Pinterest users are primarily young females, whereas LinkedIn users are majority male business professionals)
The type of content you offer–is it mostly written, visual, or both? (ex: Instagram is mostly about photos, whereas Facebook’s free content guidelines allow you to write a bit more)
The frequency you want to post (ex: Twitter is a content blast, whereas content is more long-lasting on Pinterest)
What your brand is known for (ex: Twitter is best for well-known brands that provide news updates, whereas Snapchat is great for fun, relatable brands that show behind-the-scenes content)
Where your competitors are (ex: many product-based brands take advantage of Pinterest and Instagram’s visual elements)
Posting Too Much or Not Enough
When it comes to your posting routine, consistency is key. You don’t want to overload your followers, but at the same time, don’t be afraid to post multiple times a day! On platforms like Instagram, the content your followers see is influenced by an algorithm, so it’s highly likely they won’t see all of your posts from the day! Posting consistently is key if you want to build brand awareness.
Wondering if you’re posting too much or not enough? Pay attention to trends. For example, if you go from posting once a day to twice and notice you’re gaining followers, rest assured that you’re making the right choice! If you start posting three times a day and notice you lose followers, this might be an indicator that 2 is your magic number.
Not Having an Organized Internal System
For many companies, social media is handled by a team rather than just one person! This is where a collaborative tool like Trello comes in. Boards can be created to plan out social media for the week (this is what we do here at Bloguettes), so when you share boards, everyone can be on the same page! If you’re curious about how we set up our Trello boards, we recently wrote a blog post all about it!
Here are some other tools we recommend for staying organized:
Planoly – Plan your Instagram photos and captions ahead of time! With Planoly, you can also preview what your grid will look like before posting to make sure it flows together visually.
Tailwind – Schedule pins for Pinterest!
MeetEdgar – Schedule and recycle posts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Relying Too Heavily on Automation Services
Oh, automation services….we love ‘em because they save us time and can boost our following, that is until we start coming across like a robot!
We know that you have big goals to reach, and you’re willing to try anything and everything to get there. However, we think that relying on autolikers alone is not the way to do it. Sure, it might bring you instant ‘success,’ but it’s not a long-term solution. Social media growth takes time and persistence, and there’s no such thing as becoming Instagram famous overnight (unfortunately).
By engaging authentically, you can build real, meaningful relationships with customers, brands, and influencers in your niche. This can bring your business sales and even lead to future collabs! We hate to sound cliche, but quality really is greater than quantity when it comes to growing your presence on social media. If you do choose to use an automation service like Robolike, for example, just remember that it does not serve as a substitute for authentic engagement. No matter what, it’s so important for you and/or your team to make the effort and spend time engaging each day!
Inconsistent Branding
Ever visit a company’s website and seen a particular color scheme or logo and then visit their Instagram account to find something completely different? Or, maybe you’ve read a company’s about page and then read a blog post of theirs that gives off a totally different vibe. You were probably a little confused!
Branding is all about the way you are perceived. You want your followers to be able to recognize your brand elements (colors, photo editing style, logo, voice, etc.) across all social media platforms! While this might take some extra time and effort, it’s so important to only put content out there that reflects your brand well. Remember, perception is everything!
Failing to Understand the ROI of Social Media
Unfortunately, many brands put social media on the backburner because they don’t see its value! However, when we look at the facts, we see that social media marketing is doing big things for brands.
If you’re still on the fence as to whether or not social media is benefitting your brand, there is a way to calculate your return on investment. Simply evaluate your total investment (people, ad budget, etc.) and compare this with what you’ve earned from social media. Did you make a profit?
Like we mentioned before, remember that social media success takes time. It can do wonders for your biz if you invest the time and effort it requires!
Not Having a Strategy
Last but certainly not least, your brand can’t thrive on social media without a strategy in place!
Without a strategy, you’re likely to become frustrated due to a lack of results.
Wondering how to create a custom social media strategy for your brand? Email us at hireus@bloguettes.com to find out how we can help!
