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Mistake #8: “Buy My Stuff! Buy My Stuff!” – Top 10 Social Media Mistakes

This is probably the biggest mistakes, and it takes many forms – but the bottom line is if you’re treating social media like just another sales platform, you’re doing it wrong. Social media is not meant to be used as just another means of a way to advertise your stuff. It’s about building relationships and getting to know people on a more personal level. It’s about conversation and engaging with others. A good question to ask is: am I speaking to my connections or with them? You want to be talking with them not at them.

So exactly where does promotion come in then? More than likely you have services or products you want to sell. That’s great and people want to hear about them…but only in small doses and only when it makes sense for them. People will block you or stop following you if your feed is nothing but a sales pitch over and over and over.  Think about how you would feel if, for example, your TV got stuck on a commercial and it just kept playing. You wouldn’t be too thrilled and would probably click the TV off. That’s exactly how your followers will feel if all you do is promote over and over.

As mentioned in mistake seven, don’t just post status updates linking to your stuff. Be sure to share other helpful relevant information too. If you found a really cool person on Twitter, let your followers know. If you found a great business page on Facebook, let your fans know. Just finished reading an excellent informative article – share it. You want your content to be as diversified as possible without getting off topic. And by sharing other people’s stuff you’ll probably find that they’re more than likely to share your stuff too.

To sum it up, you can become a person that people want to do business with via social media channels without promoting over and over and over. Here are some suggestions on how to make people want to do business with you:

  • Promote others not just your stuff.
  • Have conversations - start conversations (ask questions).
  • Be silly (have fun).
  • Be authentic.
  • Share valuable information.
  • Don’t automate your messages – be there ‘in person’ to interact with others.
  • Be human – this goes along with not automating your messages. People want to talk to YOU not a ‘robot’ (aka pre-scheduled status update).

The bottom line when it comes to social media is that people are looking to socialize and build relationships with others that share common interests with them. They don’t want to be marketed to, at least not on a regular basis but instead in very small doses.

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How to Refresh Your Social Networks in 5 Days – Day One

Any time of the year is a good time to look through and check over your social networks. For me, the beginning of the year is a logical time to rebrand and freshen up my social networks. What I'm looking for, is to see whether my profile picture, my bio, and or any of the information are correct. Is the branding message correct or have there been technological advances that require me to make changes in my strategy.

Your social networks, much like mine, have probably changed over the course of the year, and therefore need some refreshing. So I take this time to make sure, that all of my branding throughout my social networks are in line.

In this series, I will discuss and share with you the strategy that I use not just for myself, but for all of my clients.

Day One

Assessments

My first step every year and rebranding my social networks, is to first assess the networks. This requires going through and making sure that the network is a part of my customer demographics.

  1. Are my prime demographic still using this network? Has there been a major change in the networks technology? Has there been a major shift in how the network is being used by my demographic?
  2. Does the social network have the approved profile picture? Does this network have the approved bio or description? Is the profile fully completed? Is all the contact information correct? Are there any extras that can be added to this network that will make it better?
  3. This one is not a question but, more of a process. I change all of the passwords to all the social networks during this process as well.

Bonus: Is there a good quality call to action?

These are just some of the things that you should ask yourself when rebranding your social networks. Depending on which network you have, there may be other questions that you need to ask. But this is the process I start with whom ever I am in the rebranding process for my social networks.

I've also included, my social network rebranding worksheet, please feel free to download it . Just click the share button below -

[sociallocker] socialrebrandingassessment [/sociallocker]

As always if there are any additions that I missed, please feel free to add them in the comments below.

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Mistake #2: Failing to Set Clear Goals for Your Social Media Presence – Top 10 Social Media Mistakes

At the opposite end of the social media debate is the guy who jumps on every social media platform before it’s even out of beta. The social sharing buttons on his blog seem to go on forever, and he’s got profiles on every site from Bebo to Yelp.

Here’s the problem. You can’t just jump in head first and use social media just for the sake of using it. It can be overwhelming and will get frustrating when you’re not seeing any positive results from your efforts. And how can you, when you’re spending 5 minutes a month on each site?

Instead, before jumping aboard every new network, you need to take some time and research the different social media platforms to determine which ones will give you the best results. Not all social media networks will be beneficial to you. The most important thing to keep in mind when researching the different networks is where are your customers and competitors hanging out? This is where you’re going to want to be.

Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to social media goals is that while networking is free, it still takes time and ultimately time equals money. You have to invest your time into building up your profiles and interacting with your followers, otherwise you end up just like the guy with too many profiles. If you don’t have a goal or plan in place you could find yourself wasting lots of valuable time just using social media for the sake of using it.

This is where having a plan comes into play. You need to think about what you want to achieve from social media. For example, let’s say your goal is to increase how many people you follow on Twitter (which will in turn increase how many followers you have) by 500 in 30 days. Break that goal down into smaller, easier-to-achieve daily goals. To follow 500 new people in 30 days you’ll have to find and follow 16 new people every day. That’s totally doable without spending a lot of time, and there is a clear benefit.

Let’s say another goal you have is to Increase your Facebook Business page likes by 100 in 30 days.  Again, break that down into smaller daily goals that are easier to achieve – to reach 100 new likes in 30 days you’ll have to get 3 new likes every day. It’s much easier to reach your social media goals when you have a clear plan in place.

Just like people so easily fail at New Year’s Resolutions (because they think it’s a good idea but don’t implement any commitment or structure into it), if you don’t put a plan into place when it comes to what you want to achieve with social media, you’ll find yourself frustrated and not getting the results you want.

One thing to keep in mind when it comes to social media and having a plan is that it’s not all about you – yes, your ultimate goal is to get more followers and to turn those followers into customers, but the main focus needs to be your audience and building a relationship with them. Remember, people buy from those they know, like and trust.

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Mistake #7: Poor Usage of Social Media Channels – Top 10 Social Media Mistakes

Is there really a correct way to use social media channels? Yes and no. It’s going to depend on what you’re using them for. If you’re a teen just using Facebook for the sake of using it then no, there’s not really a proper way to use it. But for business owners who need to maximize their social media efforts, the answer is absolutely yes.

You can’t think of social media as just another way to advertise your products/services. While you can advertise it shouldn’t be all about that (we’ll get to that in mistake #8). Each and every social media platform is unique and should be used for different things. Keep in mind that there will be different rules for all the social media sites as well. For example Twitter only allows you 140 characters to post an update so the etiquette there will be different than Facebook where you have a lot more space. Another difference between these two sites is that you can get away with posting more frequently throughout the day on Twitter than you can on Facebook.

Aside from the different rules and etiquette for each site, there are some other basic ‘rules’ you should follow, like:

  • Don’t be boring – while there isn’t a rule about how to be interesting, think outside the box and find interesting ways you can get your message across.
  • Don’t be offensive – this is pretty much a no brainer but is worth mentioning. Keep that old saying about treating people the way you want to be treated in your head. Just because we’re talking about social media and not being in person with people, it doesn’t mean manners go out the window. You still need to be respectful. Don’t post offensive content – steer clear of sexual, religious and political postings.
  • Don’t be too negative – one of the great things about social media is that you get to ‘let your hair down’ and ‘let loose’ a little. But be careful. If you’re having a crummy day, go ahead and share. But if every day is crummy you shouldn’t continually keep posting about it. People will get sick of too much negativity and unfollow you.
  • Don’t only push your product – one of the quickest ways to use social media incorrectly is by doing nothing but advertising and pushing your product or services. First and foremost you’re there to build relationships not sell! Keep in mind that when you do promote that you shouldn’t just be linking to your stuff. Share other useful resources. Point out other social media profiles that may be useful to your followers.
  • Never badmouth your clients or competitors – you never know who is watching, and the Internet is forever. Rant to your husband or your best friend or your dog – not on Facebook.

So what can you say on social media? Above all else, it’s a conversation. Sure, there might be millions of people involved, but it’s still nothing more than chatting among friends. Treat social media like the “social” space it is, and you’ll be fine.

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Mistake #6: Failing to Promote Your Social Media Profiles – Top 10 Social Media Mistakes

Given the sheer number of links we see everywhere for Facebook, Twitter, and the like, it might be hard to believe that people aren’t promoting their profiles, but it does happen. You’d be shocked at how many small business owners don’t have links to their social media profiles in their newsletter or in their email signature line. One of the best things you can do is provide multiple ways for people to find and follow you and this means using all the communication channels you have available to promote your social media presence.

First let’s talk about your newsletter and why you should link to your social media accounts from it. Don’t just assume everyone on your mailing list is already aware of – and following you on – your social media pages. It’s important to have this information available and in front of people at all times so that with the click of a button they can find and follow you. For example, let’s say that you just sent out your weekly newsletter and one of your readers found something that a friend of theirs would benefit from so they forward it to them. Having your social media sites in your newsletter now gives this new person a chance to find and follow you quickly and easily.

If you use Aweber for email marketing they make it really easy to link your social media accounts. It’s pretty much as simple as clicking a button and entering in the relevant information (if you’re using their new message editor). They even provide step-by-step instructions: https://help.aweber.com/entries/21776966-how-do-i-add-social-media-buttons-to-my-messages.

Now, let’s talk about your email signature line and how you can link up your social profiles. One of the quickest and easiest ways is by simply adding a text link (for example something like ‘have we connected on Facebook yet’ and linking those words to your FB page).  Another way you can do it is to insert actual social media icons into your email signature and link the images to your profiles. While it’s not difficult, it can be a bit finicky to insert images into your signature line. A simple Google search for ‘how do I add social media icons to my email signature’ will bring up tons of resources with step-by-step instructions on how to do it. And if you’re a Gmail, Yahoo, or Windows Live user, check out Wisestamp.com, a great little plugin that allows you to completely customize your email signature.

Not linking your social media profiles to all your other communication is such a common mistake marketers make. But it really shouldn’t be because it’s simple and doesn’t take long to get it set up. Now, it’s time to look at the next mistake which is not using social media channels correctly.

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Mistake #10: Failing to Measure Your ROI (Return on Investment) – Top 10 Social Media Mistakes

Do you know if social media works for you? Do you know whether Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn produces more sales? Have you tested and tracked your efforts when compared to results? If not, you’re guilty of making mistake number 10.

Going hand in hand with this mistake is that many marketers will look at how many Twitter followers or Facebook Fans they have and if it’s a fairly high number they think they’re doing something right and getting results. While these are important stats to know because you do want to be building your number of followers/fans, they’re not the main thing you should be looking at to figure out if you’re getting a good ROI.

Some people wonder if it’s even possible to measure social media ROI and the answer is yes. In fact, there are several different ways you can do this. Here are four easy ways that you can measure your social media marketing ROI:

1. Traffic – one of the main goals you probably have with social media is that you ultimately want to increase traffic to your site. Keep an eye on your analytics (if you use Google Analytics) or other stats that will give you the information you need to track your traffic. Checking your traffic stats is probably one of the easiest ways to monitor your social media marketing ROI.

2. Sales – another way to track your social media ROI is to pay attention to whether the increased traffic (from social media) is converting into sales. Ultimately you want that traffic converting into a sale.

3. Unique links – don’t use the same link on Facebook that you use on Twitter. Set up unique links that you can use on the different social media platforms. This will help you track the traffic that’s coming from each site.

4. Social media only specials – you can set up different landing pages on your website for each of the social media sites your running a special on. This doesn’t mean you have to run a different ad for each individual social media site (although you can). For example, let’s say you’re running a Twitter special and a Facebook special, all you’ll do is set up two different landing pages on your website so you know whether the traffic came from Twitter or Facebook. This will help you be able to easier track the ROI of each of the social media offers.

There are other ways you can gauge social media ROI, it’s just a matter of figuring out how you want to track things. But keep in mind that until you have a goal in mind of what you want your results to be, you won’t be able to know whether or not social media is producing positive results for you.

Conclusion

Perhaps even more damaging to your business than these 10 social media mistakes is not using social media at all. It’s clear that this is one trend that is not going to go away, so it’s critical for every small business to learn to use social networking to your advantage.

If you’ve been active in social media for a while, now is the time to look at your strategies and take steps to eliminate what’s not working, and to start improving your efforts. With these top 10 mistakes in mind, you’re in a good position to greatly increase your social media effectiveness – and have some fun doing it!

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Mistake #3: Inconsistent Communication – Top Ten Social Media Mistakes

Bloggers – at least the successful ones – know the importance of consistent posting. It’s the only thing that keeps traffic coming in. After all, if there is nothing new to see, why visit? Well the same goes for your social media accounts. Staying active is the only way to grow your reach.

Here’s why. You need to keep your name in front of your target market – otherwise they’re likely to forget about you. Also keep in mind that if a potential customer finds your Facebook Business Page, for example, but sees that you haven’t been active in a few months they may very well believe you’ve gone out of business, and move on to your competitor’s page instead.

Remember the guy in mistake number two? Updating consistently and engaging you’re your audience takes time. Spread yourself too thin, and you simply won’t be able to keep up. Keep your time constraints in mind when deciding which networks to join. Don’t try to be everywhere all at once – especially if you’re brand new to the world of social media. Instead, be selective about which social media platform will give you the best results and focus on building up that one first.

It’s far better for your social media plan to use one or two networks consistently and well. After all, imagine how it would look if a potential customer happens to find – and try to contact you via – an abandoned account. “Oops, sorry, I never check that account,” is just going to make you look bad. Even worse, it may inadvertently send a message you definitely don’t want to be sending – that you don’t follow through or respect potential customers enough to respond in a timely manner. And just as bad as not responding is having an outdated photo (or none at all) and outdated contact information. This also inadvertently sends a message you don’t want to be sending – I don’t pay attention to detail, I don’t have time to update these things or I don’t think it’s important. You want your profiles to be professional and you definitely want people to be able to contact you!

Okay, so let’s get back to posting on a consistent basis. There is no right or wrong answer here. You have to decide what works best for you. Pay attention to the days and times your audience seems to be most active and if possible be available to interact with them during those times. Another thing to keep in mind with posting consistently – don’t make it all about you all the time. Engage your audience, get to know them and build a relationship with them.

Does all this mean you have to be online every hour of the day posting new quips and responding to every comment? Of course not. No one has that kind of time. But you should make it a point to work out a schedule that satisfies your audience without overwhelming you. That might mean checking in over your morning coffee and again after dinner, or it might mean 15 minutes at the end of the day. Each market and business is different, so find what works for you and, as we said, be consistent!

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Mistake #9: Failing to Brand Your Social Media Channels – Top 10 Social Media Mistakes

Even if you think you don’t have a brand, you do. And since Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest (and whatever other social media profiles you have) are simply mini networks that make up your overall Internet presence, it’s important that they all be instantly recognizable as being yours.

The last thing you want to do is confuse people by having different profile pictures, images and messages on all your different social media platforms. Just as consistency is key when it comes to blogging, posting on social media, podcasting, etc it’s just as important when it comes to your brand.

You want to build your brand all across your network including the social media networks you’re utilizing. If possible, you should always use the same name/handle on each and every site. Similarly, you should also try to use the same image on every site. You can do this by setting up a profile and selecting one main image (that you’ll use as your profile image) on Gravatar.

If your brand has a tagline involved, make sure you’re carrying that over to all the social media sites as well. Basically, when it comes to using your brand on all social media channels it comes down to whatever your main website brand is you want that exact same thing on each and every micro network site (social media platforms) you’re using.

Another reason it’s important to use your brand on all sites is because it’s a way to build expertise and recognition. People will get used to seeing the same logo, profile picture, tagline, and message on all networks. This will not only help them begin to recognize you and your business but it will also help you become the go to (the expert) in your niche.

A social media platform that sometimes gets overlooked is YouTube. A lot of people shy away from it because they’re nervous to put themselves on video. Keep in mind that video doesn’t necessarily require you to film yourself. There are lots of great ways to do video without actually putting your face on camera. YouTube is another great platform to get your message across and just one more opportunity for you to get your brand out there. Video is extremely popular and on YouTube alone there are hundreds of millions of users. And not only is YouTube another way to brand yourself across all networks, it’s just one more opportunity for you to gain expert status.

These are just a few of the reasons why you should be using your brand on all social media sites but the main and most important reason is because you don’t want to confuse people by different messages, images, etc across the platforms.

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Mistake #1: Dismissing Social Media as Unimportant or Irrelevant to Your Business – Top 10 Social Media Mistakes

Social media is hot – all you have to do is take a look at the Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ links plastered all over the Internet to know that. And all those social media channels give you the opportunity to connect quickly and build relationships with other like minded people.  Are you doing that?

Here’s the thing: A lot of marketers know that social media is an important element for the growth of their business. They just don’t know how to use it properly. They often end up making mistakes that can be harmful to their brand reputation, not to mention costly. Here are 10 of the biggest mistakes that marketers make when it comes to using social media.  In this series we will look at the top ten Social Media Mistakes

Mistake #1: Dismissing Social Media as Unimportant or Irrelevant to Your Business

You’ve probably met the small business person who feels that social media is a waste of time. They don’t bother to set up a Facebook fan page, and their Twitter account was last dusted off around 2009. That’s a huge mistake.
Social media is important for all businesses.  Not only is it a great way to drive traffic to your site, but it’s also a fun way to build connections with your audience on a more personal level. Networking on social media is also an easier and more convenient way to go about building relationships with your target audience rather than the traditional way – live networking events.

Think about it – if you’re going to attend a live networking event in your area you have to get dressed, drive to the event, pay for admission/drinks/food, spend time mingling with as many people as you possibly can in the limited amount of time you have (and hope they’ll remember you) and then drive back home.

Networking online still allows you to interact in ways you would at a live event. You can still ask questions, ask for help, offer help, recommend others, etc. But doing it online allows you the freedom to do it without constraints of space or time like live events often have. Some people like online networking via social media better because they feel it’s less intimidating than attending a live event.

Social media also makes it easier for your customer or potential customer to learn more about you and your business. Now days it’s not uncommon for people to go to the internet and do a search when they’re looking for a service or business. In fact, people often use the internet as their primary source of finding information because it’s quick and easy. This means if you’re not utilizing social media they can’t find you!

Building a social media presence for your business is important and is going to provide a way for you to connect with more people in your target market and build a relationship with them. And in the end people buy from those they know, like and trust.

If you’re still on the fence about whether or not social media is important for your business, consider a few statistics (found at http://www.mbaonline.com/a-day-in-the-internet/):

  • •    172 million people visit Facebook daily
  • •    22 million people visit LinkedIn daily
  • •    20 million people visit Google+ daily
  • •    17 million people visit Pinterest daily

And if none of that convinces you that social media is relevant to your business, consider this: Your customers ARE using it. And they’re probably talking about you. If you’re not there to monitor and respond, the consequences can be disastrous.

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Mistake #4: Posting Irrelevant, Unnecessary Content – Top Ten Social Media Mistakes

One of the nice things about social media is that it lets you be a little more personal and lets your audience be a bit more personal too but you still don’t want to only be posting things about what you’re eating (unless your niche is food related), what’s bugging you today, etc. While you want to be personal, you don’t want to be too personal. You need to keep things as relevant and as on topic (to your product/service/etc) as possible.

Someone who happens upon your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or any other social media profile should be able to figure out what you’re about right away. In mistake #3 we said you want to be posting on a consistent basis but whatever you do don’t mistake frequent posting for relevant posting. Every once in awhile you should logout of your social media profiles and view them as if you’re a first time visitor. Pay attention to your posts and whether or not what you’re sharing is relevant to your brand/products/services, etc.

Because social media allows you to be a little more personal you may find it hard to decide what is relevant to post and what’s not. Again, there is no right or wrong answer here. It’s up to you to decide what is relevant for your audience and what you should share. Obviously if your Twitter account, for example, is branded for your life coaching business it’s probably not going to be relevant to post a bunch of Tweets about pit bull puppies. Since we’re talking about Twitter, keep in mind that anything you retweet can be just as important as what you’re Tweeting yourself. Don’t just retweet a link without actually following it yourself and making sure the article (or image or whatever) is really worth retweeting.  A quick way to lose credibility is to retweet a bunch of spam or junk things.

It’s worth mentioning here even if it’s not directly related to relevant information – grammar. While it’s okay to make a spelling error or grammar error here and there (hey, it happens – we’re all human) you want to be as professional as possible. As an example, you don’t want to use abbreviations like this in a Facebook post: 4 (for) u (you) gma (grandma) b (be) – the list goes on and on. Facebook gives you a lot of room (400+ characters) to post a message so there shouldn’t be a need to use those kinds of abbreviations. It just doesn’t look professional. Twitter is a different story. You only have 140 characters to work with when it comes to twitter so sometimes you have to get creative and use abbreviations. Just use your best judgment but keep in mind that spelling and grammar mistakes can make you look bad.

And another thing that again isn’t directly related to posting relevant information but is definitely worth mentioning here – don’t be offensive or inappropriate. Be cautious when it comes to posting religious, sexual or political comments. Think about who is going to see your comment – potential customers, your kids/family/friends – and use common sense. The same goes for pictures you post. Remember, your reputation is at stake!