What NOT to do on Social Media for Businesses

There has been a lot of talk about what an ideal social media strategy should look like. So many experts give their invaluable views on the topic, so many blogs, talking about how to put your best foot forward. A lot of buzz, seriously!

This time, here, we are not pecking on any of those social media marketing tips. We want to take you through a little less explored view of the same. We will be discussing the primary pitfalls that most businesses make despite having the most revered teams in place. We, as a digital marketing firm, want to bring about some common missteps that can take your businesses way backward.

Social Media marketing, contrary to the popular belief doesn’t really have to be costly always. What makes the biggest difference at times is a little pinch of creativity, that at times serves as the shoutout to your less-heard business.

Let us walk look at what we mean to say, dig a bit deeper into it:

Gravest Social Media Marketing Mistakes

Marching Ahead without a Clear Strategy

The most prominent mistake that businesses make on social media platforms is to go ahead without planning. They do not just lack direction but the randomness in posts clearly suggests there is no coherence in thought-process. Quantity never helps on social media, there is no shortage of it. People are already bombarded with options. And any kind of mindless posting will only add to the noise. If the content will just add to the volume and not make any value-addition to your audience, then it is best not posted.

Excessively Promotional Content

Anyone who is visiting your social media spaces is interested in what you have in store for them or how is your product offering going to make their life better? They are not even in the remotest thoughts interested in things that are not related to their needs. No special reason apart from the fact that there is a paucity of time and abundance of choices. That does not mean that promotions should take a back-seat, but they should be smartly woven in the overall strategy and be subtle. You have to understand that a constant push for promotions, robs both the interest and the trust of your audience. Instead of those typical promotional texts, you can try out being helpful, solving real-life problems for them. You may not promote your business, but if you engage with your audience regularly, then you definitely will win a part of their hearts. Pitching to the audience who already has their trust in you, it will not take much effort.

Do not be Robotic

This is a common tendency seen among the start-ups to follow their social media calendars in letter and spirit. We understand and also reiterate the need to have a sound social media calendar, it is a great way of planning, but only posting on specific days and timings, sometimes kills the fun and of course the creativity. Innovation is marred.  Where it is necessary to maintain consistency, it is good to act out of the box and surprise your audience by something totally off-beat and novel. Let them have a look at your pages every day and at any time and find some reason to come back. A way to go ahead with this by ensuring that you constantly innovate and work on your Calendar. Let no two months sound and look the same. Walk that extra mile to win the hearts because if you don’t, someone else definitely will.

Spamming your Followers

Imagine this being done to you. When a business you follow, is constantly spamming your inbox or feeds with offers and emails. The most obvious and instant reaction to any such act is that you will stop following it typically. So, if you are thinking you are doing good by sending private texts to your audience for a special promotion, or are happy that being repetitive in your messaging will make a better impact, then it is time you reflect. Things may just be on the contrary. People may just stop responding to any further messaging from your business. Spamming has been ranked as the number one killer of your marketing effort.

Putting SEO on the Backseat

SEO is a sure strategy to take your business ahead but it takes time to show results. Hence, many start-ups just put it at the back-seat and try to indulge in other trivial marketing techniques that do go high but does not go far. Another reason why people keep it away is that hiring an SEO team can prove costly. That does make sense but with the amount of information that is present on the internet, that doing it in-house can be a good option if you have invested some time in studying it.

Ignoring HyperLocal Targeting

Adding hyperlocal clues to your marketing messages can make your business known locally. Remember, a good volume of Google searches are based on keywords that ask for what business is nearby to the current location of the person who is searching. Thus, adding a local cue tailored to your location can be really helpful and place you high on Google searches.

Hence, to taste success on social media is not challenging but definitely a game of wits and creativity. If you are working in tight frames, you may develop good discipline in posting, but catching up with the vibe of your audience is a different story. You have to ensure that where some things are really important for your social media marketing, there are some that are highly detrimental to success. Marketing does not always have to be expensive or hard, but out of the box and always beaming with the novelty of the approach. In this age of personalization and customization, blanket messaging and campaigns do not work anymore.

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