Social media blunders can be costly and overall, they just make you look a little silly. Now silly, when purposeful, is fine. But you don’t want to appear unintelligent to your audience as first impressions count, and all it takes is one wrong move to alienate an entire sect of your target audience. So here's five and a half mistakes to avoid for your social media strategy.
Going In Cold
One of the worst things you can do for your social media strategy is to start it without a clearly defined path forward. There are thousands of companies attempting to do the same thing, and if you don’t have a strategy on who, what, when, and why, you’ll never be able to make yourself apparent in an endless sea of people vying for attention. What you need to do is set up some clearly defined goals—ones that are realistic—and map out your strategy for meeting them. You need to think about the tone you want to use, the kind of content you’ll be posting, and how you can position yourself against your competitors in order to offer the things they couldn’t hope to.
No Consistency
This can be a struggle for any company, whether you’re a small “mom and pop shop,” or Coca Cola—you want to establish a schedule that’s consistent across your channels. I know dedicating yourself to your social media accounts can be time consuming, but the bottom line is in order to get something out, you need to put some due diligence in. You want your audience to know, for example, that every Tuesday and Thursday you publish a blog at 11:00am. That way, not only are you able to pull in new visitors from your content, you’re also able to nurture old visitors by allowing them to know you’ll have content before it’s even posted. So start small to ensure you’re able to follow your own schedule, and build it up as you see results. If you’re missing the mark on your schedule, your visitors might lose interest and go to someone who can provide consistent content.
Sharing Others’ Content
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing terrible about sharing another brand’s content or blog articles… but if that’s the only thing you’re publishing, you’ve got yourself a problem. You need to be publishing your own original content in order to get quality results through social media. You may get some likes here or there on those posts or shares, but you know who they’re ultimately helping? The owner of the content you shared, not you! So what you should do is start blogging. A blog not only gives your audience added engagement through you, but it can improve your search engine ranking. That means when people are searching for services you offer online, you might pop up higher in their results. And then, others can share your content and do the dirty work for you. Once you start publishing your own content, you can share others and form relationships that way as well.
Failing to Engage Audience
What’s the point of creating an account for your brand on social media if you don’t plan to, you know, socialize on it? I understand you may not want to be overbearing, but if that’s the case, at least people know who you are. Make sure you’re putting off a friendly vibe, and don’t sit there peddling your wares. For every promotional post, you should have 3-5 un-promotional ones. And if a follower or visitor is asking questions, or commenting, respond to them! Nothing helps brand power more than a helping hand, and those you respond to will be more inclined to engage in the future—especially when they feel they’re being heard. Often times, brands will create a post and leave it to die. You need to give it some love and respond when necessary. Get them talking, and they might not be able to stop. That’s nothing but good news for you down the line.
Deleting Feedback – Negative or Otherwise
Let’s just get down to it—unless someone is posting vulgar language, threatening others, or something in a similar vein, do not delete their post. So they said something negative about your business? It’ll happen. But if you’re able to kill them with kindness, and respond in an effort to alleviate their pain, not only will you potentially win back a frustrated customer… other visitors will see that you care about them, and that can go a long way. I know, you want your page to be clean and pristine, but remember: internet users are savvy and they’ll know when something fishy is happening. And you certainly don’t want commenters complaining about their voices being censored for their valid, yet unpopular opinions. Take the social out of social media, and you’ll have some choice words said about your company elsewhere. It’s best to keep that on your own page where you can respond in kind.
Bonus: Hold the Hashtags
Hashtags are very important, this is true. They help organize your thoughts and group topics together for others to search. But hashtag-hogging isn’t fun for anyone, and it doesn’t help your online reputation. You know the posts I’m referring to… the ones with ridiculous hashtags that have nothing to do with the original post. Some use them thinking they’ll have a greater reach, and sometimes that works. But often, you look desperate and un-guided in your approach. So stick to one or two, and try to make them as relevant as possible. Searchers will appreciate you more in the end.
