4 Tips to Avoid Common Social Media Marketing Mistakes

Social media marketing is becoming more and more of a rising trend each day that goes by. If you know how to use it right you can build a solid and successful social media marketing strategy that will result in engaging target users and thus stretching further the reach of your brand voice. However, not every business has been able to make social media work for them. Like every other form of marketing, social media marketing can do more harm than good if it is not properly planned and executed.

Here are a number of social media mistakes that you should try to avoid.

Don’t be overzealous. 

Newcomers usually think that the best way to attract customers is to bombard them non-stop with offers, sales and promotional messages. This isn’t the way social media are meant to be used. You have to enhance the position of your brand and create its unique voice by making honest relationships and connections through real conversations and commentary..

• Respond to all questions, comments, and engagement that your users create -just beware of spam-.
• Manage a “bad” situation. Response to a negative comment, never delete it and admit your mistakes.
• Connect and engage as many “gurus” of your field as possible, follow them, comment on their activity and make sure you get noticed, their engagement can be invaluable.

Go for quality not quantity.

Another interesting pitfall that a lot of “newbies” fall into is that of the fake followers and fans.  For a struggling starting company it may seem a good idea to “buy” fake followers for a small fee. This is a huge misconception; not only will this method not benefit you but it can harm your business. None of these fake followers is truly interested in your business, none will spread the word, none will reshare your thoughts and comments and none will appreciate your efforts. Also potential customers that will see through that will turn around and leave.

Be consistent.

There are days when you simply have so much to do that being consistent and posting that “small” tweet in your twitter page doesn’t seem important; yet it is. Consistency is the key to a successful social media presence, no matter what, no matter how you have to be there, you have to be consistent. If you are drowning in obligations and stuff to do, try this:

• Create and outline – a list of daily tasks if you prefer – that pinpoint the daily priorities and the actions that need to be done on a daily basis on your social media channels, stick to it and manage your time in a way that this list is followed every day.
• Take some time and create a small plan with goals. For example set a weekly goal you want to reach, a specific number of followers or likes, check your progress every week, see if you have reached your numbers or not. If this is the case then you are doing what you are supposed to be doing. If not then you have to review your strategy, the steps you took the past week.

Pay attention to what you are posting.

Many times people posted the wrong thing because they didn’t proofread it before posting. Review what you want to post, then review it once more, then again, then show it to a colleague who has a clear mind and then review it one more time. Better safe than sorry…!

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