Social media is a proven tool to increase the reach of your business. It can provide you with much-needed leads and traffic, but only if you use it effectively. If mismanaged, social media can actually do more harm than good.
(Pixabay / LoboStudioHamburg)
Here are some common social media mistakes that every entrepreneur should avoid:
- Fake followers — Don’t fall into the hype of buying followers just to increase your follower count. This is a perfect example of one item that does more harm than good. How so? When you have a high count of followers but a low engagement (you know, because they’re fake and don’t engage) then social media channels think you’re not interesting. And when that happens they won’t show your content to your legit followers. Focus on high-quality content and engagement over follower count.
- Poor social media management — Vet your social media managers carefully. After all, they are the face of your business. Hiring inexperienced people to run your social media could hurt your company’s credibility. Whatever they do or say will reflect on the image and integrity of your organization. The internet is forever.
- Ignoring negative feedback — The way your business responds to negative feedback reveals its true commitment to customers. Negative feedback is inevitable because there’s no way you can please every customer. Respond promptly and thoughtfully to negative feedback to show your customers that you are committed to their satisfaction. Deleting or ignoring this feedback will not boost your online integrity. Make sure that your responses are genuine — not simply one-size-fits-all answers that may seem patronizing.
- Boring content — Your content must be informative and interesting to your users. If your posts get stale, your users will stop engaging.
- Over-promoting — Customers grow weary of content and social media accounts that do nothing but promote brands. Show your audience what you can do for them, not what they can do for you. You cannot build relationships of trust by bombarding your customers with gimmicks. As Gary Vee says, “give, give, give, then ask.”
