15 Ways to

BY INKLYO.COM

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INTRODUCTION

You've accepted the importance of social media marketing for your business.

You've read all the statistics about the increasing value of social media for your

content marketing plan, and you've begun integrating social media into your

business strategy. Good for you! You're already in the game. While other people

are still trying to figure out how to tie their skates, you're out there doing laps

and taking practice shots. But how many of those shots are you missing?

INTRODUCTION

When it comes to social media marketing, there's a lot to learn. Between all the

various networking sites and blogs—not to mention other aspects of your

marketing plan—social media can be overwhelming. If you never learn the rules,

you're never going to have the competitive edge you need. So, because I know

you're eager to dazzle your loyal fans and prospective customers with your

newfound aptitude for social media, here are 15 marketing fails to avoid when

using social media marketing for your business.

#1. BRAGGING

Here's the thing: for one reason or another, your fans and

followers already like you. Maybe they want to keep an

eye out for promotions, maybe they've purchased from

you before and are big on brand loyalty, or maybe they

just like your blog posts. The bottom line here is that, in

some way, you've already won them over. So, unless

you're determined to change their minds, don't spend all

your time on social media bragging about how great your

company is. It's a big turnoff for your followers, 45% of

whom will probably unfollow you if you're too heavy on

the self-promotion.

#2. BEING ANTISOCIAL

It's in the name: social media. The whole point

is to reach out and create a community based

on your company or brand. Not being social on

social media is like holding a press conference

and refusing to answer any questions. Take

advantage of your social media accounts by

retweeting, sharing, and responding to your

followers.

Speaking of social media . . .

#3. TREATING SOCIAL MEDIA AS A SIDE PROJECT

Social media editors have borne the brunt of

many jokes over the past few years. You may

still think you don't need a person dedicated to

managing sites like Facebook, Twitter,

LinkedIn, and YouTube. Depending on the size

of your business, you may or may not be

correct; you may actually need several people

dedicated to your social media. The fact is,

social media marketing done right can lead to a

huge increase in conversions for your company.

Don't believe it? Here's some food for thought:

companies that generate more than 1,000 Likes

for their Facebook pages also tend to receive

approximately 1,400 website visits per day, and

approximately 46% of online visitors take social

media into account when they make purchase

decisions. Take advantage of social media by

investing time and money into your social media

strategy.

#4. INCONSISTENCY: A COPYWRITER’S NIGHTMARE

The copy on your social media

pages needs to be consistent with

your brand's voice. While you

may need to take a slightly

different approach to tweets than

you do to blog posts, your overall

tone needs to be consistent.

#5. IGNORING YOUR FOLLOWERS

Your social media followers aren't just interested in

what you have to say to them—they also want to be

able to communicate with you quickly and conveniently.

If someone asks you a question that you don't answer,

other followers will think you don't care about your

followers (and, by association, your customers). Take

the time to respond to both positive and negative

feedback. This may be especially important for negative

feedback; 25% of consumers who use social media to

complain about a product or experience expect a

response within one hour of that complaint.

#6. AUTOMATION GONE WRONGAutomation can be very helpful when you are

managing social media across several different

sites and platforms. However, as with

everything, automation in social media can go

too far. Make sure you have a human behind

your social media to avoid embarrassing

mishaps.

Naturally, the consequences of not measuring your social

media-related metrics are that you will never know whether

what you're doing is actually working. What you focus on

measuring will depend on what your social media goals are: are

you trying to drive traffic to your site, or are you trying to

improve your ROI directly? Whatever your goals, you need to

measure your social media metrics to see if you are achieving

them.

#7. NOT MEASURING

#8. TALKING THEIR EARS OFF

Written posts are great, but visual content is better. I'm not

saying you should trade all your blog posts in for videos,

photos, and infographics, but you should integrate some

visual content into your social media posts. If written

material is all you have to offer, your followers are going to

get bored.

Remember the golden rule: When in doubt, sleepy puppies.

#9. BEING OBLIVIOUS TO CURRENT EVENTS

As I mentioned before, automation can be great when

you're managing several social media accounts. Using

sites like Hootsuite to schedule your posts can save

you lots of time; however, you need to remain aware of

current events. There have been a few incidences of

unintentionally insensitive social media posts being

made by companies due to prescheduled posts, like this

one. If some terrible tragedy has occurred, a tweet

about your newest promotion or a funny dog meme will

very likely come off as distasteful.

#10. FORGETTING THAT PEOPLE BUY FROM PEOPLE

Computers are extremely advanced, but they

are not advanced enough to create content for

social media sites––only humans can do that. So

why are you emulating a robot in the copy on

your social media sites? Your followers like

seeing your human side. Tell some jokes, share

some insider info about your office, or share a

funny picture. Revealing the real people behind

your brand will likely garner you some new

(and human!) followers.

#11. REPEATING YOURSELF

Repurposing your content for different venues is good––

repeatedly reusing the exact same content is not. Don't

bombard your followers with the same content in the same

format. If you do, you're running the risk that 21% of those

followers will leave your social media page behind for good.

Repurposing your content for different venues is good––

repeatedly reusing the exact same content is not. Don't

bombard your followers with the same content in the same

format. If you do, you're running the risk that 21% of those

followers will leave your social media page behind for good.

#12. WINGINGITWhen we're talking about your personal Twitter account,

you’re totally free to "wing it." Fly by the seat of your

pants, go where the wind takes you, play it by ear––any

clichéd expression about not making plans will work. But

when it comes to your social media marketing, you need

to have a plan. Creating and following through with a

social media strategy will seriously improve the

effectiveness of your social media efforts.

#13. PROVIDING USELESS CONTENT

Content marketing is all about creating and

distributing quality content. You need to provide

your followers with information they will not

easily find elsewhere. This also includes the

content you share; if your social media pages

are a source of quality information on specific

topics, it won't matter if not all this material

was created by you. The hope here is that

other people are sharing your original content

on their social media sites too!

#14. BEING SLOPPY

Typos, grammatical errors, and punctuation mistakes are

never acceptable in your company's social media posts. If

you’re careless about the quality of your posts, you’re being

careless about the number of followers you have, which of

course means you are being careless about your company's

leads. If you need to invest in an editing service for your

social media posts, do it. Do whatever you need to ensure

that your posts are error-free.

Keep you’re sight error free!

site

-your

#15. NOT TAKING SOCIAL MEDIA SERIOUSLY

If this presentation has done nothing else, I hope it has

proved to you that social media marketing can and should be

an integral part of your company's marketing strategy. Your

social media presence needs to be taken seriously, and that

means avoiding gaffes like this. Avoid social media fails by

making sure your employees understand the importance of

your company's social media strategy.

Looking for more great marketing tips?

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