Using Personal Facebook Profile
Among the most common social media mistakes that business owners make is using their personal Facebook profile. Why is this a problem? Well, Facebook explicitly states that personal profiles may NOT be used for commercial purposes. But even if you sneak by without getting caught, there’s still the issue of likes. Facebook profiles have “friends” but not likes, which means your brand won’t receive the thumb’s up as a seal of approval.
To create a Facebook page for your business, visit https://www.facebook.com/business/learn/set-up-facebook-page and follow the on-screen instructions.
Not Responding to Twitter @Mentions
When someones send you a direct message on Twitter (known as a mention), you should respond back in a timely manner. Unfortunately, many business owners and entreprenuers fail to respond to Twitter mentions. They assume it’s either not necessary, or they don’t know how to respond. To view tweets mentioning your name, log in to your Twitter account and click the “Notifications” tab in the top-left corner of the page. From here, you can view all of Twitter activity associated with your account, including mentions.
Too Much Promotional Materiel
There’s nothing wrong with posting advertisements on your social media accounts, but you should diversify it with other, non-promotional material as well. If the bulk of your social media content is nothing more than ads, your followers may stop following you, rendering your social media accounts less effective. A good rule of thumb is to post one piece of promotional content for every three pieces of non-promotional content. This seems to be a working formula that keeps followers interested and engaged while still allowing you to promote your products or services to them.
Not Connecting With Your Followers
Social media is all about, well, being social. Therefore, brands and business owners should keep in contact with their followers. When a follower asks a question or posts a comment on your social media profile page, respond back. Even if it’s nothing more than a “thanks for the comment,” responding to followers goes a long ways in showing that you care.
Infrequent Postings
I think we’ve all been guilty of this at some point: you may create a couple posts on your social media accounts, at which point you neglect them for days or weeks on end. Unless you are posting fresh, new content on a regular basis, though, there’s really no reason for people to follow you. This is why it’s paramount that you continue to post new content. If you struggle to come up with new content for your social media accounts, try sharing other users’ content. If a particular post has a high number of likes, comments or shares, why not share it with your followers? You already know that people are interested in it, so it’s safe to assume your followers will enjoy reading it as well.
