9 Common Social Media Mistakes You’re Probably Making

🤔 Do you use social media for business?

✖ If you’re making these mistakes you’ve got to stop.

🎯 In this article, I’ll share 9 common social media mistakes and Actions you can take to overcome them.

👇 We’ve made a quick video to demonstrate how these mistakes would come across in real life. ?

MISTAKE #1 You use Auto DMs on Twitter

Automated Twitter direct messages are the devil! They’re annoying, impersonal and show your followers how much you don’t give a sh*t about them.

How about if you tell your followers that the DM is automated? That must solve this problem surely? No. The equivalent is telling someone you’re an idiot when you first meet them.

☑ ACTION

Turn off your Auto Twitter DMs!

MISTAKE #2 You use too much stock content and seem impersonal

I hope it’s not just me that’s noticed this, but have you seen when businesses go a bit overboard with stock images on social media?

You know the cringey generic photos of people in smart business wear looking way too happy?

I mean come on, look at these shady characters below…

☑ ACTION

Create your own photos/ images to use for social media promotion (it’s not that difficult)! Use shots of your team as a backdrop for an Instagram post. Take photos of your employees in action to use on your website etc. Get creative!

You should check out these tips on how to create epic images on your smartphone that get you noticed.

MISTAKE #3 You make stuff look pretty but have no clear strategy

If you post pretty pictures and videos on social media, will that help you sell your products and services? No. Well, maybe a tiny bit, but still no.

Posting pretty pictures can make you look cool, but if you have no clear social media strategy, using social media is a waste of time.

☑ ACTION

Develop your social media strategy. In the webinar below I show you how to do this.

MISTAKE #4 You pay someone £250 per month to manage your social media

No disrespect to people who charge £250 to manage your social media but…you get what you pay for.

Developing and executing a strategy that helps a customer achieve more than just ‘brand awareness’ takes more time, effort and resources than you think.

Pay a price that matches the results you want to achieve.

☑ ACTION

Read this article on how to avoid Digital Marketing Agencies that suck. The video below gives you a taster.

MISTAKE #5 You spray exactly the same content across all social media platforms

This is so common and I admit it…I used to do it! Posting exactly the same piece of content, in exactly the same way, across multiple social media platforms is bad for two reasons;

1. Your audience don’t want to keep seeing exactly the same content across platforms.

2. Each platform has different features and ‘ways of doing things’.

In simple terms, making this mistake will p*ss off your social media audiences.

☑ ACTION

Get to know which social platforms are right for your business and how to effectively use them and tailor the way you share content to fit the features of the platform.

Don’t jump on every social platform. Go all in on a handful and create tailored content for each.

How do you do this?

1. Consume educational content online

2. DO (take action)

3. Measure results

4. Evolve your strategy

5. Repeat

MISTAKE #6 You post too many external links

NEWSFLASH…when you include an external link in any social media post it will perform way worse than if you didn’t include the link.

Why?

Because social media platforms don’t want you to leave them. They punish you for trying to get other users to leave their precious platform to go to a website link you are sharing.

☑ ACTION

Share less links in your posts. Share more videos, images, text posts etc. that keep people within the social platform you are sharing content on.

These 21 tactics to build a killer personal brand share some creative ways to share content (that can be applied to businesses too).

I know this makes you squirm because you feel that your website traffic may decrease…but trust me, the benefits way outweigh the slight decrease in website traffic.

BONUS TIP

To improve the performance of a link post, create a ‘link taster video’ and post it natively when sharing the link. See examples below.

MISTAKE #7 You try and close (the sale) too early

If someone has spoken to you on social media, surely that’s a sign that they instantly want to buy your products and services? No, it’s not.

You need to form some kind of relationship with someone before trying to flog them your products or services. This applies online and offline. This takes time, don’t rush it.

☑ ACTION

Make sure the first 5 (minimum) touch points you have with a potential customer are nothing to do with selling your products or services.

These initial touch points need to focus on building a relationship and providing value.

MISTAKE #8 You’re sticking with the same strategies you’ve always used

Things change very quickly in the social media world. You need to change with them!

You need to evolve your strategy monthly, weekly, even daily!

☑ ACTION

🎯 Stay up to date with social media news.

🎯 Have a weekly and monthly meeting with your team to discuss how you will evolve your strategy based on the results you are achieving.

🎯 Consume educational content from people that are achieving significant results already.

MISTAKE #9 You Use Auto Comments on Instagram

I kind of feel like we’ve left the best ’til last. Well, most insanely annoying until last.

Similar to Auto Twitter DMs, Auto Instagram comments are the worst.

There’s no better way to look like an idiot than to use automated Instagram comments full stop.

☑ ACTION

Never EVER use automated Instagram comments.

Over To You

What social media mistakes have you seen in action that get on your nerves? Comment below!