10 Social Media Mistakes That Are Costing You Money

Social media platforms are great places to build your brand, generate leads, make sales and connect with your community. However, there are some common mistakes entrepreneurs make that are hindering their social media impact. Here are ten social media mistakes that are costing you money.

1. Posting Without a Plan

Effective social media marketing requires a social media strategy. Posting random pictures and captions for the sake of posting is doing more harm than good. 

When creating a social media marketing plan remember to include:

• Objectives and Goals- What do you want to achieve from social media marketing. Setting SMART goals will help you stay on track. 
• Set KPIs– KPI stands for Key Performance Indicators. They basically help you know when you’ve achieved a specific goal. 
• A Content Calendar- The last thing you want to do is constantly be scrambling for things to post. Create a content calendar that includes a posting schedule, hashtags to use, and different material to post. 

A proper plan that is routinely revised and adjusted will get you the social media results you’ve been looking for. 

2. Lack Clarity About Who You’re Posting For 

You have to be really clear about who your posts are for. You may be saying, “my customers and potential customers obviously”. But who are your customers and potential customers? What do they like? What are their pain points? 

If you need help determining your target audience and buyer persona then check out our guide.

3. Skipping Bio Optimization 

Your bio should say exactly what you do and who you do it for. For example, a good Instagram bio would read, “I help women entrepreneurs convert followers to clients on Instagram”. The more specific you are the better. 

Make sure your bio is consistent across all platforms.

4. Failing to Show Up Consistently

In order for social media marketing to be effective, you have to show up consistently. You’ll need to post at least a couple of times per week. If you’re having trouble showing up consistently, consider outsourcing social media management. If that’s not in your budget right now, consider batching content and scheduling it.

5. Not Engaging With Your Audience

You can’t just post and social media and disappear. Even you follow every other tip, you should still be engaging with your audience. Engagement can look like replying to comments, replying to DMs, and commenting under posts. You can also do lives and respond to your audience in real life.

Consumers really hate when brands don’t respond to questions they have about their products and services.

6. Not Adjusting Content For Each Platform 

Every social media platform is different. That means you can’t post the exact same content on every platform you’ll want to adjust it slightly to be more appropriate.

Here is an example. 

When reposting a blog on Instagram, instead of posting the link in the caption that your audience can’t click anyway, tell them to click the link in bio or post it on your stories with a link sticker. On the other hand, with Facebook, you can readily include the link in the post just fine.

7. Trying to Create Content for Every Single Social Media Platform

Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to be on every single social media platform. Just because everyone is using Instagram for business does not mean you have to. 

Figure out where your target audience hangs out and create content for those platforms. For example, if your target audience is Gen Z, you may need to focus on different platforms than if your target audience is Millennials.

As a matter of fact, according to the National Retail Federation, “The top social media platform for Gen Z is Instagram, followed by YouTube and TikTok. In contrast, the leading social media platforms for millennials are Facebook, YouTube, and Facebook Messenger.”

There is data collected and available. A quick Google search will get you the stats you need.

8. Not Showing Your Face and Personality 

No, you rarely see the CEO of big corporations plastered on their social media. However, small businesses can use that to their advantage. Remember people prefer to buy from people, not businesses.

Use your platform to show your face and personality. Share your values and give your audience a sneak peek into your business. 

Showing more of yourself will help you build your community because your followers will feel like they know you. If your followers feel like they know you, they’ll trust you better. 

9. Never Working With Influencers 

Working with influencers can generate tons of leads if you find the right person. If you’re a small business, you probably don’t have the money to pay a huge influencer. But that’s okay! 

You can actually work with a micro-influencer and reap great rewards. A micro-influencer is someone with a decent following and great engagement. The following number that defines a micro influencer changes based on who you speak to. Some blogs will say 1000 followers is the minimum while some will say 10,000 followers is the minimum.

The number doesn’t matter too much. What matters is that you pick a micro-influencer in your niche that can get their audience interested in your product. 

10. Using Irrelevant Hashtags 

Hashtags are a great way to get seen however it can backfire if you choose the wrong ones. For example, make sure you know what the hashtag is about and if it’s relevant to your business before using it.

Hootsuite has some suggestions to find relevant hashtags:

• Look at the hashtags your competition use. You don’t need to copy them but maybe you’ll see a new hashtag you didn’t think of using. 
• Look at the hashtags your audience is using. 
• Create a hashtag for your brand
• Pay attention to the ‘related hashtags’ feature on Instagram

Next Steps

Social media platforms are great places to help you grow your community and make money. However, there is a lot to learn about them. The lack of knowledge leads to well-meaning business owners making social media mistakes that are definitely costing them money. Each platform is unique and requires special consideration. 

If Facebook is a social media platform you want to master, then check out our Facebook Mastery Training Series. With our training series, you’ll be able to make money in your DMs, grow your community (even if you’re an introvert) and help you market your business.

You can master social media, you just need a little guidance to avoid common social media mistakes.

Last updated January 27, 2022, at 1:53am EST