5 Social Media Mistakes Plus the Number 1 Mistake to Avoid At All Costs

Navigating the world of social media marketing doesn’t have to be a nerve-wracking experience. Knowing what to say and when to say it is probably the easiest way to summarize what your core strategy should be to get real results in terms of visibility as well as profitability.

When talking about social media marketing, it is just as important to invest time in understanding what not to do when using social media for business. As we specialize in social media at Strella Social Media, www.strellasocialmedia.com we know a thing or two about doing it right and mistakes to avoid.

Another article you might find beneficial too is “How to Leverage the Power of Social Media to Grow Your Start Up” at Mogul Mom

Here are 5 of the biggest and most common social media mistakes, plus the number 1 mistake you should avoid at all costs:

Mistake #1: Not Doing the Research - Online marketing will only ever be truly beneficial for your brand if you understand the importance of timely and thorough research. Research involves understanding who your audience is in detail, the big pain points of your customers, how effectively your products or services helps them tackle these pain points, and a willingness to reassess and update strategies and the products for services themselves to keep up with market trends.

Failure to do this research means that you could end up spending valuable time, resources, and money on social media marketing that doesn’t give you results, or fails to gain any type of traction.

Mistake #2: Not Having a Plan - As a mother, you learn very quickly that planning ahead is the best way to manage your time more effectively and to stay on top of multiple commitments. With social media marketing, there are also critical benefits to having a plan and putting it into action:

1. You are able to channel your efforts constructively towards achieving specific goals, which means that you are more likely to get results.
2. You are more effectively able to use time and resources when you have a plan that you have to stick to. You are also less likely to get distracted.
3. You are able to streamline your social media campaigns to ensure you are creating the necessary level of impact on your target audience.
4. You are able to measure your results and tweak them as you go along. This will help you to manage future campaigns for increased profitability.

Bear in mind that planning is only one part of the process. Taking consistent action is the key to getting consistent results.

Mistake #3: Clued-in vs. Clueless -Social media platforms can viral-ize anything you say, especially when it’s controversial, possibly elevating you to instant fame or hurling you into PR despair, in just no time at all. Being politically correct can appear boring, but it beats being notorious or having a negatively polarizing brand.

When in doubt, apply common sense - avoid commenting or posting controversial topics. However, if you stay out of trending topics, it can also appear that you have no voice or little interest in current affairs, which can also bounce back on you negatively.

Aim to show awareness of what’s going on in the world, but leverage the strength of influential topics by spinning them in a way that reflects positively on your brand.

Mistake #4: Not Having the Right Systems in Place - Ask yourself whether your social media channels have been set up in such a way that they support and not impede traffic or lead generation.

Do you have sharing options across all your channels? Are you easy to find, connect, and engage with in the places that are relevant to your brand? Are you using marketing features that are available on social media channels, such as Facebook, to boost your online presence?

 

Mistake #5: Lack of Authenticity and Presence - Customers are media savvy and can see through a fake facade very quickly. Therefore, increasingly, people prefer to stick to brands that have a unique, individual voice, especially when it comes to the service industry where personal branding is everything. In a competitive marketplace, authenticity also stands out as one of the most appealing traits.

And finally, the Most Epic #1 Social Media Fail: Leaving It All to Al - The benefits of automation for marketing and time/costs savings is enormous. However, automation should not replace the human element when it comes to marketing on social media.

And speaking of mistakes, this article “The 5 Things You Have Wrong about PR” at Mogul Mom also describes several PR mistakes to avoid.

As you can see, you need to find ways to connect with your followers in a genuine, empathetic, human way, as often as you can. Building an authentic relationship with your audience goes a long way in ensuring that they will continue to enjoy your brand, recommend it to others, and stay loyal customers for a long time to come.

Rachel Strella is the founder of Strella Social Media, www.strellasocialmedia.com, a social media management company serving dozens of clients nationally. She is a regular contributor to Small Business Trends and Social Media Today and has been featured in Forbes and numerous other major publications. She’s an avid blogger with her award-winning blog (six awards) having over 75 posts syndicated internationally. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RachelStrella