There are a lot of published articles regarding what one can do to grow their social media accounts. And while it appears that most online marketers have these best practices at heart, some still find themselves struggling. What could have gone wrong? How is that possible when they have followed every trick in the book?
Publishing an impeccable marketing content coupled with quality images is just a fraction of what social media marketing is all about. There are a lot of other things you need to know that have the same effect in terms of gaining potential clients which can possibly lead to conversion.
Social Media Marketing Mistakes Overview
It is no secret that the world of social media is a fast-paced environment. Each person is bustling and doing their thing. But that does not mean your actions go unnoticed. Every bit of information you post and share is recorded somewhere in the depths of this virtual world.
Therefore, awareness of “what to do” is equally important as knowing “what not to do”. This is what most marketers fail to see. It does not take a lot to hit the bottom; one blunder can ignite a major fiasco that can forever ruin your online presence.
What are the most common social media marketing mistakes?
Here is a list of the common social media marketing mistakes that more and more online marketers are guilty of and how it can be avoided.
Having Zero Game Plan
Since creating a social media account is quite easy, many businesses and brands alike just hastily jumped in and started their online marketing without any strategy at all. While it is not a real world, social media is far from being a fairytale where everything seems to magically fall into place. There is no fairy godmother that will dress you up or a genie that will grant your wishes.
In whatever endeavor you undertake, the most important thing you ought to create is a plan. If you have a team, be sure to brainstorm and jot down each member’s thoughts. It can be chaotic with many heads involved so you will need to lay out your goals and carefully weigh in all the suggestions and ideas. Make sure everybody is in tune so you can come up with the perfect yet doable strategy for your social media marketing campaign.
Creating Multiple Social Media Accounts
The more the merrier spells disaster in social media. While it is tempting to create an account for each of the social media networks out there, it will be smarter to center on the ones where your business and brand can flourish. Know where your target audience is most likely to hang out, connect and socialize there.
Being Very Corporate
Your social media account represents your company, business or brand but there is no need to be seriously uptight about it. Let us put it this way, if you were in a non-formal gathering, most folks would come dressed down, wearing their most comfortable clothes and just chilling out. If you approach them garbed in a suit and tie, they would probably exchange a few words with you but they would not engage in a conversation.
Though using your company logo is the most fitting profile picture, find other ways to incorporate your logo into the profile image or cover photo of the account. You can choose to use the image of your company, business or brand mascot or endorser instead.
Another thing, be sure to address the person by his name or mention his account when replying to a comment or message to give it that human touch.
Slow To Response
Despite having an inbound customer service, most consumers and potential clients would rather drop a message to your social media account, it is more convenient this way. Thus, if you are actively publishing posts on your page, they know you are there so do not ignore their private messages to you.
You can set up a custom reply message on your messenger for new messages but don’t leave it at that. Be sure to get back on them in a timely manner. Invest in an advanced automation tool, like JARVEE, that can speed things up for you in a professional yet non-impersonal level.
Taking Things Too Personally
Deleting bad comments, ignoring negative feedback and blocking an account is the most common social media marketing mistakes that can rapidly destroy your online presence.
Whenever you get a bad comment or review, do not react negatively, this will just add more fuel to the fire. Instead, apologize and listen to what they have to say have to say. Take action and learn from the experience.
Being Narcissist
It is your page and people get it. Still, avoid excessively promoting your business or brand on every opportunity you have. Otherwise, people would quickly lose interest and eventually unfollow or unlike your page if you keep yapping about yourself.
Aside from publishing contents that are related to your products or services, share other interesting and useful write-ups. But be mindful of what you share, do your research so you don’t end up sharing false information.
Recycling Old Posts
Recycling is good for the environment but it is not applicable on social media. When you recycle old posts on social media, it is called laziness.
Keep your posts and page up-to-date. Do not limit your efforts to stay fresh with just publishing new posts on a regular basis. Aside from that, change your profile image and cover photo from time to time as well.
Spamming
Your social media account is not mainly for promotions and advertising so don’t bombard your readership with spammy links on every post. It is like watching your favorite show loaded with annoying commercials.
A few links are forgivable but don’t overdo it. Consider your social media page as an opportunity to reach out and interact with your clients, much like town halls.
Being Clueless About Your Followers
This is a classic among the top social media marketing mistakes that online marketers still do. It does not matter how loud you speak, talking to a deaf would not work. You’ll get pretty much the same results when you don’t make an effort to know who your target audience is.
If you want to get optimal engagement on your account, you should work on getting to know your followers. Observe what sparks their interest and when they are most active. Use the data you gathered to help you decide what and when to publish your post.
Collecting Fake Followers
A lot of rookie online marketers are lead to believe that massive followers equate to being successful. Well, it can be confusing and there will always be that debate between quantity versus quality. So how do you really measure success? The answer is quite simple, dummies don’t have brains, period.
Final Thoughts
Experience is the best teacher and mistake is the finest lesson there is to learn. Knowing failure is half the battle. This is what most, if not all, successful social media marketers share with each other. Thus, we can benefit from their social media marketing mistakes.
However, it does not imply that breathing through the list guarantees instant victory. You are still bound to commit mistakes here and there. But don’t let that stop you. Keep experimenting, combining different methods until you find the balance, that sweet spot and be your own success story.
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