1. Don’t Jump Into Social Media Marketing Without A Plan!
Most companies might have experienced this and you could be one of them. The story goes like this: you decide to join the social network, make your profiles, load it with info, put great stuff out there to attract attention and then disappear. Within weeks of your ‘super’ launch your page is converted into a barren land with followers wondering what they are doing there and some people seeking answers and getting no replies. Your company's social media presence soon becomes a big flop.
So the first step is to actually have a social media marketing plan.
The plan should be such that it should build on your presence and not let it dwindle. Any plan would need:
- Time investment
- Strategy and goals
- Team for interaction
2. Spamming
Another mistake people make is to throw links on the internet on all the social networks. Why post irrelevant links? Spam never works.
What you need to do instead is build relevant content and have meaningful links. Don't post fake stuff either. Everything you post should actually be USEFUL. Posting free tips for example is a great way to make useful content.
eg. 10 Tips on What NOT to do when doing Social Media Marketing.
3. Multiple Profiles On Social Sites
This is another trend where a company has more than one profiles on sites like Facebook and Twitter – all of which link to the main website. For one thing, it is just plain wasteful to spread out your resources and efforts like that! Put your efforts in one direction and get people, real people, to your company.
Another common problem connected to having multiple profiles is people who connect with other people who are just looking for numbers - they have zero intention in becoming a customer and are essentially fake followers, and instead their primary goal is to get you to follow their company too, just for the sake of ego building numbers. However, there’s no point building loads of fake followers who really aren’t interested in your work and are simply connecting to build ‘following’. Having more numbers doesn't actually attract customers through popularity. That is a false perception.
Thus having multiple profiles in the effort to get more followers also doesn't work. It is just a waste of time.
4. Very Little Interaction
In many cases, profiles have updates but no participation in conversation. Lack of conversation with your clients and followers decreases value of your social presence and you don’t build on valuable relationships.
What you should be doing:
Post comments, questions, ask for feedback, have polls (formal or informal), answer questions from potential clients, turn your online presence into a way to find out more about your customers and what they want.
5. No Real Followers
This is a big mistake – keeping an active page with lot of info but no real followers. This means you don’t really have virtual support and weakens the basis of your social existence. To avoid this, it’s important to build a slow and steady network of real people.
Some companies arguably don't even need Social Media and thus don't need a Twitter or Facebook account. They only want them for the sake of ego, but once they have them they neglect to use them - or if they do use them, they are trying to sell something that most people only need 1 time and there is no point in following a company that sells 1 time use widgets.
6. Bookmarking Randomly
Social bookmarking is important and useful. But if you are bookmarking all sites with back-links to your website, with no real relevance (or useful content), then it’s not going to work well for your business. You will just be wasting your time.
Lets say for example you use the website StumbleUpon to bookmark things you like, but you are bookmarking parts of your website which are essentially useless and boring. There is no point bookmarking those pages because other people are never going to bookmark those pages either.
Instead what you should be doing is only bookmarking the pages that are interesting, fascinating and have the potential to go viral. Topics that are useful, fantastic and so forth.
In theory you could also bookmark big sales, as people could end up sharing / bookmarking those pages so share the sale with their friends.
7. Automated Posting of Links
Another mistake is automated posting of back-links to your website. Of course, automation eases the load on your manual efforts, but a structure is needed and randomness doesn’t pay. You only look like just – another – spamming site!
Spamming doesn't work and can even get your site banned / red-flagged by Google. It doesn't matter whether a human posts the spam or it is a computer doing it, it still doesn't work / looks suspicious enough for Google to give you a red flag.
8. Less Visibility due to Low Activity
This is an interlinked factor where you seem media shy! There are various profiles that are extremely careful in a bid to be less aggressive and hence, end up going unnoticed. It’s important to be active and visible.
What you should instead be doing is posting regularly. Daily or Weekly works best.
9. Not Spending Wisely
Social media marketing is an affordable platform which is its greatest charm. Yet, not spending wisely in the bargain is what should not happen. You may spend too much on social media ads but nothing on hiring an SEO/SMO company to do your SMO work. Isn't that a bad choice? Why not make a balance and use your money wisely.
It makes way more sense to hire someone who actually knows what they are doing to garner the best results.
10. Your Target Customers
The most important is to know your target audience. Aiming in the dark may seem like you are working very hard, but in the end, results will suffer!
Thus knowing your target, knowing how to best "hit your target", and learning from your failed attempts to gain customers from your target audience.
BONUS TIP
Never use social media in a disgraceful / greedy way with respect to comment on social issues / tragedy.
eg. Using a recent school shooting or deaths to try and sell your line of widgets.
