With so many social media platforms available for businesses to use, you may often get confused about what your social media strategy should look like. Often times business owners might think that they are properly managing their platforms while being completely unaware of their faults. Many early stage entrepreneurs are not marketing specialists and do not have the resources to hire marketers. In order to be of assistance, here are a few of the most common mistakes people make when operating on social media platforms.

1. Posting During Work Hours only
   

If you like to work from 9 to 5 and prefer to have everything done during your work hours, this is for you. While this may help you with organizing your time and having a good work-life balance, it may be affecting the amount of attention your posts are getting. What you have to do is check the high traffic hours for each social network. For instance, the best time to get your most shares on Facebook is at 1pm, 3pm is the best time to get the most clicks, and the best days to post are on Thursdays and Fridays. On the other hand, posting on Twitter is quite different. You must operate it differently depending on whether you are a B2B or B2C business. If you’re a B2C business on Twitter you are most likely to get the highest click-through rate from 5pm to 6pm. It may seem complex at first, but all this information is just a few clicks away. Do the research, and organize your time accordingly.

2. You Don’t Understand the Tone of the Tool

All social networks appeal to different audiences and have different objectives. As easy and as tempting as it may be to copy and paste the same information onto your different platforms, don’t do it. This is a marketing nightmare. It will decrease your credibility and will have no positive impact on your business. You must learn what kind of information to post on each platform based on three things:

• The demographic that uses the social network
• The nature of the information you want to spread (Are you having a promotion sale? Do you want to share an interesting article? Are you promoting your new product line?)
• Your objective for posting. These are all matters that will determine where and in what format the information will be posted.

3. Inconsistent Branding on Different Social Media Sites

Don’t be confused. Even if you are expected to manage each social network differently, all platforms must stay true to your brand. Even though the content you are posting varies for each platform, there are certain things you must not compromise when going from one social network to the other.

• You should remain active in responding to customer questions, concerns and comments no matter the platform

• Everything shared on social media should be of relevance to your industry and product offering (though depending on the content, it may be okay to post about particular world events or trending topics)

• No matter the demographic a particular platform attracts, you should always be networking with the online community in a way that will benefit your business in the future. For instance, if you’re on LinkedIn reach out to professionals in your industry, on Twitter connect with credible publications and thought leaders in your area, on Facebook interact with customers, etc.

4. Talking about Yourself Too Much

While it is good to let people know about what you have to offer don’t be afraid to take a step back and talk about something other than yourself. For example, sharing industry information, news items, opinion pieces, employee bios, etc. will increase the quality of your content. Consumers today are often bombarded with commercials and promotions. Attracting their attention in a more subtle way can prove to be beneficial.

5. Spreading Yourself Too Thin

This is key. Do not feel the need to be on every social media platform that is out there. For some businesses being on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn is enough. Depending on what you’re selling and who you’re selling to you may find that only a handful of social networks work best for you. It’s not about how many platforms you’re on, it’s about the quality of the content you share on each platform you operate in that matters.

Now that you know the common mistakes to avoid on social media, take some time to look at your own online activity and judge whether or not some changes are needed. Whether it is merely some minor tweaks or a full-out revamp know that this will be one of the most important moves you will make. How you operate your business on social media has heavy effect on customers’ perception of your business. Your relationship with your customers is not something you want to put on the line. You can connect with PME on our different social media platforms for more.

Twitter:@katherinePME

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