Five Tips to Help Bypass Common Social Media Mistakes

Businesses and marketers have been given a sliver of hope in this dreary economy with social media marketing. Through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media platforms, companies are able to promote brand awareness and grow their customer base quickly and effectively, creating high-impact results. While understanding social media strengths is very important to the overall success of your campaign, you must also understand common mistakes and pitfalls that could hinder your social media strategy. For the most effective social media campaign, incorporate the following tips:

1.      Understand Your Needs
Before you begin any campaign, you need to outline your needs and determine realistic goals. Decide which social media platforms are best for your brand. While it’s always a good idea to be aware of what your competitors are doing, their strategy might not be suitable for your brand or message. Be honest in your approach and think about what you can realistically produce.

2.      It’s Quality, Not Quantity
This could be the #1 mistake that marketers make. Navigating the sea of social media options can be overwhelming; don’t sign up with every single social network. Quality is much more important than quantity. If you have 25,000 fans on Facebook, that doesn’t necessarily equal a successful strategy. You must know how to utilize social media marketing tools and techniques to effectively reach those fans.

3.      Post Wisely
Once you’ve registered with the best social media networks for your brand, you need to make sure each post is distinct and thoughtful. You have an amazing opportunity to connect with consumers and establish your credibility. Be consistent and post with purpose – if you can’t post relevant content, then wait until you can. There’s too much at stake to post frivolous or irrelevant content.

4.      Going Viral Can Be Bad
Keep in mind that once you post something, you’ve relinquished control. Posting video is a great tool that can add legs to your campaign if it goes viral, but you need to be mindful of who might view the video and how they might perceive it.  Controlling your message is challenging enough without having to recant or explain a questionable video. Think it all the way through before posting.

5.      Start Slowly
What’s the rush? Yes, you need to post in a timely fashion. But you don’t have to rush to publish content. Approach posting in a thoughtful way; you have a unique opportunity to directly connect to your fans and followers. Use constructive feedback that you receive from followers to tweak your social media campaign. This feedback is priceless and can help you create better, stronger messaging.

Social media marketing should be approached very carefully. With these valuable tips and consistent, quality posts, you’ll develop a strong following and create broader awareness of your brand.

This guest article is by the Joe Schembri via the University of San Francisco, which offers an online social media course aimed at business professionals. The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of University of San Francisco and do not necessarily reflect those of KyleCWillis.com.