5 Mistakes Every Marketer Makes on Social Media
Since the advent of social media, how we live and interact on virtually every level has radically transformed; especially when it comes to marketing.
In the past, marketers had to rely on physical ads in publications, commercials on tv and radio, and product placement in movies and tv shows to make impressions that build a rapport with their targeted audiences. Today that landscape has changed considerably as the rise of social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest, etc have given marketers direct access to audiences across the world. This has empowered brands to develop a connection with customers and prospects by creating relevant content that those users need and want to see most.
Yet the reality is, with the rapid-pace of the ever-evolving social media landscape, it can be tricky for marketers to keep up or take off on social platforms. Naturally, this fosters an environment where it’s all too easy to make mistakes that can hinder success on social media, even for the best marketers with robust followings and content strategies.
Here are the top five mistakes practically every social media marketer makes from time to time with insights on how to avoid the traps.
1. Not Being Intentional Enough About Your Social Media Strategy
One of the most common pitfalls social media marketers make is bypassing the central value proposition they are looking to provide audiences on the platforms they decide to use. But unfortunately, without an understanding of who you’re trying to be on social media and what you’re trying to offer users in exchange for engaging with your content and your brand, you will not have much success.
This is precisely why it’s critical to work these core details out in advance so that the content you create is a reflection of your brand’s value proposition to audiences. Our advice: understand what platforms are a fit for you. Do your research to determine what content you can create and test to set you apart from the competition. Prioritize how you can develop digital experiences that captivate people’s attention and establish a positive pattern with audiences that drive them further into your marketing funnel. And, again make sure you don’t opt out of laying this vital foundation for your social media marketing strategy.
All too often, marketers and brands skip this process and instead decide to navigate social media in a way that too closely emulates what other companies are doing without stopping to determine if the approach fits their brand.
2. Posting Inconsistently
As marketers, time is not always on our side; which makes it all too easy to overlook the importance of posting consistent content. If you’re guilty of this, just know that it happens all the time, even in the most seasoned of social media marketing departments. Yet it’s paramount to design your social media marketing calendars with enough content to maintain a consistent schedule even in the face of delays with launches, initiatives, or other setbacks that could hinder your ability to keep a consistent schedule of posts.
We recommend making sure that you schedule your posts ahead of time as much as possible. You’ll also want to create a stream of evergreen content that you can post anytime in the event there are holes that pop up for content that was slated but cannot be pushed due to delays.
The goal is to have a fluid roster of stellar content that is intentional in its approach to connect with audiences. This will show social media algorithms that you are a reliable creator of content that users deem valuable, which enriches your position on the platform and makes your content more visible.
3. Creating Inaccessible Content
Accessibility is becoming an increasing priority for marketers who are invested in optimizing content to make it as consumable as possible. Their ultimate intention is to share information in the simplest and most efficient way possible, removing any barriers for audiences to receive and retain the content so users are more likely to take an action be it sharing, liking, commenting, clicking, etc.
Maintaining social media accessibility means making sure your content is created in the correct aspect ratio by platform, checking to ensure all your font sizes are legible on posts with text, creating videos with captions, and monitoring video / audio playback speed so that everything is clearly audible and correctly synched.
4. Investing in a Social Media Strategy That Lacks Adaptability
Nothing will tank your efforts more than posting content you know isn’t working to spark engagement. And while it can be frustrating when a particular idea or format isn’t taking off as expected, it’s better to stop putting your energy behind posts that aren’t performing in order to create and test new formats that will.
To do so, you’ll need to focus on building a social media marketing strategy that is flexible enough to incorporate new content as needed. This requires regular assessments of your analytics and metrics to understand what content is performing and what content needs to be replaced and tested with a new format.
With time and consistent praxis, you’ll get a better understanding of what works and how you can improve the quality of your content.
5. Being Too Impatient and Expecting Results Too Soon
Building a community on social media takes time and consistent effort. But a lot of social media marketers forget all about the long game and instead focus on the temporal. This is a classic mistake that often diminishes momentum and hinders marketers from seeing the big picture: social media marketing isn’t a quick fix solution.
On the contrary, it’s a piece of a much larger whole within your total marketing plan designed to enable you to cultivate trust with customers through consistent, useful and intentional social media communications that tell a story about your brand and drive them further into your sales and marketing funnel.
Essentially, telling this story, connecting with audiences, and building a following isn’t an overnight effort. So it’s important to be patient and consistent as you deploy your strategy and fine tune along the way to optimize for better results.
Final Thoughts: Avoiding the Most Common Mistakes Social Media Marketers Make
Ultimately, when done well and to scale, social media marketing is a fun, creative and practical way to engage with modern audiences. But it requires intentionality, consistency, patience and a flexible strategy to work.
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