5 Common Social Media Mishaps To Avoid
Whether you’re an established business or trying to gain some footing in the social media realm to extend your brand reach, there are various ways to shine online. From growing your followers organically, to sharing content that both excites and teaches, social media is the gold standard for customer engagement for the foreseeable future. Although we’ve all learned some best practices along the way that we’ve implemented in our own social media strategies, there are a variety of ways we could be shooting ourselves in the foot. Social media mishaps are common; avoiding said mishaps are key to creating brand loyalty and trust with your target audience.
If we’re being honest here, a hiccup now and then is not going to derail your business plans. After all, we are human and mistakes are in our blood, but slacking in the social media world can lead to big mistakes if you’re not putting in the time and effort to continually learn and implement best practices while growing online.
We’ve compiled a list of mishaps to steer clear of when it comes to social media presence. Trust us, you don’t want to fall victim to these big no-no’s. Check out our list below.
1. Thinking your posts are for everyone.
Knowing your tribe is everything. Your products and services are not for everyone in the entire world and that’s okay. Your target audience is exactly how it sounds- a group of people that find value in what you offer. They are the people you want to target based on their shopping trends, life goals, business plans, and emotional connection to a specific product or service. Marketing for anyone will often have you fall short to everyone. If you have a solid understanding of who you want to market to, tailor your marketing plans to meet them where they are.
Whether or not you think you know your target audience well, consider questions that foster a sense of community and understanding for your business, such as:
What social media platforms does my target audience use?
What tone of voice is most appealing and appropriate for the community I want to build?
What emotional connection do my current customers have to my brand? Products? Services?
What does my ideal target audience believe in? Follow? Love?
What can I do now to gain more traction for my business going forward?
Can I lean on my current brand community to help me build my future community?
Having a solid understanding of exactly who you want to target is key to creating posts with high engagement levels on a consistent basis.
2. Posting too often.
Social media exhaustion is real. Posting too often can be a turn-off to your community, even if they already have a sense of loyalty to your brand. We’ve all experienced a certain level of posting exhaustion in our online lifetime. Whether from your cousin across the country or a mutual friend down the street, we all know people who post TOO much. Don’t be that person. Analyze your social media post trends and update your plan accordingly.
Ask yourself:
When is my target audience most likely to see my post?
What days and times have my posts hit the highest engagement levels?
Where do I find myself falling short on post-engagement?
Another factor to consider is where you are posting. Daily feed posts may feel too heavy for your audience, but you have high engagement on stories, lives, or reels. Switch up your plan throughout the week to keep your current and future followers engaged. Finding a happy medium is key to staying on their mind without driving them mad.
3. Forgetting about your communities and your replies.
There may be nothing worse than excitedly replying to your favorite brand or influencer on their specific engagement post and having them ghost you. Eek!
Our point? Don’t forget to reply to your community. Engagement is a two-way street. Although your posts are meant to inform and entertain them, their replies and direct engagement add a level of substance to your brand and your community. Set aside time each day to reply to comments on your posts and DMs to their business account. You don’t have to spend countless hours replying to every single item, but genuinely engage with your community, they will appreciate it more than you know.
4. Hiding your team behind the screen.
People want to know you and your team. Although your social posts may be on-brand and beautiful to look at, your followers want to see your faces too. Plan at least one post a week to highlight a member of your team or share a fun video of a behind-the-scenes look at the real you. Followers want to feel a deep connection to the faces behind the brand, so don't disappoint them by being too robotic or hidden. Bonus? Your team will appreciate the shoutout and intimate connection, too.
5. Sharing invalid information.
Fact check then double check before sharing. Yeah, it sounds excessive, but we promise it could save you a whole lot of headaches and embarrassment. Sharing invalid or incorrect information seems to travel faster than the truth sometimes. Do you notice that too? Whether you’re sharing statistics, crediting a particular source, or highlighting a random fun fact, always make sure what you’re sharing is true before going live with the information. Your community will trust you more than ever if they know they can go to you for the latest, factual details.
If you’re looking to up your social media game or need some help to recover from (or avoid) social media mishaps, our team at Bubbly Creative can help. As a Massachusetts Digital Marketing Agency, we are here to educate you through the process of growing your business and making your social media content pop. Send us a note, we would love to hear from you and get you on the road to the most wonderful social media platforms yet, tailored to your business.
