8 Common Mistakes In Social Media Marketing

Even though Instagram is the most widely used social media platform with 500 million users daily, few businesses excel at it. This is because it comes with a huge number of potential customers. In social media marketing guides, it’s often implied that people should be authentic and produce great content. However, sometimes trying to do that can lead to disappointing results. There are plenty of guides that tell you how to create great content for social media. But, sometimes, it doesn’t always work out that way. 

Here, you can find 8 common mistakes for you to avoid if you’re searching for good social media marketing with great results.

1- Fake followers 

Some companies buy followers and then create fake accounts to get more followers. This method works for most companies as it helps them appear popular. Right? And though it’s against the rules of social media networks, buying followers is still possible.

You may be paying for a social media page that’s not working, and it’s not going to work. This is because buying followers is against the algorithm.

Let’s say you originally had 500 followers and you paid to get a thousand more. Now, imagine that you have thousands of subscribers and they aren’t interested in your posts, no likes, no comments, and no engagement. Catastrophic isn’t it? So, for your post to be promoted, Instagram, for example, shows it to a small group of select members of your audience. As more people like it, the more it gets promoted. 

Once upon a time, there were so many fake profiles that were created to sell followers on Facebook, it resulted in a scandal. The company had to remove over 2 billion fake accounts. Why? Because these fake accounts will prevent your posts from being promoted by the algorithm. This is also not something that you were thinking about when you were paying for followers.

Simply, if you’re creating quality content, then your target audience will want to follow you. This is much more meaningful than following someone who has bought or created out of thin air. By sending content to the right audience, you will increase the chances that people will visit your website and convert them into a customer.

2- No content strategy  

If you want a good social media strategy you need a content strategy. Keep an eye on these four factors that will help you develop a plan for content creation:

Who are you writing for?

Knowing who your audience is will help narrow down the type of content that you should write. For example, if you’re writing about paleo foods, you might need to target someone who already knows about it and the diet.

What are you writing?

Each piece of content in your brand’s story arc is only one frame in the story. Establishing a consistent tone and identity is key to building a strong brand.

What is your brand personality?

Brand personality is a crucial step in developing a strategy to communicate with your audience. It can help determine how you want to communicate to them, and it can also help determine how you want to act.

Post a good material

Instead of bombarding your audience with sales pitches, share useful content that they can use in their everyday lives. Instead of focusing on creating viral content, focus on delivering value to your audience.

3- Not engaging with your followers

Aside from planning what platforms and time to post content on, you also need to prepare to respond to the questions and comments that users may have. 

Having a lot of comments on your posts can help boost the engagement rates of Instagram and Facebook and let your followers feel like you care about them and establish connections with your followers. And being able to connect with users helps strengthen your brand and put out some fires. Furthermore, responding to a negative comment can also help put a stop to the rumors spreading about you.

A social media strategy can be used to plan out how to respond to various scenarios. This strategy will help minimize the potential fallout from your anger. If you’ve got a taste for humor, then you should probably try to pick a fight. If you don’t have a real personality, then you can still use humor to improve your brand’s image.

Unfortunately, brands can also be cruel to customers through social media. In 2017, United Airlines got a PR boost after a passenger was removed from their flight after an unpleasant incident. The incident was captured by other passengers and caught the attention of reporters.

4- Not knowing your target audience 

This is very important because you can have one of the best social media strategies but not knowing and understanding your audience will not get you the designed results.

Assuming that everyone is on your platform is a mistake. There are many types of audiences on social media, and each brand has its unique audience.

Most Instagram users are 18-34 years old. They are known as GEN Z, who is obsessed with keeping up with the latest trends. But If you want to sell senior living apartments, then Facebook is the place to be. With an age group of 26-54, it is more suitable for your brand. 

Conduct a study to find out who your audience is, research your audience, and then try to create a strategy that fits their needs.

A buyer persona is a fictional representation of the ideal customer that you’re trying to reach. You can now draft a buyer persona based on the details of your target audience. This will help you target and convert more customers.

Moreover, social media dashboards help brands keep track of their audience and plan their efforts. As an example, Sprout Social is a social media platform that gives brands the insight they need to plan and execute their campaigns.

5- Absence of UGC 

Understanding the term User Generated Content (UGC) can be easily understood as any content (hashtags, videos…) that was created by unpaid contributors for a particular brand or product.

You could also create various blog posts that detail the various elements of your brand. However, the most important thing is that your audience gets to know how great your products and services are.

Word of mouth is on steroids when it comes to social media. It’s as if a customer can create a single piece of content that can spread the word about their brand like wildfire. So, missing out on UGC can be a considerable loss since this makes it on top of your social media strategies.

Brand your products and services and make them look great. This will attract more users and increase their loyalty. User-generated content is also very effective in increasing your brand awareness and loyalty.

6- Same posts across all channels

Take a look at how your competitors are on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If they’re not getting as many likes but gaining lots of retweets then you might want to improve your game on Twitter.

By consistently posting across multiple platforms, you will be able to learn and understand the dynamics of each. By engaging with specific audiences, you will be able to create more engaging content. 

Followers will post personal photos of their kids, for example, on Facebook rather than on LinkedIn.

The same article should have a different caption and a different photo than what you post on LinkedIn. So, you need to use each platform in a different and specific way.

7- Not tracking analytics 

Not tracking your social media analytics can prevent you from effectively increasing its impact. Analysis can help you improve your social media strategy and make it more powerful.

Like any other social media marketing strategy, it requires analysis to see what works and what can be improved upon. Doing so will help you make informed decisions and avoid making the same mistake over and over again.

Some things you should analyze:

• What kind of posts do your audience prefer?
• Which platform suits you the most?
• How many customers did you have?
• Are you improving and having better results than the previous analysis?

8- Not scheduling 

Of course, you don’t want to over-post so that your audience gets annoyed and eventually forgets about your brand. Instead, schedule a few posts a day and see if that balance is right for you. Use an editorial calendar to keep track of all the posts you make on Facebook. It will help you see if you should be posting more or less frequently.

Many studies show how to post content, but only you can tell when to schedule your posts. According to the Social Media Examiner, finding the ideal frequency is crucial to achieving the best results. It can help boost engagement and increase the number of unique users.

Let’s Wrap it up 

Social media is a long-term game, and there are plenty of mistakes that people make while they’re starting. Having a consistent and objective approach will help avoid any issues down the road. 

Your reputation is very important. It’s also important to keep expectations in check while implementing social media strategies.

These mistakes are valuable tools to use to prioritize and spend more time on the things that are most important to you. Despite its numerous advantages, social media is still a valuable platform for businesses to grow and engage their audience.

Social media marketing is a powerful tool that can help you reach out to a wider audience and increase your brand’s visibility but it’s up to you to implement it properly and keep it consistent.