Are you making these 7 social media mistakes?

This post is a part of our digital audits series – a closer look at what it takes to improve your digital strategy.

Social media is hard to master without a solid strategy. After all, most social media success stories come down to strategic planning, not luck.

However, your strategy must provide room for growth in order to be successful in the long run. Social media evolves quickly; you’ve got to shake things up from year to year.

If your organization is stuck in a rut, do a social media audit ASAP. Below, we’ll fill you in on everything a good social media audit should examine.

Are you making any of these 7 social media mistakes?

You don’t know your target audience

First thing’s first: Do you actually know who you’re tweeting (or Facebooking, or Instagramming) for? If you want your audience to care about your social content, you’ve got to care about their interests, preferences, needs, and points of view. A solid target audience persona will help keep your audience top-of-mind, no matter what comes up. Believe us – your follower count will thank you.

Your content is boring

So you’re posting content you think your audience will enjoy, but you’re not getting any likes, shares or comments. What the heck?

Remind yourself of the basics of social media: Your tone should be conversational, you should include lots of visual content, and variety is key. Don’t forget to include multimedia like videos, quizzes, infographics and podcasts – audiences love interactive content.

Finally, take a look at your old posts; which ones performed best on each channel? Take note of any patterns or similarities, and use that knowledge to create more engaging posts in the future.

You haven’t established a visual brand

Social media is a super-visual medium. However, not just any visuals will do – you have to stay on-brand, especially on highly-curated platforms like Instagram.

Decide on a colour palette, use your brand’s fonts whenever possible and stick to only one or two photo filter options for consistency’s sake.

You’re posting at the wrong time

Social media really is all about timing. Though algorithms can help – or hinder – your posts’ visibility, you can take some control back by publishing at strategic times. According to HubSpot, these are the best times to post on each platform:

• Twitter: 9:00 a.m.
• Facebook: 9:00 a.m.
• Instagram: 5:00 p.m.
• LinkedIn: 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Some social media management platforms like Sprout Social can even detect the best times to post on a day-to-day basis – all you have to do is preload posts beforehand.

You’re paying for social ads, but they’re not helping

Social media advertising is a game-changing resource, but not all ad campaigns are created equal. There are so many steps that go into creating effective ads – think graphic design, persuasive copywriting, audience targeting, performance monitoring, and even comments management! If your social ads aren’t hitting the mark, it might be time to bring in an expert.

You’re using the wrong hashtags

Have you done your hashtag research? This is something many social media audits overlook – but it’s a big piece of the puzzle.

By using popular – but not oversaturated – hashtags, you can increase your organization’s social media reach and discoverability. Plus, creating a hashtag or two of your own is fun and can help build your brand in the long run. Sites like Hashtagify are great for discovering popular, relevant hashtags.

 

Social media is complex, and there’s a ton of room for error. If you find yourself making one too many social media mistakes, you can always reach out to us to get back on track.