Three common social media mistakes

Almost every business produces and manages content on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or TikTok. On social media, they hope to draw a target audience to their website, “reach young people,” or gain notoriety to sell a product, a service, or an idea. However, most of them quickly realize that running a social media campaign takes a lot of energy and requires a considerable investment, whether it be time or money.

Social media success usually takes more than a few days to achieve. In fact, seeing a significant return on your investment requires a sustained, long-term commitment. Unfortunately, businesses can fall victim to certain bad social media habits over time. Here are three common mistakes and ways to avoid them.

1) Failure to adapt marketing strategies to each platform

Solution: Read, listen, watch, learn!

For your brand to reach its target audience on social media, you need to spend a significant amount of time there—and not just at the beginning! Get familiar with the platform’s language, insider lingo, relevant issues, tone, trending topics, and cultural references. It’s not just a matter of sociodemographics, either. The types of users likely to be found on each platform also play a big role. For example, when looking to spark debate, turn to a platform like Twitter, while inspiration-based content is best handled on Pinterest.

Another example of misaligning strategy and platform is using keywords (hashtags) that have no relevance to ongoing conversations. Copying and pasting your Facebook posts onto Instagram can also be detrimental. It may be a quick way to post content, but users will notice. You risk damaging your brand image.

Brands also tend to spread themselves too thin on social media. Why not try another way? Rather than haphazardly pushing your message across four or five media outlets, focus on one platform where your company is most relevant and your target audience is especially active.

My advice: Once you’ve identified the best communication channel, invest 80% of your efforts into that account while maintaining a more occasional (but equally committed) presence on other platforms.

All brands want to generate sales by driving traffic to their sites. However, several social platforms strive to keep their users captive as long as possible with increasingly efficient algorithms. A few years ago, pressure from media outlets and content creators forced Facebook to continue to show posts leading to external sites. But other platforms, such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, are not designed to drive subscribers to your site. Of course, you can always include a link in your Instagram bio and a swipe-up option in your stories (if your business account has at least 10,000 followers). On YouTube, you can include links in your video descriptions. But traffic from these platforms to your website will generally be scarce and short-lived.

For proof, check out your website traffic statistics. Of all social media platforms, Facebook is by far the best for generating visits. In short, don’t count on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube to increase traffic. Instead, use these platforms to post impactful posts and videos that communicate your message, demonstrate your expertise, and generate reactions. They offer the perfect opportunity to increase your visibility and build the reputation of your products, services, and brand.

2) Failure to truly commit

Solution: Get involved. Really.

Too often, companies brag about their products but fail to listen. They don’t centre their social media experience around customers. Users are perceptive and see them coming a mile away. They immediately know when a company is trying to sell them a product, service, or idea.

The key to successful branding is building a rapport with your audience. The trend toward authentic, personalized marketing works well on social media, as long as you think outside the box and break away from mass-media advertising messages.

Here’s the big question: How can you use a trending conversation to build brand awareness, offer your services in a relevant way, and demonstrate your company values without looking opportunistic? Doing this successfully takes a lot of skill, time, and knowledge of the platform.

If your brand is failing to leave its mark, go for targeted advertising and take advantage of the sophisticated advertising tools developed by these platforms. Then, maximize your investments by creating A/B tests to provide your company’s ad strategists with useful data.

3) Failure to sufficiently analyze data

Solution: Listen to the numbers. They speak volumes!

Every platform provides free statistics and indicators showing how your actions, campaigns, and content are performing. Devoting time to studying and deepening your understanding of this data will help you properly measure how your posts impact traffic to your site via bounce rates, engagement, time spent on a page, and ultimately, conversions and sales.

So, give yourself time to review and compare your posts. Learn from your successes and failures. Share your findings with your sales, marketing, and product development teams. Discuss them together. Social media can enrich your discussion groups and help you get to know the people who love your brand.

Ensure good practices on all social media platforms by regularly asking yourself the following question: Is your social media activity substantially helping you reach your end goals? You should also keep in mind that increasing your subscribers or post reach is not a goal in itself. In the end, what matters is ensuring that your social media activity resonates with your target audience and inspires positive reactions.

Do you have questions or need help with social media strategies? Contact us !