The dos and don’ts of social media: 9 mistakes you can easily avoid
There are many common mistakes brands make that negatively impact results on social media. Being aware of these mistakes and understanding how to avoid them is essential for your social media success.
Although there are many social media best practices you can use to better your social media game, there are also social media mistakes you can make. Being impatient, not having clear goals in place, and ignoring audience feedback are just a few of them.
To help you avoid any pitfalls, we have outlined 9 common mistakes your brand can make on social media and the best ways for you to avoid them to ensure paid social success.
Nine mistakes brands make that you don’t have to make
1. Focussing solely on the content
We know what you’re thinking, and yes, you’re right. Creating great content is very important for social media success. However, you also need to focus on when you will post the content and how you can utilise features on the platform to enhance your post.
You don’t want to spend time creating the best piece of content for no one to see it. Of course, you can pay for your ads to reach your target audience but there are other tactics you can use to increase reach.
- Find out when your audience is most active. Which days of the week are they most active on social media? What times of the day are they most active? Which platforms are they most active on?
- Collaborate with other brands and share your content across their channels too.
- Include relevant hashtags and tags
2. Not having clear goals in place
It is tempting to just start posting and see what happens but that is never going to drive measurable results.
You need to be clear with your objectives for every campaign. What do you want to achieve by the end of the campaign? What do you want your audience to feel/do in response to this campaign? What is the success measurement for each campaign?
When you have clear goals, you can easily measure the success of your campaign and tailor future campaigns based on the results. Making sure you learn and adapt from previous campaigns is essential in creating successful social media posts.
3. Expecting immediate results
We hate to break it to you but overnight social media success is unlikely. Sometimes it takes some time for your goals to be achieved and that is ok!
Especially when you are still testing your social media strategy, don’t expect too much too soon. Learn from your wins (and your losses too!).
Planning a long-term strategy will make sure you stay on track and monitor your progress.
4. Too much promotional content
We know you believe your brand is the best in the business. Just saying you are the best 10 times a day isn’t likely to engage an audience but might turn them away.
Your content needs to be interesting and of value to your audience; insights and tips are a great way to engage your audience whilst also promoting your brand.
You need to speak to your audience and take into account their needs/wants. The more your content resonates with your audience, the more likely they are to engage and remain loyal to your brand.
Think about the content that you love most. Why do you like it so much? What does it offer you? What inspiration can you gain from this?
5. Getting too comfortable
You shouldn’t go into the social media world, thinking users will know who you are and automatically want to engage with your content.
The social media content market is busy. Very busy! With over 70% of brands advertising on social media, it is very important you stand out on social media and don’t become too comfortable. Your competitors are always working to better their social media game; you should be too!
Make sure your content remains relevant and valuable to your audience, whilst being creative and dynamic so it can hold its own in a populated market.
Social media trends are always changing. Stay up to date with them and leverage them in your content to increase reach and engagement.
6. Posting all content on every channel
Audiences differ on each platform. So do functionalities, trends and content specifications. Therefore, you need to understand how platforms work and what content will work on each one. It may save time to just throw your content on all of them but it will drive better results if you tailor content for specific platforms.
People also expect certain content on specific platforms. They are more likely to engage with content that fits with this expectation.
However, there will be times when re-purposing content across platforms is a great idea. Make the most of these opportunities!
7. Not being very ‘social’
There is a reason social media is called ‘social’ media; they are built for community and interaction. It can be easy to post and run but if you engage with your audience and those in your industry, you can expand your reach, increase credibility and gain potential partners.
Many platforms, like Instagram, actually favour interactive accounts and can increase your online visibility in response.
8. Ignoring audience feedback
You are the expert in what you do but your audience is the expert in how your content resonates with them. After all, if they don’t like your content what is the point in continuing to create it?
Using interactive content features, like polls and Q+As, is a great way to gain immediate audience feedback whilst also increasing post engagement. You should also consistently measure engagement metrics to see which content best resonates with your audience.
Listening to audience feedback and actively responding to it, makes your audience feel valued and important. This can increase loyalty and trust between you and your audience.
9. Buying followers
It can be frustrating if your engagement rates and follower counts are low. Some brands choose to buy followers to help with this.
Social media platforms are always one step ahead. They know when followers have been bought and can punish your account because of this. The bought followers are also likely to be bots or inactive accounts so may not improve your engagement anyhow. It also harms your brand credibility and reputation.
Paying to get your ads in front of the right people is very different and this is a much better use of your money.
Now you know what mistakes to avoid, it’s time to make your paid social strategy more successful.
Here at Embryo, our team of experts are here to help you with all your social media needs. Get in touch and start your journey to social media success today.
