It's a sad fact that most people have no clue how to properly use social media sites to market their businesses.
I have had the unfortunate privilege of seeing examples of people who just don't get what social media is all about.
This ranges from large companies all the way down to the start up businesses trying to get their foot in the door.
In this article, I am going to let you know 5 of the biggest mistakes I have seen companies make in their social media marketing strategies.
These aren't in any particular order! All of them should be avoided at all costs!:) Mistake #1 - Press Releases as content! I have seen a number of companies that repurpose their press releases as content.
While this may be a great way to save time, it is not a great practice.
My suggestion is to write the press release so that it is more of an article instead of a blatant advertisement.
This only takes a few minutes to accomplish and you actually will gain credibility with your audience.
Mistake #2 - Corporate Speak! This one is a huge mistake.
In the social media space, no one wants to be friends with a company! They want to be friends with a person.
Someone with a personality, sense of humor, empathy, sympathy and other emotions that makes them feel like their opinions, concerns, and etc are actually being received.
When companies use "company speak", most people feel like they are talking to a robot that is programmed to give canned responses.
Mistake #3 - Improper Use of Questions! I was looking at a page on Facebook and noticed that this page was using questions as discussion starters.
While I think this is a great way to get more interaction on a page, I don't think that using questions should be the only method for starting discussions in social media marketing.
In my mind, if I encounter a page that is asking a lot of questions, I have to ask myself, what value am i receiving from this page? A better way would be to mix in some helpful information that your visitors can use! It doesn't have to always be just words, the use of video and audio can be used in much the same manner.
Mistake #4 - Bad Profile Setup I think a lot of people over look the word "social" in social media marketing.
Bad profile is one of those places where people miss the boat.
They either put too little information or they put too much marketing information in their profiles.
Mistake #5 - BORING! The next mistake is not showing personality.
Most people are so afraid of offending people that they tend to not put any personality into their social media marketing.
This is a huge mistake.
There are many different aspects to showing personality in your writing.
Everything from misspellings to the use of slang is a must if you want to really set your social media marketing efforts ablaze! Think about the blogs or articles that you read the most.
I am willing to bet that you return to read them because of the author's writing style.
I think it is important to remember that to compete in the social marketing arena, it is essential that we all keep in mind that this is a conversation.
Anyone can post press releases and boring articles that no one really wants to read.
But the ones that really get social are the ones that avoid the aforementioned mistakes and shows some personality.
So get out there and be interesting! Get people excited about reading your twitter posts, articles, and blogs!