The Pitfalls Businesses Need To Avoid On Social Media

Digital marketing has come a long way in the last few years. From something that was a nice addition to your marketing strategy, we’ve reached the point where having a social media presence for your business is a necessity. However, while most small and medium businesses (thankfully) avoid creating a social media presence for the sake of it, there are other traps that they fall into instead. Here are a list of the most common problems.

Taking On Too Much

One of the biggest mistakes that SME’s make when they’re creating profiles is that they take on too much and try and cram it into what’s already a hectic schedule. The temptation to keep up with all the latest trends and any new sites that emerge is great and one that can’t be helped. After all, we don’t want to look like we’re behind or out of touch with what people are using.

It’s all well and good that you have a Facebook page and a Twitter profile, but do you also need a LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and Instagram profile on top of that as well? This is the question most of us answer by creating new profiles in a bid to stay relevant and to show we’re on top of things.

However, that can mean we spread ourselves too thin and ultimately create profiles that are rarely updated. Sometimes this can either make you look uninterested or lazy, but even if this isn’t the case, you may end up getting stressed out as you try to update all your profiles regularly and keep them active.

How Do You Solve This?
There are two ways to make this work to your advantage. The first is to cross-post content. Certain types of content work better on specific sites. For example, images are the most popular type of content posted on Facebook so if you’re updating regularly on Instagram, then post your images on Facebook. If you’re using Twitter regularly, why not post a link to content from your LinkedIn page and so on.

While there are tools which allow you to cross post automatically, it’s usually better to post them manually since followers are less likely to click on automated posts, as there’s no personality behind them.

If that’s too much, sometimes it’s better to cut your losses and get rid of the profiles that you’re no longer using. If you’re worried about losing your Twitter handle or unique URL, remember that a lot of accounts don’t necessarily use handles that have their official title.

Using The One Profile For Both Professional & Personal

We should stress that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with doing this, and since this is becoming a more common occurrence on Twitter, it’s easy to see why it’s becoming popular. Managing one main account is certainly easier than updating two different accounts, combining them means you can give your brand personality, which will allow your followers to better relate to you, and a more casual approach will make your feed more enjoyable to follow.

However, there are certain dangers to using this approach, mainly that if you say or post something that could be deemed as controversial, this will not only reflect badly on you, but your business will take a hit as well since they’re both one and the same.

How Do You Solve This?
As mentioned, common sense is paramount here. While you should definitely keep your personality apparent in your tweets, you should be wary of what you’re posting. Most of the time, this won’t apply as we post links to articles or converse with people, but if it’s something controversial or could be deemed as edgy, you’ll need to take into consideration how it will be received by followers.

In the case of Twitter, if you do post something that could get a negative response – if it’s something that could be misinterpreted – make sure you take a second or third tweet to explain the context behind that tweet. While it’s a great place for snappy messages, that very strength means that Twitter isn’t suited to opinions that are more complex than 140 characters.

And if you’re ever in doubt about how something will be received, don’t post it.

Focusing On The One Metric

Let’s be honest, we’ve all been guilty of this at one point or another. While it’s nice to have x amount of people following our page, have 100 people comment on a post, or see so many users retweet and favourite something we posted, we can end up becoming too focused on these metrics and not seeing the bigger picture. While they’re nice achievements, focusing on one metric only provides you with one piece of the puzzle and doesn’t give you a clear picture of why people are visiting or how they’re being converted.

This also applies to websites in general, getting so many unique page views are great, but it doesn’t tell you how people are arriving to your site or what they’re looking for.

How Do You Solve This?
Look at your business and identify five metrics (social media and website) that are important to your business’ success. When you’ve picked them, look at the metrics that each of them are connected with and how they tie into your overall goals. There will be overlapping (which is what you want) and you’ll see which metrics are useful to you.

Not Planning How To Convert Engagement Into Business

Tying in with the last point, one of the great buzzwords thrown about in social media is ‘engagement’. While it’s great that people are liking and commenting on your Facebook posts, is it leading to anything substantial for your business? People probably are engaging with your content, but this audience isn’t just going to decide one day that they want to avail of your goods or services, a tiny percentage will, but the rest of them will be indifferent. Engagement is part of the process and is not a means to an end.

How Do You Solve This?
While getting people to engage with your content is half the battle, you will need to include content that will direct said audience to your services. Posting specific company updates, deals or offers every once in a while is a good thing to do, just don’t go from one extreme to the other.

Posting Only Company Updates

Do we really need to explain why this is a bad idea? If people feel that following your account will only result in posts trying to sell them goods, then they’re going to opt out very quickly. People don’t like being forced to do things or constantly having stuff sold to them, so you need to find a balance between serving their interests and yours.

How Do You Solve This?
Adapt a content ratio that keeps your audience interested while also serving the needs of your business. Depending on how many times you post, 5:1 is a decent way to start off. That is content in favour of your audience’s interest over your own company updates.

Thinking One Size Fits All

Conventional wisdom states that every business should have a Facebook and Twitter account. While there are a lot of positives behind each choice, not all businesses are built the same way and therefore, different sites will suit better than others. Just because a site is popular doesn’t mean that the type of interaction you will find there are suited to your company’s goals. Each site has different strengths and weaknesses so it’s definitely worth considering which ones to prioritise.

How Do You Solve This?
Identify what your business wants to achieve, what type of audience you’re looking to connect with and which social media sites tie in with these goals. Focus on the two most important sites first and develop them before you decide to add another one to the equation.