Over the last decade, social media marketing has become a key branch of the marketing world, and almost every business or brand has some sort of presence on a platform. With what seems like endless “expert advice” and strategies changing at light-speed, its easy for businesses to fall behind and make mistakes. Here are 8 common social media mistakes that brands might not even be aware they are making!

Pick Your Platform

These days, businesses and brands have a plethora of social media platforms to choose from, and trying to manage all of them can backfire. The best practice is to pick the few that best reach your intended audience and stick with those platforms. At the end of the day, it’s all about quality over quantity.

Track Your Results

Tracking the results of your content is crucial in pin pointing when and where exactly your content should be posting. Almost every platform, excluding Snap, has some sort of analytics component to helps brands track the efforts of their work. The bottom line, all of your efforts could be going to waste if you don’t consistently measure your social media.

Post Too Little? Post Too Much?

There is a balance between the frequency in which businesses and organizations should post their content. Too much and followers can become turned off; too little and they wonder where you are. How much brands should post is debatable, but the list below will give businesses a good idea where to start:

•  Facebook: 1-2 times/day
•  Twitter: 5-6 times/day
•  Instagram: 1-3 times/day (depending on your business)
•  LinkedIn Company Page: 3-5 times/week

Get the Message Right!

A clear and concise message is where some marketers and businesses can fall short. One of the main reasons social media marketing works is that it’s a way for brands to connect with their audience, educate and bring awareness to themselves in an informal setting. Too sales-pitchy can be off putting and not taking the time to a build a relationship with your followers can be detrimental.

Have A Call To Action in place

Following a clear message, companies should also include some sort of Call To Action, or CTA. This can be as simple as encouraging users to comment, like, re-tweet or share.

Fake Followers

As of late, many social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram have been clearing out fake followers. While buying fans may seem like a good idea, and an easy way to boost your brand, companies should beware this “get rich quick” practice. If authentic users catch on that your followers are fake, you will instantly lose credibility and some platforms may revoke your profile.

Keeping Up to Date with Trends

Falling behind on the latest social media trends can hold companies back from reaching the audience they want. Rules, algorithms, aesthetics, regulations, these change quite quickly over time because social media is ever evolving. What worked a few years ago is most likely not going to work in 2017.

Attempting to Do It All

The biggest mistake small businesses and brands make is attempting to manage their entire social media presence themselves. This is where the biggest mistakes are made and items fall through the cracks. If you can’t designate an in-house team, hire an agency or strategist (like Top Shelf Digital & Social Media Marketing!) to help manage your presence and platforms.

All the items and practices mentioned are simple and easy to fix problems if companies and brands take the time to hone their social media marketing strategies. No practice is perfect and there will be learning along the way, but one thing is for sure, social media marketing is here to stay.