Social media marketing can be a highly rewarding strategy for your marketing campaign. One great post, at the right time, has the potential to go viral and get you thousands of views which in turn will get you more visits and brand new followers. On the other hand, there are some fatal social media marketing mistakes you could make that could make even your most loyal followers turn away. We’ve gathered some social media marketing mistakes you should be sure to avoid.
1. Offensive Posts
You would think that, to many people, this would seem incredibly obvious, and for the most part it is. However, there is still offensive material being posted on a regular basis; a company or business’s reputation can suffer because of it. There are typically two reasons, other than deliberately, that offensive material is posted: 1 – it was posted mistakenly or 2 – the poster did not believe it was offensive. Regardless of the reason, posting offensive material is completely preventable. Always have check and balances before any social media post is going to be made.
2. Misunderstood Trends
Trending topics and hashtags, when used correctly can be great opportunities for companies to get their name noticed and out there. However, if you’re paying attention you could actually cause yourself a lot of trouble. Posting to a topic or a hashtag just because its trending can show that you have no idea what you’re talking about as well as, more than likely, offending a huge group of people. The easiest way to prevent this mistake is by simply clicking the hashtag and reading what it’s about before posting.
3. Ignoring Feedback
Typically, followers on social media will make themselves heard and will tell you what they do or don’t like. Even if they don’t say, “Hey I don’t like this”, they will tell you based on their actions. More than likely a well-liked post will be liked, commented on, and shared. On the other hand, a post that is disliked will receive no reaction.
4. Radio Silence
The only thing that would be worse than ignoring your followers’ feedback is to go silent and not post at all. To build an audience, keep your followers, to stay relevant, you need to makes sure you are posting on a regular basis. Certain platforms should receive posts a day, whereas other platforms should be receiving multiple postings a day. To make sure you’re social media postings are consistently being posted you should use a post scheduler.
Social media marketing mistakes are just as easy to avoid as they are to make. If there are two things you should take away from this should, it should be the following: Make sure you are researching and thinking through your posts before putting them online; always remember your audience. Using these two things as a rule of thumb should help prevent a number of social media marketing mistakes.
