Social media can be one of your most successful marketing channels, but only if you do it right. Just being active on social media isn't enough -- there is a lot of noise you need to break through if you want to find success..
Take a minute to scroll through your social media feeds and look for posts that are from business accounts that actually cause you to stop and engage with them, let alone read them. They are very few and far between. To help you create social media content that performs well, make sure to avoid the following five mistakes.
Related Article: Lessons For YOUR Brand On Social Media?
1. Using Stock Images
Stock images have their place, but social media isn't one of them. Your social media platforms are a way for you to attract and connect with potential new customers and continue engagement with previous customers.
Using stock images can make your content feel too promotional -- you want consumers that come into contact with your social media content to be interested in your brand, not turned off due to images that look like they belong in an instruction manual.
Not every business can afford to hire a professional photographer or purchase expensive digital cameras, but that is fine, because your smartphone camera and free photo editing apps are all you need to create captivating images. If you are looking for quality stock images to edit and alter to use as memes, for example, that is a different story.
Related Article: 7 Social Media Mistakes To Avoid?
2. Too Many Hashtags
Hashtags are a great tool to use to help improve social media content discovery, but don't go overboard.
Using too many hashtags in a post not only makes it look spammy, but it can also annoy consumers -- and that's the complete opposite of what you are trying to accomplish.
The goal of social media is to build brand awareness, create fans of your brand and then eventually drives sales and revenue.
Jamming every post full of every hashtag imaginable will act as customer repellant.
Related Article: YOUR Career Killing Social Media?
3. Voicing Personal Opinions
If you use too many hashtags, you will take away from the main message and point of your post, so use them intelligently.
Buffer suggests using one to two per post on Twitter is best and that posts on Instagram with 11 or more hashtags receive the best engagement. They also note that Facebook posts with no hashtags outperform posts using hashtags.
Remember that you aren't the only person who will be reading what you post, which is why you should never discuss things like religion or politics on social media.
Other people reading your content will have a wide range of beliefs and opinions. Being conscious of this will help you avoid pushing potential customers away or receiving public backlash.
Related Article: Being Smart On Social Media Refresher?
4. Posting Content Littered With Grammatical Errors
Grammatical errors just are not a good look. I see mistakes on social media on a daily basis. It's a much larger problem than most people probably think.
"Simple grammar mistakes can make you look unprofessional on social media.
They show your potential customers that you can't take a few seconds to at least run spell check.
If this little detail is overlooked, how can a consumer put his or her trust in your product or service?
They can't and won't," says Ed El Dabe, founding partner at El Dabe Ritter Trial Lawyers.
Related Article: Fixing YOUR Boring Social Media Brand?
5. Posting Irrelevant Content
One of the biggest mistakes I see brands make is posting too much content focused on current events, from viral videos and sporting events to breaking news. They do this in hopes of leveraging the buzz and interest of current events, assuming it will naturally lead to engagement and new followers.
If a consumer wants to read about news, politics and sports, they seek out that information from the proper sources. Just because there is major world news trending doesn't mean you need to broadcast it. Unless something is directly related to your business or industry, it's best to not post about it.
Guest Authored By Jonathan Long. Jonathan is the founder of Market Domination Media, a performance-based online marketing agency, blerrp, an influencer marketing agency and co-founder of consumer product Sexy Smile Kit. Follow Jonathan on Twitter.
Related Article: A Business Killing Lack Of Social Media Strategy?
“Social media can be one of your most successful marketing channels, but only if you do it right.
Just being active on social media isn't enough -- there is a lot of noise you need to break through if you want to find success.." -Jonathan Long
Authored by:Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends. My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment