Social Media marketing is essential for any business. It's an asset that can help you reach out to new clients, build loyalty and trust, and interact with your target audience.

It feels like everyday brands are looking social media as a marketing channel to sell to their audience. there's any benefits to social media that can help your business grow - so long as you avoid common social media marketing mistakes, such as :

 1)     Not going in with a marketing plan

Many companies might decide to start posting on social media without a solid marketing strategy. They think it’s just posting a few photos and the likes come flooding in, then the initial launch passes, and the realization sets in: there more to social media than just posting photos.

This is where a marketing strategy comes in, your social media has a role to plan within you overall marketing strategy. It’s a great place to share information, share funny content that your audience can relate to, and be face to face with your audience.

2)     Not tracking your results

To know where you’re going, you’ve got to know where you’ve been. On social media, you’ll be running various campaigns and ads. Somethings will work and some things won’t. It is important to keep track of the process of your attempts to focus your efforts on what work in the past to achieve successful results in the future.

3)     Too Much brand Promotion

People hate being sold to. It’s the reason why we use ad blockers and opt for ad-less streaming services. Marketing for the modern looks more organic, that don’t intrude for the consumer’s browsing experience.

Instead follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of your content should be inform, education, entertain or do all the above and 20% should be promotional.Work on building trust with your audience before trying to sell them your service.

4) Not optimizing your post for each platform

Many brands post the same content in the same format across their social media. Each platform is unique in their own way, and so is your audience on each platform.

What works for Instagram, doesn’t necessarily works for Linkedin. On instagram, its more casual, users scroll their feed more, and its perfect for consumer marketing, while Linkedin is more focused on the business itself and users take the time to read articles that are posted.

For best success with social media marketing, you need to be optimizing your content for each platform, even if you’re posting the same general ideas to each one.

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5)     Not engaging your audience regularly

You must engage with people on social media, its literally in the name. Engagement lets the algorithm know which posts should be shown off. when you are actively participating, you can expect follower growth and a higher engagement rate.

6)     Deleting negative social media feedback

Every negative comment is an opportunity to improve your customer service and turn someone with a negative experience into a loyal customer. Many brands choose to ignore or delete the comments, which only leads to harsher comments and even customer boycotting the brand.

This is your chance to make your audience feel heard. Take the negative comment seriously and try to solve the issues that your client is facing. Address the comment and continue the conversation in private messages.

7)     Not creating a content schedule beforehand

Tools like Later or Hootsuite, gives you the ability to schedule and planning posts. This method helps you plan and stay consistent. You can schedule entire posts (including photos, videos, hashtags, links), reschedule when you feel necessary, and they even offer features such as analytics on ideal posting time and audience engagement.

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