How To Avoid The Top 10 Social Media Marketing Mistakes

Social media marketing is very useful. By connecting with your customers on a social, even friendly, level, you can help provide them with useful information and make your ties to them stronger. They may be inclined to spend more money at your business if you present yourself as someone who is actively interested in them as people, not just as customers. But that’s not always easy to do. Here are 10 social media marketing mistakes that can actually hurt your business.

  • 1. Not committing to it. If you only do a post here or a reply there, you’re not really going to get anything out of social media marketing. You’ve got to commit to a marketing strategy and be consistent about it. The more active you are, the more your followers will respond.
  • 2. Not replying to people. Customers or potential customers who read your posts may leave comments on them. Sometimes, these comments don’t really require a reply other than to like them or say thanks, but sometimes, they require a more detailed answer. If you leave these questions unanswered, they may assume you don’t really care about them.
  • 3. Forgetting to post images. A picture may not be worth a thousand words, but it can be worth a good number of views. Studies have shown that on Facebook, a post with a picture is viewed, liked, and shared much more often than one without an image. Don’t forget the pictures!
  • 4. Breaking the rules. All social media sites have specific guidelines about what you can and cannot post. At best, breaking one of these rules results in the post being deleted. At worse, it can result in a ban for several days or in having your entire profile deleted. Check the guidelines for every social media site you plan on using and make sure you don’t break any of them.
  • 5. Leaving your profile unfinished. Potential customers will most likely look through your entire profile, so make sure everything is filled in. That includes all of your contact information, any place where you can add a picture, and more.
  • 6. Posting inappropriate things. Even though you want to be friendly with your customers, you don’t want to be inappropriate. Remember, this isn’t your personal profile. Sharing a few family-friendly jokes or websites every now and then is fine, but getting into inappropriate territory or posting things about politics or religion may result in losing some followers.
  • 7. Pushing your business too much. If every post is about your business or trying to solicit more sales, it may backfire on you. Too many posts like that and people will stop following you. Instead, post your thoughts on your industry or helpful articles, then slip in a sales pitch every now and then.
  • 8. Not incorporating social media into your overall campaign. Social media doesn’t exist in a vacuum—be sure you tie in all of your social media marketing into your overall campaign by using the same images, logos, etc.
  • 9. Putting your eggs all in one basket. There are many social media platforms out there – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linked In, etc.. – so be sure you use a good number of them. Not everyone used Facebook.
  • 10.Not being consistent. This bears repeating because if you’re not consistent and committed to your social media campaign, it’s not going to be successful.