Are you guilty of these social media strategy mistakes? If so, know you are not alone. Many are in the same situation.
We all know the importance of using social media to reach an audience. Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or even Pinterest, there are people who want to read what you have to say.
But, that doesn’t mean you drop a link to your latest article and run. That will never work. In fact, doing so is one of several social media mistakes bloggers make.
Before you make your next post to any social media account, make sure you are not making any of these mistakes!
1. TALKING ONLY ABOUT YOURSELF
This is the number one social media strategy mistake bloggers make.
Think about dating. What impression would it send if one party talked only about him or herself all evening long? You’d be bored, right?
The same is true with social media.
One of the biggest mistakes people make on their accounts is sharing only their content. For some reason, they think that they should never use their channels to promote others.
Social media means you need to be social. You need to share all the great content you find that your followers will love. This makes you a trusted expert in your field and more people will follow you because they can get all the stories and more that they love – in one place. You do that for them.
Mix up your social shares with content from others. Never talk only about yourself.
2. POSTING TOO MUCH
Think about the pages and profiles you follow. If they start putting too much out there, your instinct is to unfollow them because it is overwhelming.
When it comes to social media, more is more – not necessarily better.
You will need to find a schedule for your accounts and post accordingly. The optimal times and number of shares/posts/pins will vary based upon different factors.
3. NOT USING TOOLS TO HELP
For some reason, there is this belief that on-line tools lower reach or reduce visibility. This has never been proven to be true. In fact, I’ve tested this time and time again and have never seen a difference.
Tools help you maintain a consistent schedule (which is another social media strategy mistake we discuss below). Here are some of my favorite tools.
Facebook Scheduler: There is a scheduling tool on Facebook that you can use — and it’s free! Add your link, photo or status to your wall. Then, click the drop down by Publish and select the Schedule button. Enter the date and time you want your post to go live.
Post Planner: I love this because I can not only find fun content to share on my page, but I can create a regular schedule where I can share my own content over and over again. I add my new content to the schedule and mark it as one I want to add to my rotating schedule. It posts the first time and goes into my que to get shared repeatedly. It is very simple to use and starts at $9 per month.
Post Planner: I also use Post Planner for Twitter as well. Again, I can have my old content retweeted time and again – all with having to manually schedule it.
Commun.it: This application helps you find new followers and increase engagement. They have a basic program that is free, but plans you can purchase if you want to do more with the application.
Tailwind: This is my favorite Pinterest scheduler. I like it because they provide a lot of detailed analytics information that I cannot find elsewhere. Not only that, they now offer Tribes, which are groups where you can connect with bloggers in your niche and help promote one another. It is easy to use and create the optimal schedule for your account. Sign up HERE to try Tailwind for free for 30 days!
Boardbooster: This is another scheduling tool which is easy to use. I use this in addition to Tailwind. While Tailwind is great to schedule content for others, I use Boardbooster to share my own content onto not only my own boards, but group boards on a regular basis. Since consistency for posting is key, Boardbooster can help. This application costs as little as $5 a month to get started.
**Note that you can never auto-post anything to Instagram as it is against the TOS. You can, however, create a schedule and get an alert when it is time to post and then share the content at that time.
Later.com: I love this application because I can not only schedule content to share, I can even add the link TO the content through my profile! You upload the image and type up the post with your hashtags.
Add in the link to the post and when you post, people can find the link to the article through your profile. (I always add – get a link to this article by clicking on my profile and scrolling through the images to find this one).
4. USING THE INCORRECT IMAGES
This is a social media strategy mistake that people don’t even realize. We’ve talked a bit about the correct image size for Pinterest, but there is a proper size that should be used on all platforms. Not only that, text on your image should be used on Pinterest and sometimes Facebook, but not on Instagram.
Here’s a quick guide that will help:
Facebook: 1200 x 600 Text is OK, but should be small and take up no more than 20% of the image.
Instagram: 800 x 800 Text is OK, but only if it is a quote; do not put text on your image as an overlay.
Pinterest: 735 x 1102 Text is needed and should be easy to read and captivating to grab the reader’s attention.
Twitter: 1024 x 512 (or you can use the same size as Facebook) Text is OK – will not help nor hurt
You can use the paid version of Canva to make all of your images. Create one size and then select the Magic Resize button. Check the boxes next to the images you need for additional platforms and they will be resized and ready to download (with a few minor edits).
To ensure that you have the correct image for all of these platforms, and that your readers have this available when they share, I recommend the Social Warfare plugin. You can create one image size for your blog post, but then one specifically for Pinterest and Facebook.
5. NOT BEING CONSISTENT
When you share on social media, you need consistency in your schedule. You can’t post one day and then not again for another five. You need to make sure that you develop a consistent schedule where you post around the same times of the day, every single day of the week. Here is a basic guide to get you started.
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6. GRAMMAR/TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
I can’t tell you how many images or posts I’ve seen that contain either typos or grammatical errors. Take the time to review your posts before you put them onto social media. If your English skills are not strong, have some review your work or use an online tool, such as Grammarly, to ensure that your content looks good.
7. SHARING THE WRONG CONTENT
We’ve all seen those viral videos on Facebook. You know the ones that you see have thousands of shares. It is very tempting to share them to your page to try to reach more people and increase engagement.
Don’t do it.
Well, don’t do it unless that video relates to what your page is about. Don’t make this social media strategy mistake!
For instance, if your site is about recipes, sharing a video about fashion faux pas is not a good idea. It is not why your readers are there. They want recipes.
Not only may you turn off followers, your page will attract new fans, who are there for the wrong reason. They are following you because of a fashion video, but will soon learn that your page has nothing to do with fashion. Those fans will never engage with your content. That can hurt your overall reach.
Instead, share videos, photos and memes that your audience will relate to. Make sure it fits into the premise of what your page is about.
8. USING CONTENT WITHOUT CREDIT
This is one that chaps my hide!! If you find an image online, you cannot share it without giving credit!! You can do so by either tagging the page in the post, or linking to their website. Never, ever upload and share a video or image without properly crediting the source. Ever.
9. NO SOCIAL SHARING BUTTONS
This may shock you, but there are many bloggers who have no social sharing buttons on their site at all! Every post needs to show a simple way for readers to share your content on the platform that they want.
Your social sharing icons should always include: Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. Even if you are not active on these sites, you need to allow your readers a way to share it as they want. You may hate Twitter, but your reader may love it. If you don’t allow them a chance to share it on the site they use, you are missing out on potential traffic.
There are a few options available, but my personal favorite is Social Warfare. It is paid plugin, but worth every single penny.
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Guilty of inconsistency because I’m guilty of not investing some time in the right tools for all social media platforms I use.
Thank you so much for the nudge. Just needed this.
We’ve all been there – myself included! But, the great thing is that you can make a change at any time and turn it all around.