Social Media Mistakes To Avoid For Your Business

Common social media blunders every company makes

Social media is a key component of success in today’s world, and the majority of businesses are now investing a huge amount of time and money in order to thrive in this environment. It allows businesses both large and small to engage with current and new customers, whilst advertising new products directly to their news feeds. It all has to start somewhere though, and setting up a social media strategy is a very tough task. Mistakes will be made when it comes to social media, but here are the major ones to avoid.

Source: entrepreneur.com

No Policy

Social media can be a blessing for some, but also a disaster if a company goes in unprepared. One way to avoid silly errors at the start of your journey is to have a clearly structured social media policy in place.  A good policy should provide a detailed guideline for employees, and should tell them how to behave online, and this creates expectations, just as in the physical world. Without the relevant guidance, employees are more likely to commit blunders on social media, and dependent on the magnitude, these can often be difficult to recover from as it tarnishes the reputation of the whole company.

Posting too much

People will invest in your company in order to get updates on the likes of Twitter and Facebook, but they won’t like seeing their timelines being clogged up by the same person or business. Overloading someone’s social media pages is a great way of getting yourself unfollowed, and many businesses that use automated updates are at risk of doing this. The best way to succeed in this area is to designate a person who will update on behalf of the company, and spread the updates so they don’t overwhelm your followers.

Using too many platforms

Businesses often get so excited by the prospect of success via social media that they join every site going. This spreads resources way too thin for a social media strategy to be useful, and it’s a waste of effort investing in sites that won’t benefit the company. Research is required when looking at which platforms you will focus on, and the first thing to note is where your customer base is. Find out where potential customers are also, and target around 3 sites to invest in.

Source: phoenixpearse.com

Poor communication

Social media is a modern day form of communication, and this requires dialogue from at least two parties, so allow your customers to have their say. Social media is not just about advertising, but also engaging with current customers who wish to give you feedback. Social media presents an opportunity to humanise your brand in an ever-dehumanizing world, and this can go a long way to securing success online. If a social media page does not engage with its customers, it seems automated, and lifeless.

Quantity over quality

Seeing your followers rise in numbers is very rewarding, but just because you have a lot of followers doesn’t mean that will translate to sales. Social media is about catching the hot leads, so it is crucial to have quality followers who are genuinely interested in your business. Businesses that focus on the numbers will not get very far, and it’s the companies that build up a strong loyal following that will see profits in the long term.

It is important to avoid the above mistakes, as they are all very simple but drastic in consequences. Social media is easy, but small errors can be made that could collapse a whole company’s reputation with the click of a mouse.

Alex Smith

Alex is an English Literature and Sociology undergraduate whose love for written word has led him to write about some obscure topics in his time. Currently a content writer at Social Media Frontiers, be sure to follow him @AlexSatSMF.

Contact us on Twitter, on Facebook, or leave your comments below. To find out about social media training or management why not take a look at our website for more info http://socialmediacambridge.co.uk/.