Social media marketing is constantly evolving. The strategies that worked six months ago may not work as well because the social platforms have changes, your audience has shifted, and Google has changed some of the rules of the game.
This infographic from Digital Marketing Philippines outlines basic mistakes to avoid. The infographic organizes the mistakes into eight categories.
Social Media Marketing Mistakes
1. Having no social media strategy
2. Creating accounts on too many platforms too soon
3. Paying for fake followers
4. Talking about nothing but the brand
5. Using irrelevant and excessive hashtags
6. Sharing too much in a short amount of time
7. Forgetting to proofread
8. Neglecting the "social" aspect of social media
The main message is that to be successful on social media, you need to have a plan and an idea of what you want to accomplish. Posting willy-nilly isn't going to get you customers. You need to connect to real people on social media and that requires a social media presence that serves their needs, not just yours. And you need to create a social media presence that you can actually sustain over the long run, because reaching your marketing goals will take a while.
"Paying for fake followers and neglecting the social aspects show that newer marketers don't understand why they're running social campaigns in the first place," writes Kimberlee Morrison on the Social Times. "Interactivity is the whole point, and if your account looks like a corporate bot, you'll never cultivate brand advocates."
For me, the most helpful reminder here is that we often neglect the "social" aspect of social media. It's true. How often have you tweeted at a person or a company and not got a response? How did that make you feel about the interaction? Ignored? Undervalued?
I have a friend who opened a bakery last year. For a while, the bakery didn't have a sign on the outside, but whenever anyone tweeted a photograph of the bakery (which is beautifully designed), my friend would retweet it and send a response. Same with Instagram. Soon everyone in Columbus, Ohio, knew about the bakery. And more and more people where tweeting photographs of themselves there. In this case, she didn't even need to create her own content, she just had to be social, which made her customers feel appreciated and seen.
Being social on your social networks is time consuming, but it is a must.
"These mistakes indicate a number of underlying problems that underlie the approach of new marketers," writes Morrison. "Signing up to too many accounts, using excessive hashtags, and only posting about the brand could indicate that a marketer is simply operating by a checklist gleaned from tip lists, or articles about the hottest social networks."
Check out this infographic. It's especially helpful for newbies, but it can be a helpful reminder for those of us who've been in the social space for a while.