Hey guys! I wanted to share this blog with you on what NOT to do when it comes to social media. As a social media strategist, it’s been my duty to steer businesses in the right direction when it comes to creating content. With as much research as I like to do, there are definitely moments where I catch myself scratching my head or even placing my hands over my eyes, then slowly expanding my fingers to peek through… (was that a good visual description for you?!) Hope so. We want to avoid any reactions like that when people are looking at your posts! So take notes as we go through what not to do in order to have a successful social media strategy!
Here we go!
USING THE WRONG PLATFORMS
For some business owners, you may feel that you need to have social presence on every single platform and it’s certainly not the case. You don’t necessarily need to be on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. It can be overwhelming and challenging for one person to manage. So instead, take the time to figure out what platform most of your audience is on. Narrow it down and stick to those platforms consistently. If you have enough manpower for more, then go for more. You have to keep in mind the engagement that would be needed to go into each platform, so don’t spread yourself or your staff too thin. You could hinder the success of your social media presence if you can’t keep up.
IGNORING YOUR FOLLOWERS
I see this all too often. I’ll give you an example from personal experience. I like to tag businesses on Instagram when I’m giving them a shout out or showing them some love in a post- Most likely to share my experience and what I enjoyed. I’m basically providing free advertising for them by doing that! So when a business doesn’t take the time to acknowledge a post, it leaves a somewhat bad taste in my mouth. Wouldn’t you agree?
Stepping up your customer service on social media can be a serious game changer.
So next time your business gets tagged on social media, take the initiative and give them a thumbs up or comment back. If people are leaving comments as questions, be sure to answer them. Each post/comment/DM is an opportunity to create a connection. Being candid here- just don’t be a d*ck and ghost your social media followers!
CONTENT CREATION OVERLOAD
Don't repeat images over and over.
Are you struggling to create new content every week? Are you running out of ideas? You don’t need to stress yourself out when it comes to creating good content for your pages. A social media calendar definitely helps with planning and staying ahead but you can also re-purpose your posts. Did your head just do a double take? Yes, you can re-use content. Although I don’t recommend re-posting the same image more than 3 times, it all depends on your marketing campaign and your timelines. Just be sure to space your posts out. That way your followers don't feel like they are seeing the same thing over and over. Then it starts to feel spammy.
For example- if you’re marketing for an upcoming event 2 months out, you can create different images and types of media to fill up your social media schedule for promotion. They don’t all have to be the same image with the same caption and they definitely shouldn’t be. Plan ahead as much as you can. Change it up and prepare different variations to keep it spicy!
100% MANUAL POSTING
Manually posting across your social platforms is a pure labor of love. I know this because I have lived it- Deep in the social channel trenches, there were times when I was posting on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for 3+ accounts just for ONE business. WHY did I do that to myself? So learn from my mistakes and utilize some of the automated posting systems like Hootsuite, IFTTT, and Sprout Social. I don’t recommend using them for 100% of your posts only because there are times on Facebook or Instagram when you will need to manually tag another business page. So when you know you have content that could be posted across the board without extra labor, then help yourself out by saving time and stress with an automated system.
LOW QUALITY PHOTOS/VIDEOS
I cringe every time I see a severely pixelated photo or video on a business page. Every detail counts. Putting out quality images should matter to you as a business owner because it can affect the impression of a potential customer or follower. I preach this every time... but photos from your camera phone can only go so far. So when you are getting ready to promote a product, please please please hire a professional photographer to aid with your marketing campaign! You want your people to take you seriously.
I also see too many instances of image sizes GONE WRONG. Make sure you are posting the appropriate image sizes for specific platforms. If you are a religious Instagrammer, you know Instagram posts are all SQUARE. And if you know the measurements, you are getting a virtual high five from me right now! If you are a hard core, guru status Instagrammer, then you know how to re-size your image to make it fit. There's also proper protocol when it comes to posting videos- make sure you’re posting high quality/resolution videos. It’s the absolute worst representation when your video is low resolution, the properties are off and it comes out FUZZY. Yikes.
DON’T BE SPAMMY
Posting too much can work against you. Don’t feel like you need to post something everyday for the sake of staying on the radar. It is better to skip a day than to post something that doesn’t present value to your followers. Always keep your target audience in mind when coming up with content. By posting too often, you can lose their attention. If using Facebook or Instagram, you can add to your stories for less pressing/exciting info. Don’t over saturate your followers feeds!
