If you own a small business, chances are you’ll engage in social media marketing.
While everyone has access to social media, using it in your private life doesn’t automatically make you good at social media marketing for your business.
Today, I’ll share 9 common social media marketing mistakes businesses make, along with their solutions, so you can avoid unnecessary detours.
Table of Contents
1. No Clear Strategy
As I mentioned earlier, many people have access to social media and post whatever they want, whenever and however they please.
Without an objective, that’s perfectly fine. However, social media marketing is driven by specific goals, such as to:
- retain customers
- increase brand awareness
- engage customers
- improve brand reputation
- increase website traffic and leads
- advertise with a smaller budget
- understand your audience
Going into social media marketing without a clear strategy is like starting a business without a plan— it’s bound to fail.
Always have a clear strategy and goal in mind.
2. Inconsistent Branding
One of the defining factors for business success is the brand. Many people patronize a business because of its brand reputation.
Logos, stories, voice, tones, etc, all contribute to branding. If you’re not able to constantly promote a brand and stay consistent, rather than retaining customers, you’ll confuse them.
Maintain consistent branding across all social media platforms. Use the same logos, voice, tone, etc. This way customers can easily recognize your brand.
3. Not Engaging Your Audience
Maybe you’re trying to keep people hooked and sell to them, but if you just post without engaging with your audience, it won’t work.
Would you appreciate a business that doesn’t communicate with its customers?
If all you do is post without responding to comments, your audience will feel ignored and may even move to other brands.
Encourage conversations and community building by replying to comments, mentions, and messages. I did this, and my engagement grew.
4. Over-Promoting
One of the most disliked things on social media is spamming.
It doesn’t matter if you’re an e-commerce site or a marketplace— nobody wants to be constantly bombarded with sales pitches every time they log in.
Instead, focus on providing value. Mix your promotional posts with value-driven content, infographics, or even memes to keep your audience engaged and interested.
Aim for the Goldilocks approach when it comes to amount of promotion: Too little may not make a difference, but too much can be counterproductive. You want to aim for the sweet spot of “just right” when it comes to the frequency and amount of your promotions.
5. Using Too Many Platforms
We’re all guilty of this—wanting to be everywhere at once.
But is your audience really everywhere, and can you afford to be everywhere simultaneously? Even if you could, can you stay consistent?
Instead, find out where your audience is—whether it’s Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, etc.—and focus your efforts there. One of my podcast episodes details where to start marketing your business and tips for choosing a platform, if you want to dive even further on this topic.
Strive for good results with minimal effort, rather than spreading yourself thin and achieving mediocre results. It’s all about efficiency.
6. Not Using Visual Content
On social media, (and even in real life) what catches your attention faster– random blocks of text your eyes tend to glaze over, or images, videos, and colors?
Social media is already flooded with text. To grab your audience’s attention, you need more than just text— you need to attract the eye with visuals.
Whether it’s colors, memes, images, videos, or GIFs, keeping your content visually engaging and relevant will boost your engagement. There’s a reason reels help grow social media accounts faster than regular posts. They’re more visual, more engaging.
Think of how you can incorporate visuals into your business niche while maintaining your essential message and brand voice. Need help doing this? Book a content strategy session with me today, and we’ll get it all ironed out.
7. Using the Same Content on All Platforms
Instagram and Pinterest excel with strong visual elements, while Twitter (now X) and Reddit are better for conversions. Facebook is great for cheeky updates.
But then again, it seems like right when we “learn” the rules of the social media game, the platforms seem to twist-turn upside-down. My recommendation? Get to know the ins and outs of one platform before diving into the next. Don’t be afraid to try new formats, but use your analytics and other forms of feedback to give you insights into continuing or discontinuing certain formats.
Customize your content for each platform to achieve the best results. Social media is not a one-size-fits-all game.
8. Ignoring Analytics
All social media platforms offer analytical tools, often called insights or analytics.
These tools show how well your content is performing, which posts are most effective, and provide other valuable data.
Instead of relying on guesswork, studying social media analytics can help you refine your campaigns and achieve better results.
9. Inconsistent Posting
This is problematic for two main reasons:
- Your active users may miss your updates because they won’t know when you’re posting.
- Posting inconsistently limits your reach, making your efforts more of a shoot-and-hope-to-hit method.
Study your audience’s behavior, including their active times and purchasing habits, and post during those times for maximum effectiveness. Staying consistent will significantly boost your engagement.
Bonus: Other Social Media Marketing Mistakes
Some other social media marketing mistakes include:
- Ignoring customer feedback
- Not measuring return on investment (ROI)
- Not using paid advertising
- Ignoring trends
- Using outdated hashtags
My Final Thoughts
With more businesses turning to social media to stay in front of their customers, competition has certainly intensified. To stay relevant, you need to up your social media game.
If you’re short on time to manage your social media, by Charmaine is here to help take that burden off your hands. Click here to find out how.
You can also listen to my podcast, A (Mostly) Stay-at-Home Mom, where I share weekly tips for busy moms looking to earn or manage a side income. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!