No matter what size your company is, if you’re only making one of these mistakes when it comes Social Media, then you’re not making the most of what Social Media has to offers.

So, let’s throw the fluff to one side and let’s get straight to talking about the 5 Social Media Mistakes to Avoid:

Social Media Mistake #1: No Strategy. Although Social Media has now been around for many years now, many companies still don’t have a Social Media plan or strategy in place.

Here are some of the key areas that you should be considering:

• Determine Where Social Media Marketing Fits

• What are you using social media for?

• Is it for building a brand?

• Driving leads?

• Communicating with existing customers?

• Creating publicity?

• Figure Out Your Objectives and Target Audiences

• Map Out Your Content Marketing & Curation Strategy

Social Media Mistake #2: Buying Followers. Let me just tell you right now: Purchasing connections is a waste of time and money.

In and of itself, having a huge following does not benefit your business in any way if those connections have no interest in what you have to offer. In fact, a smaller number of followers who voluntarily followed you because the actually have an interest in your offerings is far more worthwhile. This is especially true when you find followers who turn into influencers. Not only will you be able take advantage of their stamp of approval, you will also be able to take advantage of their social connections.

So, always look to build you followers organically.

Social Media Mistake #3: Being a Robot. One of the biggest mistakes I see is either what I call is a “robot feel social media account” approach when it comes to messaging.

Remember what the word “social” means (checkout the oxford dictionary).

For me, social means interacting with my audience (connections). I therefore need to be not only posting messages, but also listening to what my audience is saying and reacting appropriately. In other words, it’s a two-way street.

When I work with my clients, I’m always focused on turning them in to thought leaders in their industries. So, don’t be scared to jump in and add value to online conversations. In doing so, you continue to establish creditability and trust. You become a real person on social media and not just a robot spewing out content that is irrelevant to your connections and followers. 

Social Media Mistake #4: Promotional Content. Stop now! If you’re posting a preponderance of promotional content with the explicit goal of selling to your audience, I bet it’s not working.

This is goes back to my number #1 mistake and not having a social media strategy.

You need to have a healthy content mix. My rule of thumb is that for every 1 promotional piece of content, you should have at least 4 non-promotional pieces of content that are strategic and engaging to you audience.

A great place to start, if you’re not already doing it, is to write thought leadership articles and eBooks.  Create educational videos. Basically, start creating content that isn’t trying to sell.

Social Media Mistake #5: No Commitment. Like most things in life, you must be committing to your plan. Remember, it’s a marathon not a sprint, so don’t give up too quickly.

Any successful strategy requires time and effort, in other words: commitment. It takes time for social media marketing to build traction and become successful.

Of course, along the way you will inevitably experience some failures, we all have. However, instead of throwing up your hands in defeat, you can learn from your mistakes. Learn what’s not working and don’t do it again. Try different approach.

For example I recently noticed that the traffic to my website had dropped off a little. I quickly determined the cause. I had ended a social media campaign that I thought had become stale. But, before kicking off a full-blown new campaign, I decided to try some quick “A/B Testing.” I used my social media channels to push out a couple of blogs that I knew were timeless and were still getting a decent number of reads. Within a very short time, I could track which messages and images were engaging my audience. I then took those results and kicked off a full-blown new campaign.  Within a few days, my website traffic began to increase once again.

As we close out here, I hope I have steered you away from the 5 Social Media Mistakes to Avoid.

Were you making any of these mistakes?

Drop me an email jon.rivers@marketingmonarchs.com