Top 10 social media marketing mistakes & tips on putting them right

Social media marketing mistakes are everywhere – have you seen some recently? I’m guessing you have because we are all human and we all mess up from time to time.
Unfortunately, some mistakes that are made can be quite damaging to your business.

I hope my list helps you prepare and that you can make alternative actions to prevent any negative consequences.

1. Responding too quickly to negativity

By just hitting the keyboard in anger and voicing your opinion without full thought could be a big mistake.
Instead, take some time out to take a breather and digest all the information going on.
Use this time to think about what you need to say and in the best, calmest way possible without causing any further aggravation or giving them an excuse to bite back.
It may be a good idea to write out a process to handle these type of situations so you can keep your response uniform and reply in the same tine when and if it happens again (but lets hope not).

2. Don’t force content onto your audience

Few things here to consider … Posting too much can distract your audience and get them to ‘shut off’. Keep your content tone neutral, upbeat or positive and don’t be negative.
Concentrate on great content and great consistency and remember the rule … Post the ‘Right content to the right people at the right time’.
Maybe set up a guide so that you create appropriate, meaningful content and engaging stories to your followers.

3. Posting irrelevant content

Your audience follows you for a reason. They are interested in your business, what you do, how you do it and to see the ongoing promotions and exposure of your products and / or services.
Make sure your content matches what you’re about and what you do.
Would they be interested in seeing what you ate for lunch if you’re usually sharing marketing tips with them or telling them about some exciting development, new products or sharing information with them that can help them.
Instead, be relevant and meaningful and publish only when you have something of value to share. Don’t publish for the sake of meeting your target of weekly posts

4. Don’t go too hard with viral content – it can become controversial

Viral content can bring lots of attention to your business however trying to force it can have detrimental effects.
Pushing for viral content can lead to negative attention and possible bad press and could be offensive.
Instead, focus your efforts on reaching your own target audience, not the social world in its entirety.
Keep focused on who matters to you as a business and who you want following you.

5. Getting involved in topics such as politics and religion

With politics being high on the agenda of all news stories (Brexit, New Governments, US President Campaigns and such like) it can be quite easy to make a comment or air some views on what your thoughts regarding these multitude of political issues.
Viewing or commenting on this can be especially harmful if you’re not in the politics or religion sectors.
Instead, be very careful of how you approach current events and news.
If you’re not a politician, newscaster church or religious organisation then we would advise you not to bring up politics.

6. Focusing exclusively on self-promotion

Is it a good idea to share your own content? … Yes
Is it a good idea to only share your own content … Probably not!
People who see you sharing only your own content and pushing your own news, products and services might think you’re bragging, selfish and forceful.
Instead, create your social content with a mix of your content with that of others in your industry to make it more interesting and balanced.
Be careful though as you will need to thoroughly check the content that is you are sharing to make sure you agree with what the source is saying and also that it is compliant.
If you share content that goes against your own or companies persona, industry type, purpose or mission it might not reflect very well on you.

7. Being impersonal

People can sense automation and don’t like being spoken to by robotic systems.
Your followers and fans have follow you as they are interested in you so make sure that everything has personality and assure it doesn’t look as if its been in the automated hopper account for weeks on end.
Automation is great however don’t rely on it too much as you will need to get involved in real-time discussions such as Twitter chats and LinkedIn groups which will give your brand a human feel.

8. Being too generic with responses

This is another way that you can become impersonal.
People like to see that you take the time to read their messages and that they interact with you. They want to feel valued so assure that you take time out to respond and be personal to their requests and comments.
A quick and easy answer back or a quick thank you goes a long way.
Be careful not to copy and paste response either as it looks fake and lazy. Instead, personalize each response and answer it depending on what was initially said or asked. Show you have read what they said or asked by repeating their topic in some way.

9. Focusing all your real-time activity on influencer interaction

Influencers are great because they have the ability to share your content with their own audiences (usually large ones at that).
In most cases however influencers are unlikely to share the same target audience as yours for sales.
Your target audiences are the ones who deserve the majority of your attention because they have either shown interest in your company or could be sales prospects in the future.
Don’t share influencer’s content until it is solely and exclusively relevant to a large majority of your own fans and followers.

10. Top heavy on automating your content

This has already been covered in our Number 7 tip but again we would remind you not to get caught up with the wrong content at the wrong time or indeed send something out which has poor timing.
You could easy end up being viewed as insensitive, fake or lazy.

Read More: The Pitfalls of Facebook for Business

Instead, reach out to your audience by re-tweeting, sharing, replying and commenting on their activity in real time.
It’s always good practice that when you are automating posts to make sure you review it regularly and make sure its still in date.
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I hope you have picked up a few good practices and tips on our 10 Points.
These 10 points will help you avoid some pitfalls.
Don’t let bad decisions get in the way of your social media return on investment (That’s TIME & SPEND).
Most of you will say “well that’s all well and good but I’m struggling to find time to do it or keep up” then maybe you will want to speak to Web Adept on how we can help and support you with your Social Media Planning

Why not ask us for a free review on ‘all things digital’ … we are always here to help.

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