In this day and age, understanding social media is critical to a creative’s success. Bloggers need to put serious thought into their online presence because it’s a huge part, if not all, of their marketing strategy. Unfortunately, too many commit virtual sins, which brings us to today’s post. For our latest, we’ll be discussing 5 of the most common social media mistakes people make online.
1. You beg for follows.
Asking for a follow for follow is seriously annoying, and it’s a lose-lose situation because you’ll either turn potential fans off or inflate your numbers with users who don’t care about you at all. Instead, engage with people by liking their photos and leaving genuine comments. If you have quality content that they’re interested in, they’ll most likely give you a follow after checking out your bomb feed.
2. You spam your followers.
This varies from platform to platform, but you’re pretty much begging for an unfollow if you’re constantly updating. Instead, schedule your content strategically using programs like TweetDeck, Plann, and CoSchedule to space everything out effectively. It’ll keep you sane and your fans happy! Here are my recommendations; 1-2 posts a day MAX for instagram, facebook, and google+ and 5-10 tweets on twitter.
3. You only talk about yourself.
Yes, you want to promote your awesome content, but you should never talk AT your following aka have one-sided conversations. Share your news but also post relevant content that interests your audience! Remember, your goal is to provide value and enrich their lives in some way, shape or form. On a related note, if you ask your followers questions, take the time to respond and try to keep the conversation going! Engagement’s a two-way street so you need to put in effort to stay connected.
4. You use a bunch of random hashtags.
I don’t care how popular they are, if they’re irrelevant, you should NOT be using them. You’ll look ridiculous, and your content will scream spam. Instead, use 2-3 (on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) that’ll help potential readers discover your account/s. I don’t recommend using more on the first two platforms but definitely take advantage of the full 30 on Instagram. Use 2-3 in your caption and add the rest as a comment underneath your photo.
5. You post at crappy times.
Your blast may be cool as hell, but no one’s going to see it if you share it at the wrong time. Figure out WHEN your following is most active and update accordingly. Experiment with different days and times to maximize engagement! Think of your target audience, and put yourself in their shoes. When would they be browsing instagram or [insert social media platform of your choice]? And on that note, take advantage of your analytics because that information will help you fine tune your social media strategy.
Great tips! I definitely agree with these common social media especially the last one.
This was such a great list. I happen to agree with everything you suggested. Especially not talking at your audience. It’s so easy to accidentally do it, but you are so right communicating is a two way street. Great post!! Loved reading it!!
Angela