8 Mistakes Business Owners Make When Marketing on Social Media (And How You Can Avoid Them)

With all the social media platforms out there, there’s undoubtedly a sea of potential for us when it comes to picking up new leads and marketing our business.

But there’s something about social media that few business owners have picked up on. Something big.

And I’m hoping you haven’t missed the memo too…

Social media has to be leveraged the right way or you’ll see little to no results for new business.

None of us want to see our time and efforts wasted as we make “little” marketing mistakes that cost us hundreds of leads. So let me explain what these mistakes are and how we can avoid them.

Mistake #1-Your Content is Not Helpful or Relevant to Your Readers

The way in which we present ourselves on social media determines whether or not we become successful as we use those platforms for marketing outreach.

The common mistake here is posting content that is not relevant to your niche. And alongside that, posting content that is not helpful to your readers. It’s easy to fall into this routine when you don’t really have a true sense of who your target audience is.

Social media expert Erik Fisher and manager of Social Media Examiner shares his advice in regards to posting on Twitter. “Whatever your niche is, you need to find content that is relevant to it. Avoid sharing random stuff.”

Tips to Avoid This:

To assure your putting out relevant helpful content that your readers want, make sure you know the following:

1. Who your target readers are…

2. And what type of content that are looking for.

3. Create a buyer persona to enhance your content and tailor it to your specific audience.

Mistake #2- You Don’t Engage With Your Readers

A big no-no in the business world is not making an effort to connect with your prospects and current customers online when they reach out to you. And while it may not seem like a huge deal, engaging with your customers helps them to feel more connected to your brand.

Just as a brick and mortar company is required to provide excellent customer service and engage with prospects, it is also unacceptable for any company approached online to neglect to respond and engage with their prospects.

Yet, this happens often. And the way it reflects on your company is pretty bad. Many companies have no system in place for getting back to prospects in a timely manner.

If this is you, it’s time to change that…quick.

Tips to Avoid This:

So how can you better engage with your customers, clients or potential prospects? Well, the answer is actually not too difficult if we go back to the basics.

Here are some things you can do:

1. Take the time to interact with your customers and prospects by answering their questions thoroughly. If you give them a link or direct them to other external information (outside of your conversation), take a couple minutes to follow up and make sure they found what they were looking for.

2. If they take time to comment on how good your product or service is, don’t just respond with “thanks”. Most businesses do this. Be genuinely interested enough to ask why they love your product or service so much. Then thank them for buying from you. Always let them know you appreciate feedback on how you can improve your product or service. Be sure to mention how you accept the feedback (emails, surveys…).

3. Respond quickly to messages, comments, and replies from customers and prospects. The more time you take, the less valued they will feel. The indirect message you send to prospects by doing this is “You are not a priority to us”. Do you think that person is likely to do business with you? Not to mention become a long term faithful customer.

Mistake #3- Your Images are Not Attractive

While you may have images on your blog, they need to be high quality. If you have a Twitter account, you’ve noticed how fast the feed swallows up each post, there are hundreds (if not thousands of Tweets going out in every given moment).

Understand that your target readers are getting lots of information thrown at them at once. So you can image that if your images don’t stand out and draw in your readers quickly enough, they’ll just keep scrolling down the page…

Tips to Avoid This:

Make a committed effort to source out better images that will stand out to your target audience.

The images you use should speak well and go hand in hand with whatever your headline is. You want to make your reader feel something.

Just one example of this is from an article on ProBlogger.

Use your imagination and creativity to design something unique. Don’t be the blogger that writes the article and hurries to slap a quick photo on it in 10 minutes. If there’s one thing to keep in mind, quality beats quantity (every time). And your reputation is on the line here.

Mistake #4- You’re Not Consistently Active in Your Account

Okay, so this may seem small and rather petty. But it is noticeable to prospects and customers. If for some reason you only post on occasion, your audience begins to wonder why you are not active. The more you are active in your social media accounts, the more confidence your audience will have to trust in your brand and becoming a future customer.

No one wants to be loyal to a company that is here one day and gone tomorrow.

Tips to Avoid This:

It’s better to post at least 1x per day consistently as opposed to 5x per day for only 2-3 days per week. But ideally you want to post at least 5x per day on a regular basis. This will build more trust between you and your audience as they become more familiar with your brand.

Consider planning to post during the times that is has been proven to be more effective. For more information, read this article from Buffer which explains the optimal times you should be posting on social media.

Mistake #5- You Share Content that is Irrelevant to Your Industry/Niche

A common downfall is to think that posting LOTS of content will bring in LOTS of customers. That’s the thought for many. But if you’re making this mistake, you should stop. Here’s the reason:

When someone takes an interest in your brand, the first things they’re going to do is find out as much information about your company as possible (probably to see if you’re any better than your competitors).

Next, thier going to head over to your Facebook or Twitter profile to learn more. When they find messages that are inconsistent and irrelevant regarding what your company stands for, it’s a HUGE turn off.

Tips to Avoid This

When sharing anything on your social media profiles, think first about what your readers will appreciate and value. One of the most helpful things you can do to make sure you’re marketing strategy is on point is to create a buyer persona. Doing this will give you a good foundation to understand who your target audience is and what their problems really are. Once you understand this, you can create content that speaks their need directly.

Mistake #6- You Seek to Sell Before Genuinely Helping

Your social media marketing strategy simply won’t be effective if all you want is to sell without being of help to your prospects first. In this day and age, people are seeking out information. There is a lot of variety and choices that are involved with making a sound decision when it comes to buying.

What draws your readers in is surprisingly not when you talk about how great your products and services are, but actually when you help them. Many business don’t nurture their prospects and give them the information they need through the sales process.

Tips to Avoid This:

Always be willing to answer questions and help your prospects. Learning about sales funnels is an essential part to help you understand why prospects need their questions answered. A sales funnel is the process each prospect goes through when they are converted from a lead to a customer.

Content marketing is one of the best ways to position yourself to give your prospects the information they need to eventually be ready to buy from you. It also helps you to become a trusted source of information.

What’s the takeaway? Help inform your prospects and equip them with the tools and knowledge they need to make an informed decision.

Mistake #7- Your Visual Content is Too Predictable

Yes…I said it.

The visual content you put out is just too predictable. It’s okay to have some of the same types of photos every once in awhile, but it’s better to switch it up from time to time.

Donna Moritz of Socially Sorted gives us her thoughts on the topic. “Send fans down a rabbit hole of awesome visual content. Where will your visual content take them when they go behind the image?”

Coming up with fresh new ways to grab your reader’s attention goes a long way. Just like with anything, keeping your audience interested takes extra thought on your part, but you won’t regret it.

Tips to Avoid This:

Try sourcing better visual content that is higher quality than what you’re using now. If you’re already using high quality images, try using images that are slightly different than what you normally use.

Mistake #8- You have No Clear Marketing Plan

I’ve saved the best for last. If you don’t have a clear marketing plan that is documented, then it’s no wonder why you’re only hoping for results but not getting them.

Research continues to show that your chance of being successful in anything is far better if you have a plan. When you fail to plan, you miss out on the best results you can have for your business.

Tips to Avoid This:

It may not seem like a huge game changer, but trust me, it is. Something as small as social media does need a plan. If you plan your daily, weekly, and monthly goals you’ll be on your way to having more success with your social media marketing campaign.

Define your goals and be sure to write it down. Then focus on achieving those goals. If there is something you don’t know, learn about it. And stay focused on making sure that you throw out the things that aren’t working and start doing the things that are working.

To Sum up

We’ve covered some of the biggest mistakes businessness owners make when marketing on social media. Understanding what’s holding you back makes the difference in being able to move forward. If you’ve made these mistakes in your business, take the time to improve your marketing strategy by implementing these tips. It takes a little extra thought work, but you’ll be a few steps ahead of your competition.

Guest article written by: Ariel is a professional B2B digital marketing writer for hire. She uses her skills and ability to craft unique content that business owners use to attract new leads and gain customers. She writes highly targeted, data driven content that readers are hungry for. When she isn’t writing, you’ll find her with her 3 girls exploring the outdoors or sipping tea while reading a good book. Follow her on Twitter to learn more.