Based on the experience and extensive research, here is the list of most common yet unknown social media mistakes that every social media marketer makes.
Known yet unknown 30 social media mistakes you should avoid
1. Focus only on one social network
Is it you who focus on a single social media network for more than 50% of your time? If so, this is your very first mistake. Your target audience can be on any network. So it is advisable for you to divide your concentration equally on two-three identified networks.
You need not be there on each and every social platform, but identify the relevant ones for your business depending on your target audience and their interests. And, have your strong online presence on those platforms.
2. Posting content of your brand only
When you are active on your preferred social network, post your content cautiously. Do not sound too salesy and refrain from posting only your content. Share others posts too. Keep sharing any valuable content so that your followers enjoy coming to your feed.
3. Posting in hurry
When you post your content just for the sake of posting, you tend to do it in a hurry. And that’s when your posts lack the charm and fail to attract your target readers. It is fine to keep posting frequency less, but post after checking its timing, context and relevance.
4. Grammar and spelling errors
Imagine you have posted a wonderful topic on your timeline but did a minor spelling or grammatical mistake. What happens? It impacts your overall brand goodwill, right?
Because not all social media networks provide the facility to “edit” your post; e.g. Twitter doesn’t have the facility to edit your posts.
5. Unprofessional responses
There’s a major difference between sounding friendly and sounding unprofessional. Many social media marketers ignore this difference and behave unprofessionally which ultimately harms their brand value. They don’t even know at times what went wrong. Always monitor your own behaviour to refrain from such social media mistakes.
6. Running away from controversy
Social media is a place where controversy gets created easily and quickly. As a smart marketer, learn to handle it rather than running away from it. Try to understand the adaptability of your followers and behave accordingly, to handle or avoid controversies.
7. Zero social listening
One of the hidden goals of social media marketing is social listening. Some enthusiastic marketers do multiple activities on all platforms but completely ignore to understand what others are saying about a brand online.
8. Posting irrelevant content
Social media posts need to be relevant to both, your brand and your audience. Otherwise, a number of posts will also not going to help you in generating any interaction.
9. Robotic tone, no personal touch
Social media – the term itself tells you to be a “social” while interacting. Stay away from using bots or automated messages as far as possible. And, your own posts should also give a personal touch to your readers; use emojis, smileys, GIFS to express your feelings.
10. Loose goals like increasing followers
The ultimate goal of any sort of marketing is brand awareness, community building and sales generation. When it comes to social media marketing, the same logic applies. But if you keep loose goals like increasing followers, increasing reposts, and others, you will not move further on your journey.
11. No clarity of social media strategy in your employees
If a social media manager fails to convey the goals and strategy to his/her team, the entire efforts are surely going to be in vain. There has to be clarity of all social media activities to be carried out and logic behind them.
12. Being inconsistent
Your followers follow you because they are habituated of your content, your posts and posting frequency. So always be consistent in catering them with relevant content.
13. Posting excessive
Posting relevant content is a must. Also, you should keep a check on your posting frequency. Ensure that your account looks active so others don’t stop following you. But, rather than keeping them engaged, you should not end up boring them with posting excessive content.
14. Zero monitoring of conversations
Effective monitoring of social conversations helps you understand how your brand is perceived by others. If you don’t monitor your conversations, you will never understand what they expect from you.
15. Show zilch gratitude
It is imperative for a social media marketer to show gratitude. If your posts are being appreciated or shared by others, don’t ignore their efforts. If you lack time to respond them, ensure to hit “like” button at least.
16. No eye on competitors activities
If your competitors are nailing on their social media efforts and you are somehow lacking in it – the only reason could be – no eye on their activities. Keep a watch on what they do and how they do. You need not replicate them but based on their strategy you can create your social media marketing strategy even stronger.
17. Posting wordy content
Whatever platform you choose to post your content, ensure that it is a mix of all. Try various forms of content like images, videos, GIFs, screenshots, and others rather than posting plain, textual and wordy content.
18. Give up on promises
If you have promised your followers on social media, do fulfil it. It can be anything like posting a blog on a trending topic, live chat, or live video, providing tips, offering discounts, sharing free eBook, or any similar thing. Otherwise, they will not only run away from you but also loses their trust in your brand.
19. Too much formal or too much casual
Frankly speaking, there is no thumb of rule how to present yourself in front of your followers. Be ethical, be social and be loyal at anytime. There is no need to go either too formal way or too casual way.
20. Inexperienced on social media networks
If you have not enough hands on various social networks, it will be tough for you to race the competition. Each social media marketing network is unique in its own way. Understand the dos and don’ts of each and accordingly explore them.
21. Using fake tools to add followers fast
As they say, “everything happens on the right time’, your target audience will also follow you when your account will provide real value to them. Stay away from using fake tools that doubles or triples your followers overnight.
22. A big no to plagiarism
Never steal someone’s’ ideas, content, images to post it on your feed. It’s unethical. Remember, plagiarism kills your authenticity, credibility and originality. If you like others’ posts, reposts them. You can also give them credit in your posts by mentioning / tagging their names.
23. Improper tagging
Tagging is one of the most beautiful elements of social media. Because, through tagging, you are connecting your social content with another brand or an individual. So, if your tagging is incorrect, irrelevant or improper, you are hampering not only your brand value but also theirs.
24. Improper hashtags
Hashtags are the way to find relevant accounts and appropriate content. Always double check the hashtags you use in your posts. Ask yourself are they relevant? And then only post it.
Many social media marketers mistakenly use the functions of tagging (@) and hashtags (#).
25. Poor optimisation of social media profiles
This might sound stupid but believe me, it is one of the most commonly observed social media mistakes. Images, bio, cover image, profile name all need to be properly optimised, on the basis of the social network you choose.
26. Using business profile as personal profile
Don’t use your business profile as your personal profile. Do not post your personal stuff on your business page or profile. Everyone is interested in themselves so post something which is pertinent to them, not to you.
27. No A/B testing of post timings
Imagine your posting relevancy, frequency and target audience – all are perfect. But, you are still not getting engagement on your posts. Have you ever thought why? This happens when your post timings are not in accordance with the time zones of your target audience. To understand which timings are best for you, perform A/B testing of your post timings.
28. Overlooking data and analytics
How will you understand what is working better over what? This can be done by visiting your analytics at regular intervals. Analyse your data through analytics and draw logical inferences from it.
29. Over-reliance on analytics
Analytics help you understand what has happened. It will not tell you why that has happened. So don’t over-rely on it for decision-making. Use your own methodical skills too to apply results in the improvisation of social media marketing strategy.
30. No focus on SEO parameters
Social media marketing is an important activity of digital marketing. But, it has to walk hand in hand with SEO parameters. If your SEO activities are in conflict with SMM activities, it will be difficult for you to reach your final destination.
Aligning SEO and SMM goals is important. Develop common goals for the entire digital marketing activities to succeed in your marketing campaigns and generate good ROI.
Signing off…!
Of course, as a social media marketer, you would know that these are the mistakes which should be avoided. At no cost, it should occur and even if it has occurred, ensure no repetition. These small mistakes might cost you a lot when it comes to your social media conversions.
Would you like to add anything here? Feel free to do so, it would be great to discuss further on this!
Author Bio:
This article is written by Raj Gautam. He is CEO & Founder of QL Tech, Located in Perth, Australia. QL Tech is one of the best Agencies that offer unique Digital Marketing & Web Development Services by the virtue of its dedicated professionals. Our professionals are extremely proficient in offering Social Media Marketing.
