6 Social Media Marketing Mistakes to Avoid | Social Media Virtual Assistant - Be Social Worldwide

6 Social Media Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

Filed Under Social Marketing

Social media has definitely become the cat’s pajamas when it comes to marketing strategies. Some might even say it’s the bee’s knees. But you might not be seeing the expected results you had hoped for. What’s the deal? It’s supposed to be one of the best, most affordable tools for any business to use when implementing a marketing campaign. So, why do your efforts seem to fall flat?

It’s very likely that you are guilty of committing some social media marketing no-nos. It happens to even the most stellar businesses, so don’t be discouraged.

Here is a list of some of the most common mistakes that businesses make when they start using social media in their marketing strategies.

#1 Failing to have a company website.

Social media is a valuable tool, but it doesn’t replace having your own website. Since you don’t own your social media pages, you have to follow their rules. They may decide to start charging fees that just don’t fit your budget, and then you’ll be left without an online presence. Your social networking should draw more customers to your own website so they can learn more about your products and services, and even make purchases through your site.

#2 Repeating yourself on Twitter.

When someone visits your Twitter page, the first thing they’ll see is what you’ve been tweeting. Having a long list of forty tweets that all say the same thing will drive down your credibility in a hurry. You may be promoting the same product or service, but change up what you say in your tweet. After all, you don’t call up your friends every hour to tell them the same thing over and over, do you?

#3 Constant spelling mistakes.

There will always be an occasional typo, and that’s forgivable. But repeatedly misspelling words will make you look less-than-professional. This goes for status updates, blogs and even tweets. To be on the safe side, type anything you want to post into a word processing document that will highlight any spelling mistakes so you can correct them ahead of time. It’s also not acceptable to use “text lingo” when you’re posting to your social media sites, so make sure you leave your “BRBs” and “OMGs” to quick text chats.

#4 Being too unprofessional on your personal site.

Online, there is a very thin line between your private life and your business life. Anyone who is interested in your company may want to look into the owners, employees, etc. They could search for your name online and be shown any personal social networking pages you have set up. If you have pictures of a girls’ night out posted for public viewing, it could reflect negatively on your professional persona.

#5 Spamming

Just because you take part in a wide variety of discussion groups and forums, doesn’t mean that it’s appropriate to self-promote within all of them. If you are involved in a discussion about lawn mowers, sure, go ahead and post a link about your home mower repair business. But don’t go into a forum about beauty tips and start plastering your links for article spinning software. You’ll be branded a “spammer” and lose credibility among fellow forum posters.

#6 Forgetting to measure your results.

If you don’t find a way to measure the impact your social media campaign is having, how do you even know its working? You may see an increase in followers and “likes” but how do you know that it’s really making a difference? You need to know that your followers are actually listening to what your saying, checking out the products you’re pitching, and looking into the services you offer. Find a system that works for you. You can measure the number of sales that result from referrals, how many visitors you have, and coupons used. Find what’s working and go with it. If something needs tweaking, you’ll find out what it is by analyzing your results.

Have you made some (or all) of these mistakes in your social media marketing? What changes have you made to improve your strategy? What have you found to work best for your business? We’d love to know, so share with us!

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