Today we live in a world where everything is connected digitally. This digital world has given rise to the age of social media. Social media sites helps us to stay connected with our clients and allow us to form long term relationships with them. These sites allow us to access new opportunities and meet new people.
Many small businesses have started using social media for their daily business activities but most of them commit such silly mistakes while making their social media plans which can prove to be dangerous for their businesses. Such mistakes can be disheartening and frustrating.
So, without wasting any time let’s have a look at 6 mistakes that small businesses commit while using social media.
6 mistakes to avoid while using social media
Exploring all social media sites
We have access to a lot of social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest etc but it is not compulsory to use each and every site for your business. You should choose a social site according to your business need. For example, Naukri.com will only use LinkedIn to post job offers as LinkedIn is a business/professional site. It will be stupid to use Facebook or Instagram for the same. Also, many businesses don’t even require the use of social sites. You need to carefully decide whether you require the use of social sites or not.
Posting without an objective
Every business does a regular posting on social sites but posting without an objective will not fetch you good results. You should always make a social media plan which involves a specific form of content that will help to achieve your goals. Your objective can vary between planning to inform, educate or entertain your audience.
Ignoring analytics
This is the common mistake that many business owners make. I don’t know why but many people just ignore social media analytics. They just do a regular posting on social sites and forget to check the insights. This is wrong. You should always check the likes/comments/followers on your postings as this can help you to change your social media plans and try to achieve better results.
Incomplete contact information
Most people forget to update their business contact information on social sites. This can be very annoying for your followers they as can’t contact you even if they want to. Due to this, your potential customers switch over to your competitors. This can be harmful or your business (less sales). So, make sure to update your business contact information on all social media platforms (the ones you use).
Cross posting
To avoid extra work, many startups post the same content on all social sites. This is not wrong from the point of view of startups but if we think from the point of view of followers, they have to see the same post on all social sites (If in case the person is following your business on all social sites). We all know how easily a person can get bored by seeing the same post everywhere. The excitement that your business may have created in your follower’s mind may get depleted by reading the same posts again and again. Also, it is not necessary that if one post worked on Facebook that same post will work on Twitter as well. So, it’s always recommended to use different posts for different social sites. For example, if your company is launching a digital marketing course, then you should put a separate post on Facebook and a separate post on LinkedIn. This is because Facebook and LinkedIn both are different audiences and you have to prepare different content to target each audience.
No interaction with your followers
Many entrepreneurs fail to interact with their fans. They just do a regular posting on social sites and avoid/forget to interact with their followers. This may create a negative impression regarding your business in the minds of your fans. I know you are very busy and it is not possible to give an immediate reply to your fans but you can make sure to give them a reply whenever you have free time. Whether it is Instagram or Twitter or any other social site, it is always polite to give a reply to your fans. Doing so will make your fans feel important and valuable.
Marketing on social media can give you amazing results only if it is done properly. So, make sure to avoid the above-mentioned mistakes to enjoy the complete success of marketing on social platforms.