10 Common Social Media Content Marketing Mistakes & How to avoid them.

When it comes to social media content marketing, there is no finite list of all the mistakes that you can ever make. You make new ones and then learn from them. It's all good. This is a list of 10 common mistakes that I've made or have watched someone else make, and how you can avoid making these same ones again. Read on fellow humans.

Irrelevant Content is Irrelevant, no matter what.

So If you sell watches, and you're posting memes on your page, which are not related to watches at all, just to get on the trendy train, then don't. Stop. It's not about following the trends, it's about following the relevant trends. This is some of most common mistakes some companies make on social media. Look have you ever seen Omega or Rolex post a meme about chocolates or horses? Nope. Why? Well because Omega doesn't sell horses and Rolex doesn't make chocolates.

Use content that is relevant to your brand, products, services & your audience. They follow you for a reason. So stay on topic. You can deviate if you want to but there has to be a strong reason backed by facts and numbers behind it.

For more details on content creation, check out our 10 Easy Tips To Create Social Media Content & Strategy blog.

Sell Content to the Right People & Save Your Marketing Money.

One of the most common mistakes companies make on social media when it comes to marketing is that they often go too broad while targeting. This is one of the biggest social media mistakes to avoid. Look I get the thought behind it. You want to reach the max number of people. Cool. BUT, that's reserved for your top of the funnel ads. To get people interested. To make people curious. To get them to interact. That's all. Don't waste your coupon codes and offers and deals etc on broad, cold audiences. Once you know your audience, and you have your data, target people who are likely to buy. Why waste ad money on people who might not buy? If I'm not into Golf, then I would probably not want to see ads with coupon codes for Golf clubs right?

Don't create a fire if you don't have a fire extinguisher.

Planning a post about something controversial or highly debated? Yeah well, be prepared for some really opiniated comments buddy. In all fairness, you kind of asked for it didn't you? So if creating controversy is your goal or if you want to create a buzz the hard way then hey, by all means go for it. Just make sure you can handle the aftermath and have a really good PR agent. It's cool to take a stand for your brand online, just make sure that you have some really good reasons for doing so.

Keyword Overload Alert

Do not cram keywords in your post copy. I know SEO matters, and relevancy matters and all that. But there is a way to do it. Make it a bit natural. Insert keywords here and there but don't act spammy. Google has a lot of data and a bunch of the smartest nerds on the planet, to create an algorithm that can detect spammyness. It can hurt your ad quality severely if Google and other search engines and social media platforms figure out that you're spamming.

Make your posts easy to read and understand. Insert keywords carefully and keep the flow of the article natural.

Sell, Sell, Sell

So social media is not a shop. It's a group of platforms that allow you to connect with your friends and family and like-minded people on the internet. So when your content is geared towards hard core selling, you risk driving people away. I mean yeah sure you can sell on social media. That's the whole point of social media ads. But there is a way to do it. Focus on having conversations online within your specific niche. So my rule is, sell 10% to 20% of the time. 80%-90% of your content should be tailored for adding value. That includes information, education and entertainment. Create top of the funnel content like blogs, free e-books, polls, videos, contests, giveaways etc and then later target these people for ads because clearly, they like your content and would be interested in hearing more about your brand.

Create Content, Publish, then Repeat the previous one.

So another common social media marketing mistake is repeating your style multiple times. I can understand that every brand has a look and a style. Yeah sure but don't just copy your previous content that worked. Keep the style similar if you want but try to improve on it, and think outside the box. See what your competitors are doing and try to do a better job than them. See what's working and what has failed for other people and learn from their mistakes. But don't put out stale content, that'll turn people off and they'll go to other people who are offering fresher content.

Be Funny....IF you can be Funny.

Humour can be a shortcut to social media success. On the other hand, it can also turn out to be dull, cringeworthy, flat and just not helpful in any way. So if you're going the funny way, then make sure that it IS actually funny. Ask your friends, family, co-workers for opinions. Done right, humour can be an excellent way of getting people to click on your link. So take your time, come up with something genuinely funny and get your engagement up. Do your research on the latest funny memes and their meanings and origins.

Personal Social Media Mistakes.

Mistakes are not limited to brands, companies & businesses. Even if you're just trying to market your content on a personal level, there are a few things you should consider. Always, always have a complete profile and include a few of your keywords in your bio and page description. A lot of people don't complete their profiles, and make it difficult for other people to discover them on social media.

It's good to keep your business and your personal profiles separate. That way, your social media behaviour isn't tied to your business. Your opinions don't have to be your business's opinions all the time. So having two separate personas will help. Also, link your social media media platforms together. It's easier to plan and manage.

The Hashtag Dilemma

Yeah let's get into this. So hashtags, for people who may not know, are kind of like cabinets. Each cabinet has a label, explaining it's contents. So each hashtag contains content, that people have put there, by adding that hashtag in their posts. So it's a collection of similarly themed content on the internet.

So don't hashtag #every #single #word #in #your #post On Instagram for example, you can add 30 hashtags per post. if you add above 30 hashtags, your caption will not show up in your post. There is no magical number to get the max exposure. Make sure to add at least 10 per post. You can use 30 hashtags if you want to as well. Just make sure you mix them up a bit and don't use the same hashtags for every post. Also, keep them relevant. Don't use #dogs in a post that's about your Cat.

Not being relevant is another classic social media content mistake. Relevancy matters. If you're just adding hashtags because they are trending and not because they're related to your post, then you won't get the engagement that you need. If I want to look at landscapes, and if I click on the hashtag, and if I see a photo of a doughnut, then I'll just scroll away. Use the right ones for the right post. Avoid putting irrelevant hashtags.

Right Content, Wrong Time.

You can be the most awesome content creator and/or marketer there is. But if you post online when your audience isn't online, then your content will fail. So how will you know when your followers are online? By checking out your analytics and insights. Keep a track of your ideal posting times by looking at your analytics report, and make your posting schedule accordingly. It takes time for the insights and analytics to generate data. So if you're new, then check which content does better and plan accordingly. You can do this using an excel sheet or using various social media planning apps and websites like Buffer, Hootsuite, Social Pilot, Sprout Social etc.

As a general rule, early morning, during the daily office commute, lunch times, post work hours and post dinner times work better for general content. If you have highly specialized content, then see what time works for your own niche.

Abhishek Samant

Owner | Monochrome Social Media Works | Mail - [email protected]

Instagram - https://www.instargram.com/thenomadographer

Facebook - facebook.com/monochromesmw

Check out more blog topics on The Social Blog!

Check out our Social Media Plans! 5% off for local businesses!