Major Social Media Mistakes to Avoid Right Now

By now, it has become apparent that social media is not a passing trend and the numerous networks offer businesses an unprecedented opportunity to connect with potential new customers, engage with their existing ones and do wonders for their brand awareness. However, the easy accessibility of social media platforms also means that competition is tough and if you don’t have any experience in this area, it can actually turn out to be a landscape that’s crowded with potential landscape. If you are not careful, these just might end up inflicting considerable damage on your brand. Obviously, every business wants to prevent this from happening.

How can this be accomplished? The key is to know the major social media mistakes that need to be avoided. What are they? The major ones are discussed here:

Mistake 1: Lots of posting and focusing on self-promotion

While social media is a great place for connecting with your clientele, some businesses often end up turning them off. How? This is because they bombard their followers with an avalanche of posts on a daily basis. Generally speaking, it is enough for businesses to post once and at the most twice in a day on popular social networks like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This is sufficient for maintaining the interests of your followers.

Apart from that, the posts should not always be about how great your offerings are. The purpose of social media is not about indulging in self-promotion or hard selling. These networks are useful for connecting with your audience and building a community of loyal followers steadily. This doesn’t mean that you cannot alert your customers about any special deals or offerings, especially in case of service-based businesses, but these should be kept to a minimum.

Mistake 2: Not making use of photos and videos

A cursory look at Facebook, Instagram and Twitter will immediately show you the popularity of photos and videos as they are aimed to capture and maintain attention. Gone are the days when text alone was enough to get a buzz going in your followers. Now, it is more about photos and videos because they encourage engagement and these are not just promotional videos and images. You can post behind-the-scenes images and videos of your staff, any charity or event you are working on as well as your customer reviews and testimonials. When making videos, make sure you keep them short and interesting.

Mistake 3: Inconsistent and vague brand messaging

If you want your brand-building efforts to be successful on social media, it is essential for a business to be consistent and concise in all its messaging. Most brands have standard guidelines that they follow when it comes to colors, logos and imagery etc. Some businesses make the mistake of trying something different on social media, but this only leads to confusion amongst prospective customers and followers. It is best if you stay consistent in terms of looks and messaging on social media. Furthermore, it is best to stay away from religious and political debates because you may actually hurt your audience unknowingly, which will not help the business.

Mistake 4: Trying everything

Another notable mistake that businesses make in the social media world is trying out all platforms. This is a definite no-no because you are unable to properly focus on any single platform and this will only waste your efforts. Secondly, the goal should be to reach out to your target audience, which means focusing only those platforms that are frequently used by your clientele. The networks used by your prospects and existing customers is where you need to put in your efforts in order to get a return. Otherwise, you are only wasting valuable time and money.

Mistake 5: Using hashtags the wrong way

Hashtags have recently become the key element for starting a buzz about a topic of conversation, especially on platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. The issue is that most businesses only use hashtags for targeting customers and people in their own industry instead of aiming them at prospects. Think of the phrases and words that would appeal to your target audience when choosing hashtags and use them in the comments section for a more aesthetic look.