For many businesses, the decision to use social media for marketing, results in significant benefits. However, when social media is used improperly, it can actually harm your business. The following are the top 10 ways to avoid social media mistakes:
Implement a Social Media Policy
It’s important to provide guidelines for your employees regarding how to conduct themselves online, both during and after work. When an organization establishes guidelines, staff can avoid potential social media pitfalls.
Post a Bio That Says Something About You
Many organizations forget to make the most out of their social media bio. Your bio is almost always the first thing potential customers look for. Make sure you’re including your location and website. Try to be creative with you bio to differentiate your company from competitors.
Adopt The Culture
Every social media platform has its own audience, language, and culture. It’s important to learn how people share and communicate on each site, and to follow these tactics. Many organizations use the same content across all their social media platforms, but this appears impersonal and automated. Take some time to learn the culture of each social platform, and tailor your content to be platform specific.
Don’t Post Too Much and Avoid Irrelevant Comments
It’s important to post content on your social media platform that relays something meaningful. Over-posting and posting irrelevant content can lead to “unfollows.” Pay attention to your social media websites and find out how often your fans or followers are online; then post accordingly. Instead of posting several times an hour, post several times a day when followers are most likely to see the content. As for irrelevant content, a funny image is okay once in a while, but avoid doing this too often.
Focus on The Quality of Your Content
Having a high quantity of followers doesn’t equal to sales. It’s important to focus on quality over quantity when it comes to social media fans. A company will have better results with a 1,000 engaged readers than 10,000 ones who don’t care about you, your products, or services
Monitor Feedback Regularly
Whether you’re happy about it or not, customers are going to discuss your business online. If you have a Facebook or Twitter Account, customers expect you to be monitoring them. If you’re not monitoring questions, concerns, or comments, your customers are going to assume you’re ignoring them.
Respond Appropriately to Problems and Negative Comments
Organizations must avoid deleting or ignoring negative comments on social media profiles. Instead, apologize for whatever problem the customer has experienced, and offer to contact them via email or phone to work it out in a private manner. Of course, you must respond in a positive way; becoming defensive or angry is the worst possible thing you can possibly do.
Post Often, But Only What’s Acceptable For A Particular Site
Social media marketing requires persistence to obtain positive results. Many organizations aren’t patient enough— posting only once a week and expecting new leads. If you don’t have the time or commitment to post often, don’t bother with social media, and focus your efforts on traditional advertising methods instead.
Keep It Personal
Customers want to interact with businesses via social media. When you’ve created a social media profile, introduce the individuals that monitor and handle your page. The personal touch creates a meaningful, significant impact. It’s important to avoid appearing robotic and automated, instead, focus on responding with personality and leave a friendly, positive impression.
Tell People What To Do/ Post a Call-to-Action
When posting content, include short links to a resource or blog post. Other helpful calls-to-action are mentions or tags referencing a relevant user or source. In addition, remember to include keywords or hashtags to make your posts accessible to users who aren’t following you. Of course, avoid overdoing the hashtags.
