Photo Credit: Cristiano Betta
Social media has become the way to promote and market your brand, business and even yourself. It’s hard to go anywhere now a days without being bombarded by social media. That’s due to the popularity of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Intagram and many others; the list grows day by day. But in the rush to join social media for their business some people are making critical mistakes. These are five common mistakes that could hurt you on social media and how you should avoid them.
Not Having A Plan
Too many companies are jumping on the social media bandwagon with no plan or even any idea of what they are doing. They grab someone that knows a little about a platform and throw him or her into the deep end with no training or focus. This rarely works.
Social media is like any other marketing or publicity campaign, it needs to have focus and direction. Take some time to figure out where you should be directing your social media efforts, pick a platform that may work better for your product or service and find someone (or a few people) who is equipped to manage your social media accounts. When you have a solid plan in hand, then you can start experimenting to see what will actually work for your brand.
Grammar and Spelling Count
If you think writing in slang, misspelling words or making grammar mistakes aren’t a big deal in your social media updates, think again. If you constantly make mistakes you will lose trustworthiness in front of your audience. People don’t believe someone if they don’t take their own work seriously. You have an image to maintain. Making sure your work is neat and correct will show your audience that you pay attention to detail. Our tip: Make sure to check all your posts at least three times for errors before putting them up for the world to see. Reading the updates backwards helps find errors you otherwise may have missed.
It’s Not All About You
Believe it or not, social media isn’t all about you, your brand or your business. Have you ever been to a cocktail party and end up stuck talking to someone who is so self-absorbed you just roll your eyes at them? Well, social media is kind of like that, you need to be gracious, genuinely interested in others and you shouldn’t dominate the conversation.
So how does this translate into updates? You need to be able to engage your audience with tidbits of information from other sources not just your industry. Ask questions and encourage participation. It’s like having a conversation with someone through cyberspace. And if someone leaves you a comment, make sure to respond. Most importantly remember sometimes it’s better to just listen. Our tip: Follow the Three Girls Media 80/20 rule of social media posting, meaning 80% of the updates should provide value to your readers such as information or entertainment, and 20% of the updates are self-promotional, talking about your products or services and directing your readers to your website. Social media is not meant to be a way to hard sell to fans, rather it’s a soft approach in which you gain following by providing interesting content and occasional self-promotional posts.
Give Credit Where Credit’s Due
One sure fire way to lose connections is to share or use content without attribution. The purpose of social media is to connect with others and grow your network. By borrowing content and not attributing it to the author you are losing a vital opportunity to make yourself known as an advocate of their cause. This is how influencer relationships are built. The more you are on the radar the more people will see your page as the go to spot.
Not Providing “Decision-Making” Content
Another mistake many businesses fall into is not focusing the content on relevant topics that will lead your audience back to your brand. It’s important to understand that not everyone is a good fit for your brand. You need to provide content about topics that you know will lead to interest in your products or services. This will help people make decisions about the products or services they choose and put an end to some of their doubts.
A proper social media campaign can mean the difference between a successful online presence and one that is not. By following these rules you can create an online community that will help your brand grow.
What other social media mistakes do you think hurt small business?
Photo Credit: Cristiano Betta