10 Biggest Social Media Mistakes Businesses make and how to avoid them
It’s alright, we’ve all made mistakes
Let’s face it—social media can be overwhelming. Whether you’re a solopreneur or managing a large brand, there are so many things to juggle! Inconsistent posts, not responding to comments, or worse—posting blurry images (yikes!)—can make your social media presence off. Sound familiar? Don’t worry! Let’s break down some of the biggest mistakes in social media and how to steer clear from them. Trust me, your audience will thank you.
10 Biggest Social Media Mistakes Businesses Make
AND HOW TO AVOID THEM
1. Not Having a Clear Strategy
Posting on social media without a clear plan and strategy can lead to wasted efforts. You need defined goals, a target audience, and key metrics to track success. This ensures that every post serves a purpose and gets you closer to your marketing goal.
How to avoid it: Build a solid strategy for your business, come up with a content calendar, outline your goals (brand awareness, engagement, or sales), and consistently track analytics.
2. Inconsistent Posting
Going from posting five times in a week, to disappearing for a month. That’s the best way to lose followers and momentum.
How to fix it: Work on your strategy and content and set up a consistent posting schedule — then stick to it. Scheduling tools like Later or Gain App (which we love to use btw) can be your new BFF and help you stay on track.
3. Focusing Only on Promotion
Yes, promoting your products is important, but too much of it? Not cool. Constant promotion turns followers off. Your followers are on social media platforms for other reasons.
The Solution: Find a way to tell your story and create common ground with your audience. Mix it up with relatable, engaging content. Share tips, start conversations, or show behind-the-scenes content. Balance your content with the 20-80 rule. One in five posts can be about your offerings (products or services) or any current promotion.
4. Ignoring Video Content
Video is one of the most engaging content formats out there! Whether it’s Shorts, TikTok or Instagram Reels — video helps you tell stories that static images just can’t.
Don’t miss out: Start including video into your strategy ASAP. You don’t need fancy equipment—just a smartphone and good lighting.
Need some ideas…
What to share to your stories.
How to hook your audience with your reels.
5. Using the Wrong Image or Video Formats
Pixelated, blurry or cut-off images and videos make your brand look very unprofessional.
The fix: Don’t let your marketing efforts go to waste. Always check platform guidelines for image sizes and resolutions before posting.
Pro Tip: The square format is so 2014 — however not everyone has caught up to this just yet. You could stand out from your competitors by staying away from the typical 1:1 format (1080 x 1080 pixels). Sharing the 3:4 portrait size gives you the opportunity to fill up the entire screen.
6. Not Engaging with Followers
Post and done? We hate to break it to you, but social media isn’t a one-way street. Not responding to comments or messages makes your audience feel ignored.
Pro tip: Engagement is key! Whether it’s liking comments or answering questions, show your followers you’re paying attention. Create a strategy for your community engagement — including outbound and inbound strategies. Outbound community engagement means actively searching for your target audience and engaging with their content. A successful social media strategy will attract your target audience to your profile. Inbound community engagement means interacting with your followers on your social media profiles.
@shopbohemianmama is setting an example by leaving genuine words in the comment section of their target audience, as well as engaging on their own content with their followers.
Want to increase your user engagement? Try this interactive strategy.
7. Ignoring Negative Feedback
Negative comments? Yep, they sting. But pretending they don’t exist only makes things worse. If comments don’t just include constructive feedback and include cuss words, racial phrases or other abusive or vulgar sentences, we recommend deleting those and potentially blocking, restricting or reporting the user.
What to do: If you receive negative feedback — instead of deleting them, thank the users for taking their time to leave you feedback and address the issue professionally. This can be a great way to turn negative feedback into a chance to improve your brand.
8. Not Disclosing Paid Partnerships
Transparency is everything on social media. Not disclosing paid posts can destroy the trust of your audience.
How to avoid it: Be clear and specific about the partnership. Add a paid partnership label, invite the brand/influencer to be a collaborator on the post, or use hashtags like #advertisement or [Sponsored] to let your audience know when you’re working with a brand/influencer.
Lone Fox on TikTok utilizes the paid advertisement tool as well as disclosing #ad in the caption — a very transparent way to let viewers know about the partnership. Another way to disclose a paid ad is by collaborating on a piece of content along with using #ad in the caption, just like @seaglasswineco and @meganrayoflight do on their carousel post. Finally you could tag the brand/influencer in the post and mention them in the caption plus mentioning a paid collaboration.
Want to make sure your influencer campaigns are a success? Try these tips.
9. Ignoring Brand Identity
Your brand is defined by more than just a logo. Ignoring your brand colors, typography, voice and such can create an inconsistency in your content and overall brand. If your content feels out of place or inconsistent, you risk confusing your followers.
Solution: Study your brand guidelines and stick to your brand’s tone, colors, and style in every single piece of content.
Check your content for brand consistency with this guide.
10. Copying Competitors
It can be tempting to mimic what works for other brands, but this approach is not just risky but straight up wrong. You won’t be able to tell your brand’s unique story and message when copying competitors.
Pro tip: Focus on your strengths and showcase what makes your brand stand out.
READY TO STAND OUT AS A BRAND?
In the best way possible of course. It’s time to level up your social media game! Whether you’re guilty of one (or more) of these common social media mistakes, there’s no better time to make a change. Ready to take your online presence to the next level? Contact us at today!
Okay, we’re seriously curious. How many mistakes did you make? We won’t tell anyone. Pinky promise.