Social media marketing is such a proven and proven part of the marketing landscape that you can feel fail-safe. But there are many mistakes to make, and even things that seem inconsequential can affect the effectiveness of your social marketing and leave a window open to the competition.
Here are some common mistakes you can easily avoid:
- Do not Blog – Blogging is the best way to have your thought leadership out there, so you want to take advantage of it. Do not worry if you can not blog constantly – it’s not about volume, it’s about consistency (if you can not post consistently, it’s best not to have a blog). Once a week is a plenty if you can not do more.
And if you have to give up your own blog in the short term, that does not mean you can not get your ideas out. You can blog on sites like LinkedIn and Medium and offer posts to the appropriate places when you have something to say.
- Leaving behind a social graveyard – When your potential customers are looking for you on social networks, what do they think? A Twitter account that has not seen a post in three years? Or hit it or off because having something out there that you are neglecting seems worse than having nothing.
If you have spread out a lot trying to be everywhere (which is another mistake – because you do not have to be), focus on the platforms that make the most sense – even if it’s just ONE. It is better to use one very well than to use four at random. Use a scheduling program like Hootsuite to stay on track.
- Matching identical posts across multiple platforms – Twitter limits you to 140 characters, but Facebook does not. Not LinkedIn. So why do you share the same post on all three channels? You should not – not just because you have the opportunity to offer more information about some others, but because the audiences are different, which means that the content should be too. Or at least the lead-in to the content should be.
- Fail to make use of visuals – Even if you do not have the kind of business that lends itself to fun backstage videos or selfies at work, there is ALWAYS SOMETHING you can do to earn more engagement money than the visual posts provide. Create memes that link to your blog posts and share them on Pinterest; or share relevant Vines that speak to your product or service in any way. Be creative and quit doing something unexpected.
- Focusing on the output and ignoring the interaction – Engagement is a two-way street. You can not just keep throwing the spaghetti on the wall of the hammock, waiting for a piece to stick. You need to cultivate relationships, retweet, respond, share, comment on, and continually build your network. Demonstrating interest (and sharing) what others post will interest you in sharing the things YOU publish. There are a number of formulas to follow if you need examples – the important thing is to make sure it’s not all about you.
- Be all business all the time – And these formulas come in handy here as well, because while you always want to be professional, it does not mean that you can not show your human side from time to time. In fact, depending on your business, you may need to show your human side more often than not, as promotional posts drive away some customers (direct sales is a business where this is really important). Just keep in mind the “social” part of social marketing – and do nothing to sabotage you or your brand.
There are many ways of doing social, and it is changing all the time – but no matter what else is happening in social evolution, meeting these principles will keep the social base of the brand strong enough to allow experimentation with new platforms and strategies while maintaining its competitors at bay.
