7 Mistakes To Avoid on Social Media

Social media is one of the most effective ways to communicate directly with your potential customers. Ace your social media strategy and it will become one of the most valuable resources in your marketing toolbox.  Avoid making these simple mistakes to increase your brand awareness and perception to the public.

Here are seven mistakes to avoid making with social media marketing:

1. Ignoring Your Followers

Social media is made to be SOCIAL. If you are not posting content that engages your followers, asks questions, gives value, or creates conversation, then you are missing out on great opportunities to speak directly to your potential clients. Use your platform to respond to your followers, answer their questions in a timely manner, and get to know them online. Social media is meant to humanize your brand.

2. Low Resolution = Low Engagement

In this day and age when photos and video reign supreme on social media, using low-quality photos can damage how customers and clients view your brand. If you want to maintain a high-quality and consistent brand image, be sure you are paying attention to the quality of your photos and videos. Take time when shooting or choosing photos and videos to utilize in your social media posts and optimize each for the different social media platforms, if necessary.

3. Not Taking Advantage of Hashtags

Depending on the platform, hashtags are essential. Hashtags allow your posts and photos to be searched by the public unless your profile is set to private. Expert tip: All business profiles should be public to attract new customers to your pages- hashtags, locations and tags can all contribute to this. Hashtags are used most effectively on Twitter and Instagram. Instagram allows you to add up to 30 hashtags to your post, but we’ve found that 11 will give you ultimate engagement without causing your posts looking like spam.

4. Posting, But Not Asking

You are spending time and effort posting on social media, but what message should be delivered to clients and customers? Be sure your content contains active language or a call to action (CTA). Simply, tell your readers what you’d like them to do and why. Examples of active language words are: like, buy, reserve, ask, subscribe, or enter. Calls to action should give your clients and customers clear instructions on what you want them to do and the value it will bring to them.

5. Not Being Consistent

Social media platforms reward consistency. The changing algorithms make it difficult to predict which of your posts will end up on your followers feeds, and when, so the key is consistency. Post regularly and post often. It is proven that, even with the new algorithms, that brands that post consistently end up higher on their followers’ feeds.

6. Spreading Yourself Too Thin

Don’t give in to the feelings that you need to be on every single social media platform. It is more effective to find the few social mediums and excel at those. Find the social media platforms that your target market utilizes, and dedicate your time there.

7. Flying Blind

If you are aimlessly posting on social media, hoping that it will help you gain customers, clients, or followers - it’s time to develop a social media strategy. Putting in time, effort, and a little research will increase your effectiveness on social media. Creating a social media strategy can feel overwhelming, but don’t fall into analysis paralysis. The first step is to define your target market and do your homework. Which platforms is your target market utilizing? Spend time creating a cohesive social media profile on these platforms and then create valuable content they are searching for. A social media strategy can be as simple or detailed as you desire. At Sawgrass Marketing, we specialize in helping our clients put together an effective social media strategy. Contact us if you need help maximizing your social media efforts.