Common Mistakes to Avoid in Social Media in 2023

By Yumna Hafeez

With the fast-paced digital landscape, Social media has completely transformed into a bustling marketplace where every marketer and business is fiercely competing to steal the attention of the target audience. With millions of users scrolling through their daily feeds, of course, every influencer or marketer wants to put the best foot forward in the market, leaving an ever-lasting impression just to stand out of the crowd. 

However, in this fierce competition to stand tall and attract almost every ball to your content on social media, you can make HUGE mistakes that can cost you so much, trust me. Your mistakes can even downgrade your engagement, reach, fans, or even customers sometimes. 

As there’s an iconic quote, ‘everybody makes mistakes’, this applies to the dynamic world of social media as well. Mistakes and blunders are bound to happen, but the real magic happens when one knows the art of correcting and learning from the mistakes. 

Sometimes, it’s super easy to get caught up in the excitement of trying out something new, either an idea or marketing strategy that does wonders for your competitors. However, not every approach can bring you the best possible results. 

For instance, any social media post idea or a marketing campaign may set the stage on fire for your competitor, but unfortunately, it doesn’t produce the best for your brand. The major could be if it doesn’t resonate with your audience. 

Instead of getting disappointed, it’s better to learn from the pitfalls. So, if your brand is witnessing a low impression or losing followers or even less traffic being directed to your website, then it’s high time to analyze the common mistakes and avoid them for better results. 

10 Common Social Media Mistakes Every Marketer Should Avoid

Let’s dive into the common mistake that every marketer MUST avoid on social media. 

1. Not Having a Proper Strategy

This is one of the root causes of why a small business fails to impress its audience. Many businesses and content creators make the mistake of creating social media accounts without a well-defined strategy. It’s highly important to establish clear objectives and identify your target audience. 

Understand what (as a brand) you want to achieve through social media. It can be anything: increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, generating leads, or improving customer support. A solid plan can help you in your content creation, posting schedule, and overall engagement on different platforms.

Let’s say there’s a small business starting a social media page without clear goals in mind. With no proper strategic approach, they will post content inconsistently, leading to confusion among their audience and a lack of brand identity.

2. Overlooking Customer Feedbacks

Mind it, social media is a two-way street, one is for the sales, and the other way is for the customers, and customers often use the power of social media to voice their opinions, concerns, and experiences with your brand. Ignoring or overlooking customer feedback can lead to a negative perception of your business. 

Instead, actively listen to what your customers are saying and respond promptly and empathetically. Engaging with your audience and making them feel that you value their input. This can definitely help you build a stronger, more loyal community around your brand. Try using a social inbox to manage all your messages in a single place. 

Just an example here is if a customer leaves a negative comment on a brand’s Twitter post about a product issue. Instead of responding and addressing the problem, the brand ignores the comment, which leads to more frustrated customers and damages their reputation.

3. Over Promotion 

One thing that every user dislikes and that’s constantly bombarding your followers with promotional content. It is considered the worst common mistake that can drive away your audience. Social media users always look for entertaining, valuable, and engaging content, and not constant advertisements every time. Instead, try to strike a balance between promotional content and posts that provide value, entertain, educate, or showcase your brand’s personality. Share user-generated content, industry news, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and other content that resonates with your audience.

For instance, a social media influencer constantly posts sponsored content without providing any value to their followers. As a result, their audience becomes disengaged and stops following them.

4. Neglecting Important Analytics 

Whether it is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok or any other, every social media platform now offer advanced analytics to users. Ever wondered why? Because these analytics provides strong insights into the performance of your content and overall strategy. Neglecting to monitor these metrics can hinder your growth and progress. So, it is highly suggested to regularly review metrics such as reach, engagement, click-through rates, and follower demographics to understand what’s working and what’s not.  Try to refine your approach, create more relevant content, and improve your overall audience engagement.

Jotting an example here, if a marketing team runs a social media campaign but fails to analyze the performance metrics. Chances are that they will miss opportunities to identify which posts were successful and which ones could be improved, eventually hindering their future content strategy.

5. Inconsistent Posting Schedule 

You may have heard ‘Consistency is the key’, and it simply implies your social media posts. Inconsistency in posting can lead to a drop in engagement and followers. Create a content calendar and stick to a consistent posting schedule across your social media platforms. Consistency not only keeps your audience engaged but also helps establish your brand as reliable and dependable. 

You can use social media management tool ike Social Champ to post consistently on all social media platforms at once. Not only can the tool help you with posting schedules, but it offers the best time to post based on your analytics history, ensuring your posts reach the target audience at the right time. 

6. Posting the Same Content on Every Platform

This is one of the major mistakes every social media manager does. It’s essential to keep in mind that each social media platform possesses its own unique characteristics and audience preferences. Sharing the same content across all platforms without customization can make your efforts less effective. So, before posting, try to tailor your content to fit the character count, style, tone, and audience of each platform. To minimize your extra workload, a free social media scheduler can help you save time. For example, Instagram may require more visual and aesthetically pleasing content, while Twitter may call for shorter, concise messages within 140 characters. 

Another example, if a company shares lengthy blog posts on Twitter without adapting them to fit the platform’s character limit. The posts get cut off, and the audience loses interest before clicking the link to read the full article.

7. Ignoring Trending Topics & Hashtags

In today’s fast paced social media world, it’s super important to staying up-to-date with trending topics and relevant hashtags is essential for maximizing your social media reach and engagement. Ignoring these trends means missing out on potential opportunities to join conversations and connect with a broader audience. Incorporate popular hashtags and participate in relevant discussions to increase your visibility and make your content more discoverable. 

Just as ‘Barbie’ movie is making a noise on the internet, you can try to create a meme, a short message or a marketing post on it and see your engagement levels blooming. 

8. Lack of Social Media Etiquette

Social media etiquette plays a vital role in how others perceive your brand. Failing to follow basic etiquette can lead to negative interactions and damage your online reputation. Avoid aggressive sales pitches, spamming, or excessively tagging unrelated accounts. Additionally, be respectful when engaging with others, whether they are followers, customers, or competitors. Treat others as you would like to be treated, and maintain a positive and professional tone in all interactions.

Engaging in a heated argument can tarnish your brand reputation among the audience.

9. Avoiding Visual Content 

What makes us to look at a social media post or a video? Ofcourse it’s alluring and eye catchy visuals that can hook anyone’s attention for hours. Human brain is wired to visuals and captivating visual content, such as striking images, infographics, and engaging videos, has the power to stop scrolling thumbs and evoke an emotional response from the audience. Neglecting to use such visually appealing content in your social media strategy can be detrimental to your success.

For instance, if a fashion brand that is known for its trendy and stylish products shares only text-based posts on Instagram. As a result, their feed will appear dull, failing to showcase the charm of their clothing line and accessories. 

10. Inconsistent Branding 

A strong and cohesive brand image is the backbone of a successful social media presence. Inconsistency in tone, design elements, and messaging can confuse your audience and weaken the impact of your brand. Each platform you are utilizing should reflect a unified brand identity, allowing followers to recognize and relate to your content easily. 

Let’s say a company is recognized by its vibrant logo and warm color palette if it starts using a different logo and color scheme on each social media profile. This inconsistency will confuses followers, who may question the authenticity of the accounts or wonder if they belong to the same brand. 

Conclusion! 

At the end of the day, navigating the ever-evolving landscape of social media requires vigilance and a keen understanding of the pitfalls that lie ahead. A small mistake can make big damage. Recognizing and avoiding common mistakes can help marketers and brands to unlock the true potential of social media to connect, engage, and inspire audiences around the globe. Lastly, remember, social media is not just a destination; it’s an ongoing adventure of discovery and connection, so try to make the most of every post you create daily.

About the Author

Yumna Hafeez is a part of the #ChampFam designated as a content writer who likes to write with a side of coffee. Other than spending a whole lot of my time on social media, I also like to watch a gazillion horror movies. Hit me up for anything at [email protected]