V6.36: Are You Avoiding These Social Media Mistakes?

You all know how much we love social media. We are huge proponents of what both paid and organic social can do for businesses these days.

Let’s dive into Entrepreneur.com’s list of “10 Fatal Social-Media Mistakes No Marketer Can Avoid to Make,” shall we? We shall!

1. “Committing to too many platforms.” As always, expertise comes with hard work, practice, and focused efforts. If you have a smaller social team, try not to spread yourselves too thin learning a small bit about all the platforms. Get really good at the two or three platforms that have more relevance and meaning to your specific business objective. Don’t just pick LinkedIn because you think that’s where you should be. Do market research to see in which platforms your target market spends the most time. Then use those! It’s all about those audience insights!

2. “Neglecting loyal followers.” Don’t get wrapped up in finding all new users to engage with. Remember to focus on the followers who have already proved their loyalty otherwise you’ll see a drop off in engagement. Use social to reach your existing customers/followers by offering them incentives, shout outs, or special thank you gifts.

3. “Copying the voice of other brands.” Your company is unique. Yes, it might be a product or service that others also sell, but you should have your own voice. You won’t stand out if you sound like all the other brands in your field. Find your own voice and that is what will differentiate you from the crowd. Don’t just copy a social marketing plan of a brand that you like.

4. “Ignoring the data.” Listen to the data! Digital marketing is fully a data-driven strategy. You can’t just pick platforms, ad units, etc. by chance. You need to test, test, test in order to see what is working and not working for you. This is how you make optimizations and ultimately grow your business.

5. “Misunderstanding the target audience.” Don’t presume to understand your target audience. Extensive research IS necessary. They know what they want, you don’t. Understanding your target audience is absolutely essential when it comes to social media marketing efforts.

6. “Underestimating the power of video.” We’ve said it once or twice or a hundred times, video is coming up in the world. More and more platforms are optimizing towards video as that is what most people respond well to video content. It helps convey strong emotion in a short, visually appealing chunk of time. Don’t make the mistake of foregoing video just because you new stuff scares you a little bit. Push yourselves and you will see quality results.

7. “Treating each social network the same.” All the social networking sites are very different. You can’t just treat them all the same. What works for Facebook might not work in LinkedIn or Twitter. Even the platforms run through the same business manager can be vastly different: exhibit Facebook versus Instagram. Each platform have different best practices, recommended specs, or strategies, so remember to treat them each as separate entities.

8. “Assuming younger employees ‘get’ social media.” Sure, younger people are more likely to engage on social media and probably have more experience with the platforms, but that doesn’t equate to strategy. Don’t just assume the youngest team member will know what’s best for the social strategy. Remember, a great social plan should reflect a company’s objectives and goals.

9. “Focusing solely on organic social media.” You have to pay to play, simple as that. It is much easier to find new people within your target market when you can cast a wider net. Use paid social to find and engage with your target market by serving them relevant content they want to read.

10. “Not training employees to become social sellers.” Social has grown tremendously in the last couple of years and it shows no signs of slowing down. Train your employees to seek out new opportunities, especially in regards to what is possible in social media.

As social becomes more and more relevant in today’s day and age, we (as marketers) need to meet our audiences where they’re at. Don’t make these mistakes! Learn and grow from the knowledge and experience of others’ in your field. If you’re going to use social, make sure to set yourself up for success.