Wondering why your social media presence isn’t producing the results that you expected?
Here are the top 8 social media mistakes that I see and hear business owners making on a regular basis.
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Social media mistake 1:
Not engaging regularly
I think this is the biggest mistake I see business owners make. I often hear them say that their engagement is down and when I ask them if they’re engaging on their page and with other accounts, they say no.
I’ll say this once. You need to be engaging on a daily basis.
If you don’t have the time, the reduce the number of posts you’re creating and spend that time engaging.
Wondering how you go about engaging? The key here is to be doing it in an authentic way. Contribute to the conversation. Reply to questions that the poster or other commenters are asking. Reply to all comments left on your page and yes, even the ones from bots.
It can seem daunting when starting a business, there are so many things that need to be done. Start by committing to spending at least 15 minutes a day with the sole purpose of engaging. Like all things in business, it’s about consistently doing the work needed to move the business forward.
Social media mistake 2:
Not creating a plan and sticking to it
There’s no point just posting on social media because you think you should and everyone else’s doing it.
There’s so much more to it than that!
When working with businesses, I work out how they can use social media to grow their business and increase their revenue. Every business needs to have systems in place to make that happen in an effective and smooth way.
Don’t be that business that just posts willy nilly without direction or purpose. I know that every post I create has a reason behind it and serves a greater purpose than just needing to post because I haven’t posted for 2 days.
Sit down and figure out our goals, a content calendar and figure out how your posts will help you get closer to your goals.
Recommended resources for social media:
Infamous to Influential – Alex’s knowledge of Instagram is amazing!
Get Pinned Academy – for Pinterest growth and strategies
Social media mistake 3:
Worrying too much about THE number
I’m talking about followers. Yes, we’d all love to grow our accounts and see our followers grow but don’t focus solely on it. When you give value to your audience and engage, you will see growth.
I hear so much about ‘strategies’ to grow the number and you know what? I call bullshit.
Is the number going to increase the bottom line in your business? Maybe but probably not. What’s going to generate an income in your business is to build trust and authority with your audience, then converting them to customers. It’s no surprise that this will take time. You will also need to have systems in place to capture leads and move the viewer over to your website. If that’s not happening, I don’t see much value in just a larger following.
Social media mistake 4:
Being impatient
Building an audience and a successful business takes time. We all hear about ‘overnight successes’ but most of the time when you dig a bit deeper, you will realise that they’ve been plugging away at it just like you are. Remember that everyone started at the beginning. They too opened an Instagram account with 0 posts and 0 followers.
We all then learn along the way. We find out what works for our own businesses and what doesn’t. We then do more of what does and less of what doesn’t. Let’s all do ourselves a favour and stop comparing our beginning to someone’s middle. Focus on what you’re doing, focus on providing the best that you can for your audience and watch your business grow steadily.
Social media mistake 5:
Not creating quality content
I’m sure you’ve heard it a million times before but please practice quality over quantity. Take the time to plan out your posts and to make each one count. Each post should achieve a purpose, whether that’s building trust, building authority, building your email list, driving traffic to your website, driving engagement or generating sales.
There are times when you feel like there’s nothing to post about. To combat this, I create a running list of quotes, resources and other bits and bobs that I think my audience will benefit from. I have it in my notes section and when I’m struggling for ideas, I refer back to it and get cracking on creating posts.
When we talk about quality content, I’m referring to both the image and copy. They are both so important! I hear so often that business owners say that they aren’t able to create great images for their social media. I highly recommend that you get a professional photo shoot. If you don’t have the funds available for that then I usually suggest that you start collecting clothing and props that align with your branding and batch some photos yourself. Get familiar with your camera and Lightroom and you’ll be on your way. It can seem daunting in the beginning but you will get better at it. You’ll start to figure out what works and what doesn’t and then focus on what works.
As for the copy, I know from experience (both from a content consumer and producer) that the best performing posts are ones that are able to achieve what you set out to do but intertwined into a story. Everyone loves and a good story and it gives your audience a way to get to know and trust you even more.
Social media mistake 6:
Spreading themselves too thin
There’s a myth out there that you need to be everywhere, all of the time. I don’t buy into it. Your business will perform better if you’re more committed to one or two platforms rather than trying to spread yourself across 3,4 or 5 platforms.
Each business is unique in what performs better with your audience so you will need to have a play around. The other pointer that I usually give business owners is to choose platforms that they enjoy being on. If you’re happy to be there, you will naturally be more social and interact with other accounts. Not a surprise really!
The platforms that I recommend starting with are Facebook or Instagram and Pinterest(Pinterest is technically a search engine but I’m including it here). Since blogging, I’ve really realised the power of Pinterest so I now strongly recommend that business owners create an account and start sharing their, and others, posts. After that, pick either Facebook or Instagram and commit to it.
Social media mistake 7:
They give up too early
This one breaks my heart.
I have also been there though. I understand why people give up early. In the beginning, it can feel like you’re talking to a brick wall. It gets disheartening quickly!
Like I mentioned before though, every account started with 0 followers. Most people will know what you’re feeling. On the flip side, the accounts that you admire pushed through that feeling and kept consistently showing up and providing value with their audience. With commitment and persistence, they were able to grow their large following and build up their engagement.
When you have that feeling arise, give yourself a pep talk and show up the next day and keep plugging away at it.
Social media mistake 8:
Not learning how to create beautiful graphics
We can’t all be graphic designers but there’s no reason you can’t create your own branded images to use on social media.
When I come across an account that has obviously invested the time (or money and outsourced it) into creating great graphics, I’m more inclined to follow them. Maybe I’m superficial, maybe I just love seeing great graphics. I don’t know. Either way, it makes my heart sing when I see a beautifully laid out and planned feed.
There are ways to create graphics, even without a design background. You can purchase templates from Creative Market and edit them in Canva. You can use the paid version of Canva so you can use your own fonts in your graphics or you can learn how to use Illustrator (this is my personal favourite!). Whatever you do, sit down and create them in bulk, it will save you so much time.
There you have it, the top 8 social media mistakes that I see business owners making on a regular basis. I hope that helps to give you some insight into how you can make social media work harder for your business!