It’s not easy to admit, but in addition to successful accounts on Instagram and Facebook, iridescent success Instastories and hundreds of popular posts, many online marketers have another side of experience. These are social media marketing mistakes that can be embarrassing to remember and scary to tell.
But the fail-experience exists to share it and not to repeat it again. Thus, here is the list of the most glaring and popular social media marketing mistakes made by even experienced online marketers. We hope it will save you in an unfriendly and competitive digital space.
9 Worst Social Media Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
1. Focusing on quantity, not quality.
This is one of the most common social media marketing mistakes. If you have enough resources (personnel, intellectual, time) to generate unique and catchy content on five Facebook posts a day, you can consider producing a larger quantity of content.
Otherwise, we suggest you limit your social media posts. Every social media post should be actual, interesting texts for your audience with bright, professional photos or videos.
2. Trying to cover all social networks.
Some entrepreneurs believe that success will bypass them unless they create brand accounts simultaneously on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest and so on. But don’t forget that all social platforms require thoughtful, relevant, and unique content.
In addition, each social media account requires some time: responding to comments and messages, conducting challenges, strategizing promotion, etc. The best solution is to focus on the social networks where your target audience is the most active.
Expanding your reach in the future when you have a greater following and more resources may be a smart option, as well.
3. Duplicating content.
Many internet marketers, unfortunately, still make this mistake consciously. After all, creating unique content even for two social networks is a double expenditure of time and effort. But even a small adaptation of the posts for Instagram and Facebook will give you more involvement.
4. Never using video.
According to statistics, Facebook loves video publications much more than all other types of posts. Such a content receive more organic coverage and, as a result, better response. Just read our article on Facebook video marketing below for proof:
It should be noted, however, that the data refers to videos uploaded directly to Facebook, and not to links to external video platforms. The algorithm of Facebook promotes content published inside the network, rather than on external sites.
One more tip to avoid other social media marketing mistakes. Publish a video of a square format. Before, most of the videos published on the Internet were panoramic.
Today, the user prefers a square format that takes up more space on the screen of the smartphone. The video should cling to the first frame; otherwise, you risk losing the interest of the audience at the very beginning.
Also, do not forget that users watch most videos without sound. This point needs to be taken into account to avoid social media marketing mistakes in future. Watch for changes in social networking algorithms and be always ready to adapt your video strategy.
5. Writing promotional posts only.
There is an opinion that the business page on social media should shout numerous CTAs and say “run to buy our product immediately.” Not right. Nothing is so annoying for clients as a constant desire to offer something. Be sure to post useful information about your product that will improve and facilitate the life of your subscribers.
6. Ignoring UGC.
The content created by your subscribers in social networks—that is, user-generated content (UGC)—is often of great importance for increasing the level of involvement and loyalty of your target audience. According to the Ipsos MediaCT survey, 90% of the respondents indicated that UGC influences their online purchases.
7. Disregarding the target audience.
Let’s imagine you promote a bar in Chicago and create awesome and useful content for customers. So why not to target posts on a geographical and age basis? The Facebook algorithm assigns a relevance score to each post that your subscribers can see, and shows the user the most exciting publications.
Targeting posts to a particular audience, you potentially increase your reach, since Facebook will show your posts first. This is especially useful for a regional business.
8. Overlooking successful posts.
Most often, for paid promotion, marketers choose publications with a strong CTA or information for the widest possible audience. But there is another way. It’s much more effective to promote posts with a greater level of organic involvement.
The tactic is as follows. Create a post, wait 2-4 hours, then assess the level of involvement. If the level is above average, then focus your marketing efforts on this post.
Firstly, this approach improves the quality of your content. After analyzing the stats, you will see that topic gets more likes, shares, and comments. Secondly, it allows you not to get involved in the paid promotion. Because no amount of monetary investment will make a boring post interesting.
9. Not reacting to comments.
Surprisingly, according to a Sprout Social study, 89% of brands do not answer their subscribers in social networks. Also, these statistics showed that every third subscriber will go to a competitor if he was ignored.
These numbers alone should be motivation enough to react to your audience! Be sure to answer comments, questions, feedback from your subscribers, even if they are negative.
Wrap Up
Paul Browne once said, “When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: admit it, learn from it, and don’t repeat it.” Social media marketers before you have made these nine mistakes. Now all you have to do is not repeat them.
What mistakes have you made in your social media marketing strategy? Be sure to share them in the comments, we are looking forward to them!
Need help creating high-quality, professional videos for your social media marketing campaign? Valoso can help! Register on our website to become a member, or fill out the contact form below to get started with our skilled video production team.
