4 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Social Strategy

Social media is a non-negotiable marketing strategy that your company should be implementing, but how do you know if you’re doing it right? There is a right way and a wrong way to approach social media marketing and here, we’ll share the top four social media mistakes to avoid when it comes to your strategy.

Social Media Mistake #1: Not Planning Ahead

Social media networks are known for their instantaneous posts and minute-by-minute updates, but that doesn’t mean that brands shouldn’t be prepared. Creating a monthly or quarterly social media marketing strategy will help keep your social media voice consistent, save you time throughout the month, and help you keep up with last-minute updates when needed.

Avoid this social media mistake by using a planning calendar, like this one from Hootsuite, to denote what you’re going to post on each platform and when (you can make a copy of that document in your own Google Drive). Your social media content calendar should include copy for all platforms (remember Twitter’s word count!), applicable links, and any creative you want to post. By preparing this social content calendar the month before you’re ready to post, you can make any changes and be ready to schedule out your posts at the beginning of the month. Sites like Hootsuite and Sprout Social makes it easy to schedule all your posts on various platforms.

Social Media Mistake #2: Not Knowing Who’s On the Platforms

Every social media network will attract different users. Hootsuite releases their demographic reports for every platform and have found the following:

Facebook

• With the exception of people over the age of 65, more than half of Americans in every age group say they are on Facebook.
• Facebook is most popular with Millennials (25-34 years old).
• Seniors might use Facebook the least, but they have doubled in size since 2012 and are some of the most active users.

Instagram

• Instagram has reached more than 1 billion users.
• Users under 35 make up more than 70 percent of Instagram’s users
• Among active Instagram users, 50.3% are female, while 49.7% are male.
• Black Americans use Instagram the most (43% surveyed). Next is Hispanic respondents (38%) and White respondents (32%)
• The United States is the global leader in active Instagram users, with 120 million users.

Twitter

• About 80% of active Twitter users live outside the US.
• The top countries on Twitter are Japan, the UK, and Saudi Arabia.
• 40% of U.S. adults who use Twitter are aged between 18 and 29 years.
• Twitter users have above average incomes. 30% of Americans who earn $75,000 or more use Twitter.
• 32% of Twitter users are college graduates, while 25% have some college. 18% of Twitter users have a high school education or less.

LinkedIn

• Almost a quarter of LinkedIn users are aged 18 to 29.
• 61% of users are 30-64 years old.
• 44% of LinkedIn users have incomes over $75,000.
• Over 75% of LinkedIn users have incomes of over $50,000.
• LinkedIn users are active in over 200 countries and territories around the world, with 70% located outside of the U.S.

Pinterest

• 45% of women use Pinterest compared to only 17% of men.
• 87% of Pinterest users have purchased something they’ve seen on Pinterest, while 93% plan to do so.
• 36% of Pinterest users falling between the ages of 18 and 29. Gen Xers make-up 34% of Pinterest’s audience. Boomers round out the group, accounting for some 18 percent of users.
• 35% of Pinterest users have an annual income of more than $75,000

As you can see, knowing who is on which platform is valuable in crafting your social strategy. Depending on your business and industry, you can decide to target users based on age, gender, income, or buying decisions.

Social Media Mistake #3: Not Knowing Your Target Audience

In addition to knowing who is on which platform, it’s also crucial to know who your target audience is. Building out personas for your business is useful for social media marketing, as well as other components of your marketing strategy. A marketing persona is “a composite sketch of a key segment of your audience. For content marketing purposes, you need personas to help you deliver content that will be most relevant and useful to your audience.”

Personas can include stats, such as:

• Age
• Gender
• Salary
• Location
• Goals and Challenges
• Education
• Values
• Family

You can pull this data from your CRM system, previous purchasers, email subscribers, or surveys that you send out to your audience. Knowing your target audience, or personas, will help you cater your messages through social media to address their needs.

Social Media Mistake #4: Not Engaging With Your Followers

Social media is just that – social! Some companies merely post on social without following up with their loyal followers. Engagement takes time, resources, and a higher level of attention to your social strategy. But, it’s important because it shows your followers that there’s someone behind the brand.

Engaging with your followers is beneficial for both good and bad feedback. When someone posts something positive on your page, thank them and continue to nourish that relationship (loyal fans can make the best brand ambassadors in the future). When someone posts something negative on your page, address the problem right away and figure out a solution that works for both you and the consumer. With the rise of social media, your followers have the potential to tarnish your brand if you don’t address feedback quickly and effectively. Not sure where to start? Social Media Today shared a helpful article on addressing negative feedback and avoiding social media mistakes.

The world of social media marketing is always evolving, but avoiding these four mistakes will help you make sure you’re on the right track. Make sure you plan out your content calendar in advance, know who is on each platform, know who you want to target, and address both positive and negative feedback on your page.