Brooke Koster October 13, 2021 Social media marketing can make or break your business depending on whether or not it’s done correctly. According to Hubspot, “The number of global social media users is expected to reach almost 3.43 billion in 2023.” Most businesses know how important social media marketing is, but few realize there are many social media mistakes that can negatively affect the growth of their brand. In this article we share 10 mistakes to avoid on your professional social media to ensure the success of your campaign.
1. Putting All Your Energy Into The Wrong Social Media Platform
It’s easy to only look at the platforms you’re familiar with and go from there. You’re comfortable with their layouts and how they work, but you may be missing out on necessary connections. Additionally, if you commit to too many platforms you could become overwhelmed making unique content for each one.
Each social media platform is designed for specific audiences. For example, just as your business has a target audience, so does LinkedIn. This platform is geared toward professional networking and business-to-business marketing. If you are a business that relies on networking with connections, not using LinkedIn could be disastrous for your social media strategy.
Other platforms such as TikTok or Snapchat are far less professional and bring in a younger crowd. This could be beneficial for your business though, if your target audience is between 20-29 years old. You could lose a lot of potential customers if you don’t consider the age of your followers.
The key is to find which platforms your potential customers are most active on.
2. Working Without A Social Media Strategy
Just like a business plan, a social media strategy outlines your goals and a path to success. If you log in to your professional social media accounts and just start to post randomly, you could be wasting a lot of effort. You need a following, or else you’ll be posting into the void with no positive outcome for your business.
Your social media strategy should include some of these key elements: a target audience, content schedules, social media audits and knowing your competition. Aligning your social media goals with your business goals will help guide your actions. If all of this seems overwhelming, you’re not alone. Many businesses hire marketing companies to assist in making a plan to help you succeed.
Invest your time in making a social media strategy so that you don’t make wasteful mistakes that could cause your whole campaign to fall flat. Social media moves fast, so it’s best to start your research now.
3. Ignoring Your Comment Section
One of the worst social media mistakes you can make is not responding to customers who comment on your posts. Engagement is a top priority, since one of the main goals of social media marketing is building a brand community. Interacting with your audience is an integral part of that, whether it’s negative or positive.
Responding to comments gives you an advantage of having a unique one-on-one conversation with your
customers that builds a lasting connection. It shows you put in genuine effort to help customers with questions or concerns instead of replying with, “Thanks for your comment!” on everything. When your audience can see that you care, they will care about your brand more.
As you have more people comment on your professional social media accounts, make sure to be friendly, but also stay professional. It can be hard to keep cool when you get a rude, negative comment, but you should remember what your brand stands for and be an empathetic voice that consumers want to hear.
4. Forgetting To Monitor Automated Posting Tools
HubSpot explains social media automation best with this one sentence, “Social media automation is the process of using automated tools to improve your social media presence through content curation and scheduling social media posts in advance.” When your social media strategy is set up and you have a few different accounts for your business, it’s best to utilize these automation tools. You’ll be able to organize and keep track of posts and scheduled content all in one place.
While it would be nice to automate all your posts and simply forget them, this just isn’t practical. There are human errors and website or app bugs to consider. A slip of the finger clicking on the wrong date or time for your post can impact your brand negatively, especially if your business relies solely on these tools. For example, if you schedule a post about a sale or event happening in a week and it posts early, you could lose a lot of business because your audience will doubt your posts from that moment on.
Having a second pair of eyes or going into your automated posting tool at least once a week to check on your scheduled posts is a good idea to avoid this social media mistake.
5. Neglecting The Editing Process
A good rule of thumb before posting anything on social media is to edit it fiercely. Everything you post on your professional social media immediately becomes part of your digital marketing footprint. Even the posts you delete can float around the internet afterwards in the form of screenshots and the memories of your audience. Grammar mistakes, typos and misinformation will most likely be noticed and could change the way customers view your brand.
Luckily, you don’t need an English degree to edit your own posts, however if you do have one, that’s helpful! Either way, here are some tips to help you with your editing process:
- Ask another person to proofread your post.
- Read your post out loud. If it sounds off, rewrite it. Especially if it’s too ambiguous.
- Use technology and tools to help you edit.
Your business could lose a lot of credibility through something as simple as one spelling mistake. Make sure to take the time to go over each post so you don’t lose the followers you worked so hard to gain on your professional social media.
6. Using The Wrong Brand Voice
Choosing a brand voice for your social media marketing can be tricky. If it’s too official, you risk coming off as boring, but if your brand voice is too casual, you risk offending people with certain jokes or appear annoying. It’s important to remember that you are working on your professional social media, not your personal accounts.
Every time you post, you exercise your brand voice and gain an impression from your followers. One question to think about is, what is the message you want your audience to receiv? Do you want to be inspirational and educational? Maybe you want to be creative and fun. Whatever direction you take, it’s best you figure out your vibe and stick with it. Consistency is important so that you’re using the same voice no matter where your brand shows up.
So, before you start posting on social media platforms, take the time to figure out your brand’s overall personality and how you want to communicate your uniqueness to your audience. Choosing the wrong tone could cost you likes and followers.
7. Choosing Irrelevant Hashtags
There’s no doubt about it, hashtags can help your business get discovered by a new audience. Hashtags act like a roadmap for social media users to find relevant information based on their search. When you use a trending hashtag, you could get thousands of people to see your post who might never have come across it otherwise. Not only will you get more people to see your post, but it could translate to more engagement and followers.
Adding hashtags to your posts will make it easier for your audience to find your information.
Therefore, it’s important to know how to use hashtags. Do your research on which hashtags are most relevant to your business and which ones you should add to your social media strategy.
Hashtags started on Twitter in 2007 and have expanded to most other platforms since. Not using hashtags at all would be a big social media mistake. It could also be a problem for your brand if you use irrelevant hashtags. Instead of using only popular hashtags, it’s better to find more specific hashtags that are relevant to your industry. For example, if you run a bakery social media page, #bakerylife could be more beneficial for you than #food. Determining what your audience searches for regularly could be the first step into finding out which hashtags you should be using. Take some time to look around and see what your target audience or competitors are already using. This could help you narrow down which hashtags are best for you and your professional social media.
8. Being Too Formal
While it is important for you to stay professional on your social media, it’s also critical to understand that these platforms are a great way for you to engage with your audience. Social media is all about connections. Having some fun and using your content to show consumers the playful side of your brand can be a great way for people to get to know your business better. Personal anecdotes, behind-the-scenes photos or videos and tasteful humor can humanize your brand.
A popular method companies like to use is memes. They tend to be relatable, relevant and funny. This is useful motivation to do some research on what your target audience likes. It can be a fun part of your social media marketing to come up with creative and fresh content that your audience will enjoy. You don’t want to come off as an impersonal corporation with zero personality.
Write a joke or two, and don’t be afraid to talk to your followers as if they were your friends. People want to get to know companies on a personal level these days. Showing the human side of your brand means followers will more likely want to engage with you! As HubSpot says, “surely there’s value in showing off your personality and being a lovable brand, right?”
9. Not Paying Attention To Trends
It’s a good idea to pay attention to trends in social media so that you understand what people are looking for. This can also help you gain ideas on creating appropriate and unique content geared toward your target audience.
The Digital Report researched the top 10 reasons people use the internet in 2021. The third biggest reason is to stay up to date with news and current events. It’s essential to keep your audience’s current needs in mind because what worked last year might not work today. This mindset allows you to build a relationship and connect with your audience, and it can build up your credibility as a business as well. If you’re not keeping up you could miss out on beneficial connections for your business.
10. Posting Constantly
Posting regularly on your social media is a smart thing to do, but don’t make the mistake of posting too often. This can quickly annoy your audience and could push them to unfollow you. It’s not necessary to post something every time you feel you have something to say. Expecting results from spamming everyone’s account is a big social media mistake.
Posting too often can also lead to less creative content. It’s more likely that when you post strategically and really put forth thought and effort, people will notice. Your followers will pay more attention to your posts and look forward to them. But posting constantly throughout the day could make them not care as much, ultimately affecting your brand negatively. People respect someone who chooses their words wisely. When you create your social media strategy, be sure to research a posting schedule for your company so you can post methodically and purposefully.
Social media is like any other marketing tool. It requires research, customer service and regular upkeep to have a successful campaign. Avoid these mistakes when creating your plan and have fun posting!
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