Organic social media is not all fun, games and engagement - trust us. There is also a fair share of mistakes even the most notable brands make when it comes to social, leaving them with broken marketing campaigns, customers not converting and more. To help revel in social media success, here are our 7 Mistakes To Avoid When Selling Through Social Media.

1) Not having a plan

When it comes to organic social media, your social channels must be thriving and full of useful content; going in blind is not an option. Decide what types of content and campaigns you want to push out and go from there. Depending on what your audience likes, you will want to have a mix of content from educational to what’s trending. Determine how much content you need during your content cycle and plan out three month’s worth in advance.

2) Failing To Tailor Content To The Medium

I think the most common mistake I see on social media is brands not tailoring their content to the medium they are using.  As mentioned before, different platforms have different users, intentions and features, from image size and formatting to reach. If content is generalised and not tailored to the platform you are using, you are significantly hampering the effectiveness of your messaging.

3) Don't Forget To Optimise Your Social Media Profiles

Believe us when we say that every aspect of your social media profile can be tweaked for better visibility and optimisation. From an easy to remember username/handle, keyword-rich descriptions, recognisable header/profile picture, so many improvements can be made to your social media profiles in just a few minutes. 

4) Social Media Overload

The more social media platforms you are on, the better… Right?  Wrong.  As we touched upon previously, it’s all about your audience, so instead of spreading yourself too thin and making your efforts less effective. Instead, focus on the platforms where your audience spends the most time and invest in those platforms first.

5) Posting Too Much - Or Too Little

Something we see a lot is brands posting too much or too little on social media, or not at all. It is essential to strike a balance between the two. Posting too little means that you are not engaging with your audience, which is bad for business. Posting too much can be just as damaging.  When businesses post too much content, it can come across as spammy or desperate for attention, which is never good. The solution? Posting at an optimal frequency that aligns with your target audience’s behaviour patterns or preferences.  This is where analytics comes into play.

6) Ignoring Negative Reviews

Customer reviews - positive or negative - make a difference. In fact, we’d go as far to say they play a starring role in the customer journey. For instance, as much as 97% of consumers read product reviews before making a purchase. And, considering the anonymity that often comes with social media, criticism, and negative comments are unfortunately unavoidable. That being said, the worst thing you can do for your brand is to ignore negative reviews. Instead, embrace them. Negative reviews are a perfect stage for you to shine as a business with top-notch customer service. It is an opportunity to show that there are actual people behind your business.

7) Inconsistent Branding

A big pet peeve of ours is going on someone’s Facebook and seeing a certain colour scheme/brand and then to Twitter and it’s different, and then to their website and it’s different… Again! Inconsistent branding has both a direct and indirect impact on your profits. Whether it is a loss of revenue from customers who lost trust in you, investment wasted on campaigns that did not align with your promise and vision, or the time you are spending correcting inconsistencies, it’s not worth the risk. Remember, consistent brands are up to four times more likely to improve their visibility, both online and offline.

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Through recognising these pitfalls and taking proactive steps to adopt best practices such as strategic planning and consistent brands, you can enhance your social media selling efforts and achieve greater success in reaching and converting your target audience.