DataCaptive » Prospect » 4 Damaging Social Media Mistakes and Corrections

4 Damaging Social Media Mistakes and Corrections

November 16, 2017
7:29 AM

Social media marketing can be an incredibly powerful medium through which to build connections and grow your business. Much confusion exists around how to use social media properly. Don’t make the common but silly mistake of blaming platforms for your social media failures. Although certain algorithm changes may alter social sites and how you use them it’s ultimately your choice to either use sites like Facebook and Twitter effectively or to complain about periodic updates. The wise craftsperson never blames their tools but themselves when things go wrong. Instead of lambasting social media sites simply admit to making these mistakes and correct your errors with these solutions.

Feed frenzy

Over sharing.
Feeding frenzy. This malady strikes most folks using social media at one time or another.
Over stuffing your Facebook feed with updates often leads to a trip to the Facebook dog house.
Ditto with Twitter. Even if Twitter sharing rules are lax as far as posting frequency you need to pull back a bit to make an impact on your following without driving them batty.
Take a deep breath.
The volume approach to social media marketing does not work.
Think quality over quantity.
Or think sharing quality content over the long haul, which leads to a high quantity of quality posts over years.
One of two helpful, thorough, generous, in-depth Facebook updates shared daily is worth 2 month’s worth of scatter-shot, poorly-planned, hurried, thin updates.
Quality wins.
Relax.
Chill out.
Publish social media updates from a calm, confident, clear space to help your friends and followers with quality content.

Straying off topic

Once in awhile it’s okay to stray off topic.
Posting interesting pieces of content outside of your niche helps to diversify your social media streams a wee bit.
Just don’t make it a habit.
Some social media marketers treat their Twitter feed as a veritable jambalaya of niches, mixing various pieces of content into their feed. Doing so confuses followers who quickly unfollow or block you due to the random nature of your tweets.
Ditto for off topic Facebook and LinkedIn updates.
Publish content related to your offline life here and there. People love real human beings with offline lives. But don’t go overboard.
Stay on topic to avoid straying off course.
Most friends and followers look to your social media sites for specific updates. If you are a blogging tips blogger, friends expect blogging tips themed updates.
Give the people what they want.
Stay on topic with most of your social media updates.
Drive traffic and boost your profits through social by solving niche-specific problems with your social media shares.

No engagement

One of the strangest and most damaging social media errors is simply taking the social out of social media.
Why would anybody want to click your links on social media sites if you aren’t being social?
Way too many marketers blame social media marketing and its ineffectiveness for their online struggles. Social simply mirrors back to you your effort or lack thereof on these sites.
Do not blame Facebook for your lack of engagement. Don’t blast Twitter as a silly platform if you don’t put in the time to actually have authentic discussions with human beings there.
Do yourself a favor. Engage followers and friends on social media to make an impact.
Be social to rock out your social media marketing campaign.
Who’d have thought that?
Spend 5 to 10 minutes at least once daily on sites like Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus to engage followers and friends.
Avoid the all too common error of automating social media fully because doing so is the social kiss of death. Folks hate bots. Folks love engaging with real human beings. Be human by engaging people on social media.
Thank your re-tweeters and retweet interesting, relevant tweets on Twitter.
Respond to folks who Like your updates on Facebook. Like interesting updates. Publish comments on updates to connect with your Facebook buddies.
Engage freely on LinkedIn and Google Plus.
Join and participate in Facebook Groups and Google Plus Plus Communities.
Be social. Use social media sites effectively.

No personalizing

Not personalizing interactions is a critical error on social media.
Be memorable.
Personalize interactions on sites like Twitter and Facebook to stand out from the crowd.
Most marketers go the generic route. Being in a hurry, this crew misses the chance to make a serious impact.
Your first name is likely your favorite word in your native tongue. Social media folks who use names demonstrate that they care enough about you to address you by name.
All it takes is an extra 2 seconds to engage followers on Twitter by name. Take these few seconds to message Facebook buddies by name and to respond to LinkedIn connections with their name too.
Personalizing on social media is the big difference maker as the most connected folks have mastered the art of personalizing interactions on social platforms.
When you care, they care.

Your turn

Are you making any of these social media mistakes? How can you improve your social media marketing game? What social media mistakes and corrections can you add to this list?

Show some love!

Ryan Biddulph

Ryan Biddulph is a blogger, author, and world traveler who's been featured on Richard Branson's Virgin Blog, Forbes, Fox News, Entrepreneur, Positively Positive, Life Hack, John Chow Dot Com, and Neil Patel Dot Com. He has written and self-published 126 bite-sized eBooks on Amazon. Ryan can help you build a successful blog at Blogging From Paradise.

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