10 All-Too-Common Social Media Marketing Mistakes

You probably would not have noticed it but in your quest to drive traffic to your site, you would seemingly have committed several social media marketing mistakes that you must do everything in your power not to repeat. Creating too many mistakes in promoting your content would only lead to disaster, and this is something you cannot afford.

Social media sites are every content creator’s best friend when it comes to promoting your content free of charge. When you do not commit these common social media marketing mistakes, you are guaranteed an increase in traffic plus higher conversion of sales.

Listed below are the 10 all too common social media marketing mistakes:

#1 Quantity VS Quality

Many people are still under the mistaken assumption that it’s quantity that drives the numbers and not quality. This has been proven again and again that quantity doesn’t work in most cases. Your focus in the early stages of your social media marketing is to gather followers for your business. A group of 10 pre-targeted leads will have a better conversion than 100 random leads.

To avoid this social media marketing mistake, what you can do is to use all the filter tools that these social media sites have so you can specifically target your audience. The social networks usually allow you to filter based on tags, demographics, and age. By filtering people at this level, you have already targeted the type of people who would possibly do business with you.

#2 Not Focusing on key social network sites

There are so many social media networking sites out there, and you might be tempted to use as many as you can. That’s another mistake content marketers often make. It is more prudent if you focus on content distribution to social sites that have been proven to be effective in driving traffic and sales conversions to marketers who preferred to use them. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are the primary sites that you must use. You can add Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ later on.

#3 Not Listening to Social Signals

Your followers and fans are your target customers. If they provide you with feedback, you must listen to them and weigh in the possibilities of their suggestions and recommendations. It is also important for you to know what the latest trends are in your chosen niche.

There are so many times that the direction you wanted your business to take is very different from your target audience’s needs and wants. Just remember that your business will cease to exist if it cannot give the consumers what they need.

#4 Not doing anything enough

Your social media sites won’t update on their own. As a business owner and marketer, it is your responsibility to update your social media accounts with fresh and relevant content on a regular basis. The acceptable number of posts you can do on a weekly basis is 3-5 spaced apart.

#5  Losing focus

Set your priorities straight. You should not lose focus on your goals which are to drive traffic to your site and to increase your sales conversions. Your actions in your social media accounts should be convincing enough for you to garner quality followers who would eventually become your loyal consumers in the near future.

While it’s nice to try a lot of strategies at the same time, it would be wiser if you just focus on a very few strategies and campaigns to gain more followers. Spreading yourself thin with too many things at the same time will only cause you problems in the long run.

#6 Not having a social media plan or strategy

It’s like going to battle without the proper ammunition or any tactical plans; you are bound to fail. Before you do a full blast social media marketing, you must have at least researched when the best times for posting on the different social networks are so you can schedule your posts accordingly. A good content marketer has already mapped out the topics and the schedules of your posts. Everything you do on social media is for the promotion of your business.

#7 Wasting time in creating fake profiles and fake followers

This strategy is bound to fail in the long run. While it may help in spiking the volume of traffic going to your site, it can never convert to sales, so it defeats the purpose. Plus you have to be very wary of adopting scheming tactics as the internet is full of tools and services that may check on this. Remember how powerful Google’s algorithms are. It’s not worth risking getting permanently banned from the site due to some black hat strategies that you cannot resist doing.

#8 Not knowing what your competitors are doing

Unless you’re in a business with very few to no competition at all, it is a must that you must know what your competitors are doing so you can stay on top. Do your homework. You must have a firm grasp and clear understanding of how your business rivals work and operate.

#9 None or not enough audience engagement

Don’t be too self-centered. Social media sites were created for people to have a platform where they can network with other people for whatever purpose it may serve. One of your responsibilities as a content marketer is for you to use these social media sites to engage your audience.

#10 Focusing too much on generating sales/

Your social media marketing efforts are for you to generate sales. However, your efforts should not be focused on doing hard selling of your brand. Instead, use your different social media sites to educate your audience regarding the features and benefits of your products and services. Focus on informing your audience what they can get with the purchase of your goods.

Wrapping it Up

These social media marketing mistakes are very easy to correct. You should rectify these mistakes as soon as you can in order for your marketing efforts to get the desired result. Social media sites are mere platforms to create brand awareness. Stop making these mistakes now and focus on other aspects of your business.