Any social media manager would know that social media management is so much more than just posting on different social accounts. It’s a lot of planning, creating, posting and analyzing. This hard work would still end up feeling like too little if there are no results to show.
Here is a list of things that are hurting your social media game to help you avoid them.
1. Not updating your bios and avatars
Your avatar is the first thing people see when they land up on your profile and your bio, the second. You need to make sure your avatar is high quality, well-lit and nice to look at. And that your bio is short and effective in describing your brand to the T.
Haphazard low-quality images and inconsistent bios will only hurt your brand because it’s true what they say — The first impression is the last impression, folks.
It might seem like a very basic and obvious thing I’m pointing out, but there are tons of brands who end up losing so many potential followers because they ignore these small nitty details.
Takeaway —
1- Use a clear, high-quality image as your display picture.
2- Create a short, up to date bio to describe you or your brand. And try to keep it consistent across all social networks.
2. Not using a scheduling tool for cross-platform posting
If you’re not already using a scheduling app for social media, then let me tell you that you’re wasting a lot of time and efforts on your social media management.
It’s all about smart, quick work today and scheduling tools help you do just that! With the help of these tools, you can schedule all of your social media posts in advance and also schedule the same updates across all of your social networks without actually having to hop around each network. When you schedule you must also research the Best Time, a time which will get you maximum engagement based on your audience.
Takeaway —
Schedule all of your posts in advance to save your valuable time
3. Not using a mix of different content types
Social media is evolving every single day, so it’s important that you evolve with it too. Just like people get bored of the same home-cooked food every day, people also tend to get bored of looking at the same kind of content every day. Mixing up your content will help you keep these followers hooked to your brand.
Experiment with videos, GIFs, image creations, motivational quotes, etc, to make sure you’re always pumping out varied content and have the attention of your audience captured at all times.
Takeaway —
Post a mixture of videos, images, GIFs, texts blogs, etc.
4. Not focusing on attracting engagement
Just posting content on your social media networks is not enough. Your main goal should be to attract engagement from your target audience and strike genuine interactions. But how do you get your audience to engage with your content?
Results prove that Questions, Riddles and Quizzes are one of the best content kinds to get your audience to interact with you. Which makes sense because unlike your normal content, these content types call out to people for answers, hence resulting in people commenting and sharing it with their friends to answer. This is a guaranteed way to get a lot of engagement on your posts, promise!
But a small warning, too much of anything is not always good. Don’t build your content strategy around only this kind of content. Use it sparingly along with your everyday content and you’ll soon discover the winning formula!
Takeaway —
Post Questions, Quizzes, Riddles or something that calls out to people to reply to your posts.
5. Not engaging with your audience
Your content works. You’re getting steady engagement from your audience and people are replying and commenting on your posts.
But what’s next?
Your audience engaging with you doesn’t mean anything if you don’t engage with them in return and I can’t stress this enough. It’s super important to interact with your audience and build meaningful relationships with them. So reply to those comments, tweets, and DMs. These people will go onto becoming evangelists and the torchbearers for your brand.
Never ever ignore an interaction!
Strike up conversations, use humor and keep everything light-hearted. People are more likely to talk about your brand with their friends and family if they have a human connection with you.
Takeaway —
Strike up genuine conversations and interactions with your audience on a regular basis.
6. Not posting regularly
With so much good content available out there 24/7, people wouldn’t care for your brand if you’re not giving them regular content. You need to be super consistent in posting content every day in order to keep your audience hooked.
Irregular posting schedules aren’t attractive, nope. Consistent posting of high-quality content over a period of time will help build a loyal audience base. The main reason for posting regularly is to keep your brand in front of your audience at all times. This leaves no door open for your competitors to come sweeping in and steal your followers away from you.
Takeaway —
Post at least once daily! At least.
7. Not servicing the right Target Audience
Servicing the wrong audience will do nothing for your brand and will probably end up alienating your current followers.
Get to know your audience by asking them questions, conducting surveys, polls, etc.
Takeaway —
Don’t waste time creating generic content. Instead, focus on targeting a selected audience.
8. Not utilizing all the social media features
Making the most out of all the social media networks you’re present on should be on your To-Do list if it’s not already. Only posting is not enough. Start thinking about those tiny features you probably overlooked, seriously. I’m talking about those really teeny tiny features.
- Convert your Instagram account into a Business account to get more detailed insights into your audience’s behavior.
- Use Facebook Stories to give your audience a peek behind the scenes
- Use Instagram and Facebook Live to interact with your followers
- Use Twitter Moments to curate a list of highlights just for your followers
- Urge your followers to turn on your post notifications
And things like that.
It’s surprising how many brands end up ignoring these features and probably lose out on a lot of engagement opportunities. These add-on features are free to use and are completely hassle-free. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin WANT you to make the most out of their platforms by using these features, so don’t ignore it.
Takeaway —
Play around with your social account features and make the most out of them wherever possible
9. Not providing Exclusive content
If you’re a brand trying to make its presence known on social media, then chances are that you’re present on all of the usual social media platforms and so naturally — your audience base is scattered amongst these networks.
Offering promotional discounts to your Facebook followers, giving your Facebook followers the first look of your brand new product line before the rest of the world, a book read of a part of your new novel before it’s launch exclusively on Instagram Live… these are just a couple of ways you can provide exclusive content to your audience.
The easiest way to provide exclusive content is to give your followers (on a particular platform) some behind the scenes snippets and make them feel like they’re a part of this journey with you.
Takeaway —
Capitalize on exclusive content
10. Not aiming to Educate
If you’re simply focusing your social media content on selling your services, then it’ll be really difficult for you to engage with your audience. People tend to lose interest very quickly in brands which are always sales-y. So aim to educate your followers rather than just selling to them.
If people genuinely learn something new from your posts, trust me, they’ll be back for more. If they’re back for more, it’ll be that much easier in making a lifelong follower and an eventual customer out of them.
Takeaway —
Create educative content, something that people can learn from so that they can come back for more.
11. Not keeping an eye out on your competitors
The best way to stay ahead of your competition is by keeping an eye on your competitors. Not to copy them, but to develop a strategy of your own based on what works or doesn’t work for them. Monitoring your competitors’ posts will help you find inspiration for new content since they’re targeting the same audience as you.
It’s easier to gain a competitive advantage once you’ve educated yourself with their strategy by building a strategy suitable for your brand. Again, the idea is to be inspired and not copy.
Takeaway —
Keep an eye out on what’s working for your competitors and what’s not so that you can create a strategy of your own accordingly
12. Not keeping an eye on your statistics
Keeping a check on your analytics is as important as creating, posting or even engaging. How else will you know if your social media strategy actually works for you? Or if all these efforts were worth it?
You need to understand what kind of content resonates most with your audience and what kind of people are actually engaging with your posts. Which is why you need to track your progress in the form of the likes you get, the number of comments and shares. Analytics doesn’t have to be a daunting task. There are lots of management tools out there that provide analytics for your social media accounts and make your lives so much easier.
Trust me, understanding this information will help you create better content and target a better audience for your social media.
Takeaway —
Track how your posts are doing and the kind of people interacting with these posts to improve your social media game.
There is no one way to be good at social media. What works for others might not always work for you.
Article from: https://blog.crowdfireapp.com/12-things-hurting-your-social-media-game-b8e81ee7a59f