Social media is one of the easiest ways for small businesses to rank on the first page of Google as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok will always rank on the first page.
When your potential customers discover your social media channel what do they discover? Do they know who you are and what you do?
Here are 6 mistakes you should avoid when creating your social media strategy:
Mistake 1: Bad time management:
Not blocking time out in your diary to plan, create and schedule posts
Poor time management can often lead to you spending more time trying to get things done like correcting mistakes and trying to improve the rushed posts you have previously scheduled. Not planning can end up with poor quality posts that get zero engagement and is a total waste of your time.
Taking time at the beginning of each week or month to plan exactly what you want to write, promote and talk about will help you stay on track. Planning is key when running a business. Posting last minute, all the time can lead to errors and duplications causing your followers to lose interest and go elsewhere.
Mistake 2: Posting everything everywhere
Using the wrong platform
Believe it or not, not all content needs to be shared and not all content is suitable for all social media platforms. Each platform has its own uniqueness and has its own audience. Those audiences know what they want to see on each platform. Below are some general guidelines that may help you avoid posting content on the wrong platform.
Facebook – great for uploading videos and co-ordinated content
Instagram – perfect for high-resolution photo’s, quotes and stories
Twitter – great for news, blog posts and GIS’s
LinkedIn – specifically designed for more business related content like job adverts, company news and professional content and contacts
Pinterest – used for showing step by step photo guides and info-graphics
TikTok – used by so many for creating, watching and sharing short videos
Mistake 3: Not tracking the analytics
Are you tracking analytics? If not, why not? You could be posting content that no one is viewing, liking or sharing and this is wasting your time and getting you nowhere. It is important to check what posts people are liking and sharing. By creating similar posts you can increase your engagement. Many businesses will continue to post the same thing week in week out and not check what engagement they are getting and wondering why things are not working and they are not getting any new business. For example, if you post every Monday ‘Helpful hints’ and this is your most popular day for viewing then post more like this. Rather than if you post every Thursday ‘product info’ and this is getting little or no views then you know to post less of this or rather take a good look at how you promote this information. Play around with the pictures, wording, colour or make a short video. Play around and make subtle changes and see if that increases traffic.
Mistake 4: Using the wrong language or tone of voice
How do you speak to your customers when you see them face to face? Do you speak the same way on social media or do you turn into some sort of robot trying to communicate?
Depending on who your customers are you might decide to have a very informed way of writing your posts and adding a lot of emojis and fun facts to increase engagement.
If you are talking to talking to a very specific technical population for example neuroscientists they will expect you to be a lot more formal using language which will not be suitable for the average person.
Mistake 5: Not giving a clear call to action
There is a lot of noise on social media. Everyone is trying to shout as loud as they can to grab the attention of their potential audience. The posts with very clear and easy to follow call to action are the posts that will lead to people taking action like downloading your ebook, phoning you or visiting your website. Don't assume people know what to do - they don't - tell them what's the next action you want them to take. Initially, you might feel awkward, but trust me the excitement you feel when people respond to your posts will make you realise the importance of a call to action.
Mistake 6: Driving traffic to other people’s websites rather than your own
The internet is a sea of overwhelming information and when social media just got started marketers used to say that to show your authority you should share links to other peoples websites. But that's creating a BIG problem. Let me explain. You spend all your hard-earned money to get followers, you spend a lot of time engaging with them and then send them off to someone else's website so that they can make the sale. That doesn't make sense, does it?
A better strategy is to comment on a current topic and then tag the company in your post. For example, if you want to share something which was mentioned on the BBC instead of adding the link to the BBC website you can write a summary and use the social media handle @bbcnews. Add a call to action that dive people to your website, like a blog or a related product that you sell. The advantage of that is that people who are searching for the BBC might land on your post which will help you to increase your reach.
If you have any questions or need help with your social media contact us
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