Most businesses make thousands of mistakes every day when they try to present themselves on social media. While there are a lot of wrong things you can do, there are always the right ways to prevent them.
As a small business owner, here are the major social media mistakes you need to avoid.
1. Getting Overwhelmed
You don’t have to be present on all social media platforms to reach your audience. Stick to two or three platforms. Try to pick big platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, unless your target audience favors another outlet. Once you get the hang of it, you can now start branching out to other platforms.
2. Expecting a Big Audience Right Away
Maybe you are getting a lot of traffic on your website or even on your email list. But that doesn’t mean that you’ll get a big audience right away. Social media marketing takes time and involves building your target audience gradually. So, don’t lose heart if you’re not getting any followers at the moment. If you keep on your marketing strategy and the suggestions we have in this article, then those following will turn up in time.
3. Sticking to Facebook Only
You need to diversify to maximize your audience. To do that, you should explore more social media platforms, not just Facebook. Though this can be significant for your marketing, there are still other outlets you explore and benefit from.
4. Doing a Cross-Post
Avoid posting the same post on Facebook and Twitter. What works for one may not work for the other. You need to individualize your posts for each of your social media accounts.
5. Picking the Wrong Social Media Outlets
If you’re an artist, then Tumblr may be the best social media platform for you. If you sell household products, Pinterest may be the best bet. Pick up which outlet is right for your products or services.
6. Focusing on Yourself
Put your shoes in your followers’ perspective. Avoid posting about self-promotion all the time. Get creative and try curating content so you won’t have to create all the posts by yourself.
7. Forgetting to Act Like a Person
Spambots are all over social media, so don’t act like one when engaging with your audience or posting your posts. Always be personable with your posts, so your audience will think that they’re reading the comments and thoughts of a real person, not of a machine.
8. Leaving Your Profiles Bare
Even when you put effort into your posts, visitors might think your page isn’t reliable if you leave your profile bare. Make sure that you have a profile photo, profile picture, long description, short description, wallpaper, and whatever is recommended for each of your social media accounts.
9. Sharing Your Personal Content
Creating original content can be laborious, hardworking, and time-consuming. So what you need to do is to curate and compile existing content to make your life easier. You can take advantage of what’s available on the web by sourcing articles that your audience might be interested in.
10. Avoiding Negative Comments and Feedback
You should never delete negative comments and feedback on your Facebook wall or Instagram posts. Learn to value criticisms because those can be a collective representation of what most of your followers think. Instead of replying harshly or deleting feedback, thank them and address their problem.
11. Forgetting That You Can Schedule Posts
In case you didn’t know, you don’t need to rise early or stay up late just to post on Facebook or send a tweet at a specific time. You can schedule your posts ahead of time using freemium social media marketing apps such as Hootsuite or Buffer.
Conclusion
Social media marketing is not just for the experts or those who are well-established in their businesses. So long as you follow the tips that we mentioned, you’ll see a change in how you use social media marketing to leverage your business and earn more followers.
SEO Queen offers professional SEO and other digital marketing services. If you’re ready to take the next step in growing your followers on social media, book a complimentary consultation today to get started.
