Social media can be a powerful addition to your inbound marketing efforts, if you use it the right way. Over-promoting, constant posting, and posting in the wrong place can make your social media efforts backfire. Learning more about the most common social media mistakes can help you avoid alienating your followers and missing out on some potentially great lead opportunities.
Discover the benefits of a social media marketing strategy for your business.
5 Common Social Media Mistakes
All Promos, All the Time
NO one wants to be hit with a barrage of promotional posts. Make sure your feed is not full of “look at me” or “buy this” posts. Include updates that are informative, questions that prompt engagement, and graphics that relate to your field to create a mix of posts your followers will actually enjoy reading.
Constant Posting
You need to be consistent about your posting – but “more” is not always better. If you add a bunch of posts in the same day or same time period, you risk alienating your followers; while they have chosen to follow you, their Facebook or Twitter feed doesn’t need to be all you, all the time.
Choose a few times a day and post a single update; you can also respond to and engage with your followers at this time. If you really prefer to do all of your posts at one time, use a scheduling app to post your updates for you and spread them out throughout the day.
Sporadic and Unreliable Posting
Overposting is one common error – but sporadic posting may be worse. If you are not posting on a regular basis, your followers will give up and go elsewhere. You don’t need to post every single day, but if your readers know you’ll post something of interest every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, they’ll start to keep an eye out for your topics. Don’t disappoint them; add posting to your content calendar and make sure you follow through on a regular basis to avoid losing followers due to inactivity.
Using an Intern for Posting
It’s not the intern that’s the problem, it’s the lack of planning and strategic thinking. Your social media person may be the first and only person your target comes into contact with, so they need to be able to engage and educate about your brand. Make sure the person doing your social media updates and engagement is a true ambassador for your brand – not just the guy with extra time on his hands.
Not Targeting your Market
If you are spending a tremendous amount of time posting content and engaging with followers – but not seeing any actual prospects or leads, you may be directing your efforts in the wrong place. Take time to research where your actual prospects are doing their posting – and then join them. You’ll have a much easier time cultivating a following on sites that already feature your target demographic. Trying to lead your targets to the site and then engage with them just won’t work.
Where your prospects are will depend on your buyer persona and their level of comfort with social media. It can be tempting to automatically focus your efforts on the network you like best or find easiest to use, but you won’t see much return on your time invested. Boost your ROI and the number of prospects you can reach by posting where your buyers are and cultivating followers in the right network.
The biggest social media marketing mistake of all is underestimating the power of social media and what it can do for your business. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest can be valuable additions to your inbound marketing strategy, provided you use them correctly.
Ready to discuss the best strategy for implementing social media into your inbound marketing efforts? Contact a Marketing Essentials Digital Strategist today at 419.629.0080.
