Social media marketing has become one of the most important components of any online promotional effort. However, even today, many still don’t fully understand how to do it properly and make mistakes. Here are some of the most common errors to avoid if you want to get your social media efforts on the right track.

 

Viewing all social media in the same vein.

 

Those new in social media often think that Facebook and Twitter are just the same. And in a sense, they are, what with the current trend of integrating common feature sets (such as the ever popular hashtags). But this does not mean that they are exactly identical.

 

Keep in mind that each social media platform is still distinct. Thus you must come up with a separate strategy for each of the platforms you plan on targeting. Take advantage of the unique features present in each of these platforms. For instance, Facebook hosts a wide variety of apps you use for marketing efforts, while Twitter allows for a faster response to your audience.

 

Not posting at the right time

 

As Tracy Schelmetic points out in this article, timing plays a key role in any successful social media marketing effort. You might have content that the audience is truly going to read and share, but if you don’t publish the content when they will actually see it, then it would be pretty useless.

 

Getting the right timing is, of course, not that easy. You need to familiarize yourself with the audience to understand their browsing habits. This will help in determining the best time to publish content for your readers’ benefit. On the flipside, you also need to know when not to publish. Flooding your readers with too much content will only make them confused. Better be selective in your posting time to ensure that they are actually read.

 

Not being responsive

 

In this article, Vinny Barbera explains that:

 

“Social media is all about online conversation. A conversation is not a one-way thing. If you are not truly listening to what others are asking you or recommending, then you are wasting your time and cluttering up people’s social media streams.”

 

Thus, to make a more effective use of social media, you need to be a lot more responsive. For one, be quick in answering any query from your followers, so that they don’t lose interest quickly. It would also be helpful if you are the one to actively engage them into a conversation. Don’t just talk about your company or business. Tackle a wide variety of topics that will catch their interest.

 

 

Taking social media for granted

 

Many newcomers to social media marketing think that it is an automated process where you can simply let it do its magic. This is definitely far from the truth. In order to create an effective social media campaign, you have to be constantly on top of it. Look into the results and see how the methods can be improved.

 

To get the lowdown on the latest Social media marketing techniques, feel free to contact us.