Your organizations success or failure could ride on these 10 social media mistakes. It’s no secret that social media can be an effective marketing tool for business. Businesses are losing market share to competitors who use social media more effectively. If you don’t want to lose customers to socially savvy competition—avoid these common mistakes.

Ten Social Media Mistakes

  1. Turning it over to interns

At least something is being done, but what? Social media can affect your bottom line. Why would you turn over something so critical to interns or new employees? Do they fully understand your core values and business strategies? Would you turn accounting over to newbies?

  1. Viewing it as advertising

At least you’re participating, but social media isn’t advertising. You’re not pitching, or shouldn’t be, at least not all the time; you’re participating in the conversation. It’s as if you were face-to-face at a networking event, listening to others, sharing helpful information, and letting people know what problems you solve.

  1. Concentrating on the wrong networks

For example, Facebook isn’t where many B2B potential prospects and customers are. If you’re marketing to B2B, it might not be the best place to concentrate your efforts. Depending on your product or service, I could be wrong. The point is you should know your business and should know your customers. Don’t guess.

  1. Inconsistency

You can’t do social media occasionally and expect consistent results. Enough said?

  1. Lack of social media goals

Any initiative without goals has a reduced chance of success. How will you get there if you don’t know what you want to accomplish? Without a map, you only stumble toward your destination.

  1. No plan of activities

Although you need goals, you can’t DO a goal. You can only DO activities. Determine what activities will help you reach your goal. What past actions have been effective, what activities need improvement, and what do you need to stop doing to help you hit your goal?

  1. Poor time management

This may be a general problem affecting your business more than social media marketing, or it may be exclusive to social media. If you only have 10 minutes a day for Twitter, use it wisely by taking advantage of the available tools. And beware, it’s easy to get caught up and use too much time. Set a schedule and follow it.

  1. Little or no organization

As with time management, this may be a systemic problem, not a specific concern. The key to organization is preparation. Have a system, use a to-do list, or follow a checklist, use an editorial calendar. Don’t manage social media by the seat of your pants.

  1. Not building a team

Your team size may depend on your company’s size, but don’t overlook potential contributors in your organization. A couple of years ago, when I worked for a B2B provider, a new employee who took an entry-level position installing products wrote several posts for us. He’d recently completed his Masters in New Media at Purdue and was a well-practiced writer. Keep your eyes open to the possibilities.

Survey says—the #1 social media mistake businesses make is…

Not participating at all – Come on, people! As I said at this post’s beginning, social media isn’t a secret. Regardless of your industry, the lack of participation in social media will adversely affect your business sooner than later. Why wait?

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If you enjoyed this post you might also appreciate this post, What a Business Shouldn’t Share on Social Media

Photo by Myriam Jessier on Unsplash