As social media becomes a more and more important part of marketing, it is easy to overlook the basics.
In this article, we’ll look at 12 mistakes companies often make on social media – from not having an online presence to forgetting that customer service matters just as much online as it does offline.
We hope you find these tips helpful for your own company’s use of social media!
Social Media Marketing Mistakes Companies Make
1. Not Having a Social Media Strategy
This seems like a no-brainer, but many companies simply take on social media without really considering their strategy or goals.
If you are going to participate in social media, it’s important to make sure that your company is doing so effectively.
To do this, you should have an easy-to-follow plan and strategy that outlines what you hope to accomplish.
Directly relating to this is the idea that social media shouldn’t replace everything else you are doing when it comes to marketing.
Social media should be used as part of a larger, well-planned-out marketing plan.
It shouldn’t be thought of as exclusively promotional.
You can use social media to connect with your customers and provide a more personal brand image, without it being an all-out advertising blast.
Related: Why your Pinterest traffic is dropping and how to fix it
2. Focusing on Quantity over Quality
Social media is an extremely fast-paced environment. It’s easy to get carried away with posting, tweeting, and updating constantly.
However, this doesn’t mean that you should be doing it all the time! It’s important to take a step back and consider what you are trying to accomplish with your social media usage.
You want to provide information that will be beneficial to your customers and clients, and not just use it as a marketing tool.
It’s true that you want to stay active on social media- but this doesn’t mean you have to be posting 24/7!
3. Thinking That You’re the Only One Who Can Do It
This goes back to the idea of not having a social media strategy, but it’s an important mistake nonetheless.
What many companies forget is that they are not experts in social media- and neither are their employees.
Social media strategies should be left to the professionals, who know exactly what needs to be done and what works most efficiently.
4. Ignoring Customers’ Needs and Complaints
It’s important to remember that social media is used by your customers as well!
This means that you can’t just ignore their problems or complaints.
This doesn’t mean you need to jump on anything and everything, but if someone has a complaint about your business, ignoring it won’t help anything.
These complaints can be an excellent opportunity to address their concerns.
This is a great chance for you to show your customers that you care, and it can even be beneficial for promoting future sales if the problem was severe enough!
Related: How to make passive income on social media
5. Not Being Consistent with Your Posting Schedule
It’s important to use social media consistently.
If you post sporadically, it can give the appearance that you don’t care about your audience or social media in general. Try to pick a regular schedule for posting and stick with it!
This way, your customers know what to expect from you when they check out your profile.
6. Not Giving Enough Attention to Each Platform
This may not be a huge mistake, but it’s definitely worth noting!
When beginning your social media marketing campaign, you should start with the platforms that are most important to your customers.
Don’t spend all of your time setting up profiles on every single website- choose the ones that are the most important to you, and then spend most of your time working on those.
It’s surprising how much more effective this will be than trying to spread yourself thin across too many social media platforms!
Related: How to share YouTube videos on Instagram
7. Not Participating in Enough Contests/Giveaways
While this is not directly related to using social media as a marketing tool, it’s a mistake that many people make regardless.
Don’t be afraid to give something back to your customers!
Whether this is offering a contest/giveaway for free products or hosting an event, social media can be a great way to show these customers how much you appreciate them.
This works especially well if you have a customer base that is already very engaged with your brand- hosting a contest is a great way to get them even more involved and interested in what you have to offer!
8. Not Using Social Media as Part of an Overall Marketing Strategy
It’s important to remember that while social media is extremely beneficial, it shouldn’t be thought of as the sole solution to your marketing problems.
You need to use social media as a part of an overall marketing strategy that includes other elements such as:
- Traditional advertising (TV, radio, print)
- Email marketing campaigns/offers
- SEO and online reputation management
9. Not Using Analytics Effectively
Social media is all about numbers, and it’s important to be on the lookout for any changes in this area.
You need to track who is liking your posts, what content they are responding best to, and how people interact with your brand.
This information can help you see what works well when you’re posting, which can lead to increased sales as well as more engagement.
Related: TikTok is now reducing inauthentic likes
10. Posting Too Much Content in an Effort to Be “Engaging”
This is a common problem for businesses that are just getting into social media- they don’t know what to post, so they try to post everything!
While it’s important to stay engaged with your audience, you can’t win them over by being too pushy.
This behavior will only lead them to ignore you and lose interest in your brand!
11. Not Tracking ROI
While we certainly hope that social media will lead to more sales and better customer engagement, it’s not always easy to tell if this is the case.
This doesn’t mean you should completely disregard your social media efforts- it’s just important to be able to track your progress in order to see how effective you’re being.
12. Not Paying Attention to What’s Happening Offline, like Tv Ads or Billboards
As we mentioned earlier, social media is a great platform for building brand awareness- but only if your audience sees what you have to offer.
If they’re distracted by something else that’s happening offline, then all of your hard work will be wasted.
Keep an eye on the broader marketing picture and see how it impacts the amount of attention you receive on social media.
Conclusion
Social media marketing is a growing trend for companies of all sizes and types.
It’s important to remember that social media isn’t the only tool in your arsenal, nor should it be considered as such- you need to use social media as part of an overall marketing strategy that includes other elements like traditional advertising (TV, radio, print), email campaigns/offers, or SEO & online reputation management.
You also want to keep track of which platforms are most popular with your customers and what content they respond well to!
The final point we’ll mention here is ROI: don’t forget to measure how effective your efforts have been when using social media so you can see if there has been any change in sales or customer engagement.
