You’ve done it; you’ve created profiles for all of your social media channels, created some designs, and now it’s time to start posting content. But before you jump into the deep end, let’s make sure that you’re working smarter and not harder. The following is a list of the top 5 mistakes people make when creating content for social media.
1. Posting things that have absolutely nothing to do with your business.
It’s one thing to throw in the occasional burst of humor to grab your audience’s attention. BUT, if that’s the only thing you are posting about, you may want to rethink your strategy. People need a reason to go to your website to buy your product or service, and if all you are posting is cat memes, well, it’s likely that you are going to have an abysmal conversion rate. One brand that mixes pop culture and its company well is Hu Hot. It’s worth taking a stroll over to their social media page if you are looking for some inspiration!
2. Posting ONLY things that promote what you are selling.
Look, your followers probably understand that you’re a business, but if you’re constantly trying to sell them on something, their loyalty will go down the drain fast. Creating posts that offer value without asking for anything in return is a great way to establish a loyal following because they will get the vibe that you (and hopefully you really do) care about them.
3. Not using the first 40 characters in your post to your advantage.
SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” It is the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” search results on search engines. And that includes in social media engines. Determining good keywords is the first step. Next, make sure to use those keywords in the first 40 characters of your post. This space essentially acts as your meta description for a social media post. The meta description is a snippet which summarizes a post’s content.
4. Not using photos or videos.
Put this in your cup and sip it – organic Facebook engagement is highest on posts with videos (13.9%) and photos (13.7%). By not making use of these tools, you’re only kicking yourself in the rear end.
5. Not going live. Go live, go live, go live!
Facebook users spend 3X more time watching live videos than traditional videos. If that isn’t enough to convince you, I don’t know what is! Additionally, this gives your followers the opportunity to interact with you in real-time, which is a great PR strategy.
Did any of these mistakes resonate with you? Do you have a change to make in your marketing strategy now? Let me know in the comments if I helped you!