There is plenty to get confused about when it comes to navigating social media marketing. Afterall, social media is still fairly new in the world of marketing.
But there are some basic, yet important, things you will want to avoid when it comes to social media marketing— particularly if you want to make the most of your time, efforts, and money.
Here are several things to avoid and, more importantly, how to avoid them:
Not Knowing Your Target Audience
This is the biggest mistake when getting started on social media. It’s really the biggest mistake you could make when getting into marketing, period.
It is crucial to know who you are aiming to sell your products or services to, even if it’s a broad market.
Here are some questions to help you draw up a clear picture of your target audience:
- How old is your ideal customer?
- What gender?
- Where do they live?
- What do they do?
- Are they part of a family?
- What kind of income do they have?
- What are their interests?
Be sure to do your research first!
Jumping In Without a Plan
This is a common mistake and is often due to the pressure for businesses to get on social media. The consequence is a seemingly purposeless profile, which will likely become a dud in mere weeks of its launch. While your business should have a presence on social media, you need to have goals, intent, and strategies in mind before you get started.
Make a plan. Keep in mind that social media is a time investment, and you will need either a team or a very dedicated and consistent person to manage interactions on any platforms on which you choose to operate.
Not Committing to Social Media Long Term
Many businesses are hyped up right after the launch of their new social media. But in a couple months, they either forget about posting or become discouraged with the lack of success from the page.
It’s easy to get discouraged with social media— it’s a time commitment after all, and success doesn’t just happen after day one.
Instead, you must invest in and dedicate energy to it. The results are slow at first but the longer you commit, the more results you will see. Take at least 10 to 20 minutes each day to manage your social media accounts– responding to messages and comments, engaging with other pages, and generally being present are all parts of this management.
Too Much Automation
Having a program do your social media posting for you seems ideal, right? Wrong.
Many businesses make the mistake of having every blog post automatically post to social media or having the same exact content post to more than one platform (like Facebook posting to Twitter, or Twitter to Facebook).
Each social media platform has its own language, format, and context. So posting the same exact thing to Facebook and Twitter is a waste. Users can almost immediately pick out an automated, thoughtless post as opposed to one that was posted with thoughtful intent.
Be careful with allowing apps to update your social media with blog posts. It can get spammy very quickly if you’re not careful. Know the difference between automation and scheduling.
No Lead Generation Strategy
Social media is great, but if you don’t have some sort of strategy in place that drives traffic to your website or blog, you’re really missing the point of social media marketing altogether.
You don’t want to waste time and energy building a following and not get any customers out of it.
Always provide a call to action!
Not Posting Enough
Going to a Facebook page and seeing that they haven’t posted in months is one of the most discouraging things to see as a user.
Maybe you’re busy and don’t have enough time to post on social media. But you need to be posting. Make time to sit down and schedule the posts ahead of time, or delegate this task to someone else.
There’s no definitive minimum for posting, but it’s a good goal to post at least a few times a week.
Posting Too Much
On the flip side, posting too much is also an incredibly off-putting behavior. Spamming your page with loads of posts is a great way to get your business page blocked or have your posts hidden.
Each platform is different in terms of what’s considered “too much” but you should definitely not exceed five posts per day on Facebook or 15 posts per day on Twitter.
Be sure to also spread out your posting. Do some research on social media insights to find the best times to post.
Overloading with Social Media
There are so many social media sites out there nowadays— Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, the list goes on and on.
The worst thing you can do is try to have a presence on all of them. You will spread yourself far too thin, and will totally overwhelm yourself.
Focus on one platform to master. Just one to start! Facebook is the most ideal in getting started in social media marketing.
Conclusion
Don’t get caught making any of these mistakes! Do your research, plan ahead, and stay focused.
Have questions about your social media marketing? Reach out to CommCore Marketing to talk about how to maximize your results on social media
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