10 Common Mistakes Made On Social Media – Part 1
1. Having No Strategy
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” –Benjamin Franklin
Posting infrequently, sharing the same basic content on all social media platforms or simply doing nothing is a surefire way to lose your audience.
Solution: Create a plan on how you will use social media to get your brand and message out to the world. Even just a simple outline or calendar can go a long way. Figure out how often you want to post, the kind of content to promote and how you can provide something of value to people. Having a social media strategy does not have to cost you a ton of money, just create a plan, stick to it and adjust as needed.
2. Blurry or Bad Profile Pictures (or Business Logo)
Ever stumble upon a business page and their photos are pixilated? This causes people not to take your brand seriously.
Solution: Do not settle for poor images, invest in higher quality pictures. Understand what each site requires for the dimensions of the profile picture and cover photo.
3. Leaving Your Profile Incomplete
It is very common and disappointing to land on a company’s social media page and fail to find the information you’re looking for. If people cannot understand your brand and message right away, they will leave the page.
Solution: Make sure you fill in all the information about your business, a link to your website and how they can contact you. Make sure when people visit your page, they can see your logo and brand right away. Choose the right category for your business so you can be found easily.
4. Inconsistent Branding
There is nothing worse than visiting someone’s Facebook page to find out that the color scheme and logo are inconsistent with their Twitter profile and completely different than what is on their website.
Solution: Ensure branding is unified across all platforms. Even though there will be some variations on the different social media platforms as they have different dimensions, your branding should be clear wherever it appears.
5. Not Responding To Comments
It is amazing how some companies forget that social media is…well, social. When someone reaches out to your company or comments on a post and they get no response, credibility is lost. You will be labeled as a company that is interested only in self-promotion.
Solution: Respond to all interactions in a quick and thoughtful manner–usually within 24 hours. Consider this: someone walks into your office and asks you a question and you stand there and never answer. How weird would that be? Think of social media in the same way. If you could answer a question about a product or service or, at the very least, interact with customers online, that could lead to sales and building a better brand in the online community.
Read Part 2
