Establishing a social media presence is important for almost any brand nowadays. A recent infographic by MBA Online encourages CEOs to use social media because of some compelling statistics. For instance, data shows that 8 in 10 social media users in the U.S. would rather connect with companies on social media sites rather than on their company websites. The infographic also shows that social media campaigns are more effective in generating quality leads.
Knowing how important social media is would naturally motivate you to keep your audience engaged. However, there are some mistakes you can commit that can make you lose followers on social media. If you want to keep your social media followers, steer clear of these practices:
- Using too many social networks. Unless you have the money to have a fully functioning staff to keep all your social networks updated, then don’t sign up for all the existing social networks out there. Remember that creating meaningful and engaging content takes time and people. Spreading yourself too thin may lead to mediocre posts that would make you irrelevant to subscribers.
- Focusing on the number of subscribers. Some brands go as far as paying people to subscribe to them. However, the number of followers you have doesn’t determine the quality of their engagement. Building an audience is important. But if the existing audience only serves to exist and not actively engage, it’s going to be hard to keep your future subscribers engaged as well. Remember that social media users thrive on meaningful online relationships. Make this the focus of your social media efforts.
- Posting all at once. Avoid spamming your followers’ feeds by churning out post after post with little interval in between. Instead, spread out your posts at strategic times of the day. You can also use time-saving tools like Hootsuite or Buffer to help you pre-program your future posts and schedule them more effectively each day.
- Failing to respond to comments. This isn’t hard to do on some platforms like Facebook where most comments can be visibly seen on the post itself. However, mentions of your brand can be harder to track on forums you’re not a part of or on social networks like Twitter where you get a steady stream of content on your feed. To help you monitor mentions of your brand, you can use a tool like Mentions to track your name and get real-time alerts anywhere on the web, including social networks, blogs, news sites, and forums.
- Posting irrelevant content. Sharing interesting or entertaining posts is a great way to engage your audience. However, if all you do is share content that’s not relevant to your brand, then what’s the point of people following you? Instead, aim to be helpful to your target audience and use your own unique voice.
- Being a social media jerk. Remember that you have a brand to protect. Even if you come across trolls and negative commenters on social media, it still pays to be the better person and respond tactfully to all comments, positive or otherwise.
- Making social media all about you. Yes, it’s your page, but remember that whatever you share also goes to your audience’s stream.
In general, creating social media goals and hiring a competent social media team will help you steer clear of most of these mistakes. Is your brand active on social media? What other practices would you suggest to avoid? Sound off in the comments.
Image courtesy of lanier67, Flickr.
