Social media mistakes can cost businesses dearly. In this article we take a look at some of the more unapparent mistakes that brands may be making without even realising the impact! Before we go on however, there is one very obvious mistake that every business should check they are not guilty of before looking at the not-so-obvious...make sure you are not using a private or personal account. A professional business account is vital for effective social media marketing.
Right, now it's time to look at some of the most common “not-so-obvious” social media blunders, and if you read this article and immediately think “oops” to any, or all of the points listed, then you need to address pronto.
1. Inconsistent Brand Message
Like most things in life, consistency is key. When it comes to your posts, can you confidently say that your unique brand image or message is represented every time? When we say this, we do not mean that you need to keep posting carbon copy posts each time, boring the consumer (and probably yourself), you just need to think about the message you are trying to convey to your target audience and ensure your brand ethos shines through with every post. Concentrate on ensuring your brand mission, tone of voice and overall look and feel remains the same yet maintain variety and don't be afraid to switch it up using different types of posts. Trust and credibility can also be earned by being consistent with content. So for example, if you promise to tweet about the release of a brand new blog on your site every week, then make sure that blog is written, live on your site and tweeted about on the same day every week. This will deem you a credible and trustworthy account for all those following you. In order to create a powerful and successful brand for your company, being consistent with your social media marketing is invaluable
2. Posting for the sake of it.
We have all heard that saying “if you do not have anything nice to say, then do not say anything at all” well just replace the nice with important and that’s our message here in a nutshell. It is so obvious when you see posts that are fake or unauthentic. Social media needs to be more of an engaging and ongoing conversation, and content that feels forced will be sniffed out by the customer like a police dog looking for clues. It’s true that you need to stay relevant, but posting for the sake of it will actually do the opposite of what you want to achieve. You will probably lose followers and risk the likes Instagram etc choosing to stop showing your content to the audience due to the lack of engagement. So make sure every post is planned and intentional. Creating a content calendar is key, and always make sure you objectively view your posts before publishing to check if you were a customer if you would actually stop to read/watch/see
3. Rigidly sticking to your “agenda”
Don't interrupt your creative flow and restrict your content distribution just to rigidly stick to your marketing agenda. This will take away from the magic of real-time sharing on social media and may impact results rather than increasing them. While we know consistency is key with brand message, however your posts still need to have a level of spontaneity. What if you have a moment of inspiration but in your agenda, you have the next post already planned? For example you may have it in your plan that every 3rd post is an “inspirational” quote so that there is an identical row of pretty looking tiles on your page, however you have a brainwave of something you think would make an excellent post but hold off in order to stick to your plan. You need to think about which post will engage the audience more, rather than just one that looks pretty. Focus on what really matters, not just what you like.
4. Too many product promotion posts
The ratio of product promotion to entertaining, valuable content should be something like 1:4, so you need to be posting roughly 4 pieces value-driven content before then shamelessly putting your product post out there (which is obviously really important, but needs to be done the right way on social media). Like in the previous point, it’s about conversation and building a relationship with your customer, not wanting them feeling like they are being constantly bombarded with pure advertising. You need to focus more on creating trust and that way, most consumers will feel more comfortable in making a big purchase. There are 2 main ways in which you can create trust with your audience. Firstly, let the customer see the real, human parts of your brand. This will instantly build a rapport. Secondly, give first without expectation. A good example of a brand who has mastered both of these trust based social media marketing skills is The Body Coach (@thebodycoach on Instagram). The personal trainer come media mogul has 2.8 million followers on Instagram and has the tagline “On a mission to inspire one new person everyday to exercise and cook a healthy meal”. He regularly engages with his customer and shares content about his life and family making them feel that they know the “real” him. He will also regularly post free online workouts and links to healthy recipes on his page giving the customer something for free, that they may ordinarily be happy to pay for. He will also promote his many books, cookware and 90 day plan membership, which after getting something for free and feeling like they get to see Joe in his raw, authentic self, makes the customer much more likely to go and buy!
5. Using LinkTree as your Instagram bio link
This ones pretty simple - Stop using Linktree, and invest in your website. This is one of the most common “less-obvious” social media mistakes out there. Why - well firstly in using a third-party App you have no control! If the LinkTree goes down, then so do you! Secondly, you are restricted to working within their parameters, so you are basically sacrificing your branding. We hate to be the bearers of bad news here, but if you use LinkTree, your page basically looks like everyone else who also uses them too. Plus all of your data belongs to them. There are no analytics with the free version and limited with the paid. So if you are reading this and wondering what the alternative is, then listen here - use your website instead!! Yep, your website homepage can direct users to where you want them to go. If your website isn't set up with the top actions you want them to take then you need to fix asap!
We hope that after reading this article, you have found our tips for improving your social media marketing strategy useful and if you do recognise any of the mistakes we have discussed, it's never too late to switch it up and make those changes!