Social media marketing is a huge asset to businesses, brands, and organizations of all kinds. You can reach new users, build up loyal and engaged followings, and continually connect with your target audience without needing to pay a dime. It’s free, there’s not really a learning curve involved, and it’s easy to get started whenever you’re ready.
As someone who has worked as a social media practitioner for years, it always makes me sad when I see that most brands struggle to get the results they need because they’re not leveraging social platforms correctly. This happens much more often than you’d think, even from brands with a loyal customer base.
While there are a few brands that really step outside the box, most are making the same common mistakes over and over again. And though a small mistake like failing to optimize your content might not seem important, it can actually impact you long-term.
In this post, we’re going to look at 7 social media mistakes that all brands should avoid to see better results in their social media strategy and marketing campaigns.
1. Not Using Original Visuals
There’s always a time and place to repurpose existing content on social media, but it’s a huge mistake when brands rely on this entirely. You need to be creating your own original content too.
Images are important. Platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube actually require an image or video to even create a post at all, and even those that don’t still see major increases in engagement from visual posts. Posting original content can increase the likelihood of shares from other users, and also helps you understand the type of images that your audience will respond to.
For example, Zapier posts engaging, original graphics that provide valuable information to their followers. These images also encourage viewers to check out their website and the services they offer.
Images like this are easy to create with free design tools like Snappa. You can choose a simple background or a stock photo, and then add text, logo images, and other design elements as you see fit.
2. Using Only One Type of Image
This is another mistake that we see happening over and over again. I’ve worked with so many clients who only want to share product pictures on their social media, but this is an enormous wasted opportunity.
Audiences like to see diverse content. It keeps things interesting, which helps keep their attention. Otherwise, they might get bored as all the images start to blend together.
Try switching things up to keep your posts engaging and relevant. If you’re having trouble coming up with new content ideas, check out our article on 8 types of social media marketing images for some inspiration.
Product pictures, for example, are great for promoting sales. But sharing UGC posts can be even more effective at building consumer trust and driving conversions. Quote posts, behind-the-scenes content, and team photos can also help you develop a deeper connection with your audience.
3. Neglecting to Optimize Your Posts for Each Platform
The content you share on your Instagram Stories will hopefully be very different from what you’re posting on LinkedIn. Each social media platform requires different image sizes and content formats, which is why it’s crucial that you optimize your posts for each platform.
To avoid this social media mistake, Snappa has pre-sized templates for top social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, and more. You’ll get a diverse selection of customizable images to use that are already optimized to the correct size and visual format.
4. Not Understanding How the Algorithms Work
Most platforms use algorithms to determine the type of content that is shown on individual user feeds. If you don’t understand the algorithms, you can’t optimize for them.
We don’t know the exact formulas for each individual algorithm, but most take the following factors into account:
- How often your audience responds to your content on average; users who interact most are more likely to see content from you moving forward.
- Current engagement on a post. Content that gets a ton of likes early on is perceived as high-engaging, and typically gets a bump in the algorithm.
- How recent the post was. The time you post does impact performance, so stay up-to-date with peak posting times.
- Relevance. If users regularly interact with instructional cooking videos on one platform, that platform is more likely to prioritize similar content in their feed.
- Timeliness. We’re specifically looking at factors like real-time, live streams. Live streams are often prioritized in visibility on platforms that offer them.
Learn about each individual platform that you’re using and how their algorithm works. On Facebook, for example, starting a branded group is the way to go, as group content is prioritized in the algorithm and loved by group members.
You can get a rough overview of how different algorithms work based on platform here:
5. Having an Incomplete Profile
It absolutely guts me when I see a great brand struggling on social media because their profiles aren’t fully filled out or optimized. As far as social media mistakes go, this is a pretty common one, but it’s also an easy fix.
Take advantage of every opportunity to share more information about your brand, sprinkling in keywords that you think your audience might use to find brands like yours. Many brands forget to include bios, header images, website links, brand descriptions, and connections in their social media profiles. It’s almost baffling how little information some brands share.
For even better results, you can share your contact information, brand missions, USP, operational hours, and any relevant information you think your audience might need. It’s important to invest in your social media branding from the start.
6. Failing to Engage with Your Audience Regularly
Social media marketing is meant to be social. That’s what makes it so powerful and effective. Think of it more as a relationship-building tool than a direct sales platform.
Make sure to actively engage with your followers on every platform you’re on. This means watching for comments, questions, and messages on public and private posts. Respond as promptly as you can, ideally within 24 hours, and as thoroughly as possible. If needed, let users know where they can go to find more information or have an issue resolved by your customer support team.
Community management is one of the most difficult parts of social media marketing as your followings grow. Social media management tools can help by allowing you to manage all your platforms from one dashboard. You’ll be alerted to every message so you can respond quickly without having a million tabs open.
Remember that if questions and comments go unanswered, it will look like your customer service isn’t where it should be. You could lose potential sales and opportunities, so don’t let this happen to you!
7. Not Creating a Content Schedule in Advance
Your social media marketing should be strategic and intentional. Setting up a content schedule in advance can help keep you on track with your strategy.
It’s difficult to come up with great content day after day, so a tried-and-true trick is to sit down a few days before the beginning of the month and map out a rough schedule.
Start with what you know you need to prioritize. You may have an in-store event coming up in three weeks, and want to share two posts per week on each platform to encourage attendance and get people excited. Drop those into the calendar first. Then you’ll want to make it a point to share UGC at least once a week, and link to resources like blog posts or lead magnets.
Even with the majority of your content schedule filled out in advance, there’s still room to change things around if needed. This is meant to be a resource instead of an inflexible mandate.
I strongly recommend using social media management software like Buffer, Hootsuite, and Agorapulse for this purpose. These tools let you schedule entire posts in advance, including adding pictures, hashtags, and links. You can easily reschedule content later if needed, but it’s helpful to have everything done beforehand so nothing gets missed when you get busy.
Final Thoughts
Social media marketing is relatively straightforward once you’ve got a strategy in place and know which common mistakes to avoid. These 7 social media mistakes can seriously impact your campaigns if you make them, potentially turning away customers and sales.
Remember that your social media profiles may be one of the first touch points potential customers have with your business, so you need to make sure that you’re creating a powerful first impression. We believe this starts with your images, which is the first thing that users notice, so start your free trial with Snappa today to give your profiles a visual upgrade!
