10 Social Media Marketing Mistakes That Annoy Online Marketers The Most

For social media marketers it can be especially frustrating to hear “You make money tweeting? Anyone could do that!” My response is yes, most people know how to post on social media, but not everyone knows how to use it correctly. There are many differences between tweeting about what we ate for breakfast and using social media to market for a company.

Possibly the one thing that is more frustrating than everyone thinking they are a social media expert, is watching the mistakes they make! Here are a few of the biggest social media blunders that will drive any online marketer insane. Are you making any of these mistakes? Which of these do you find the most annoying?

 

-20 tweets all sent at once: One of the easiest ways to spot an unprofessional company Twitter account is when they do not schedule out their tweets. Tweeting an entire day worth of tweets within an hour is ineffective. By not spreading tweets throughout the day it is limiting who will see their tweets. Users check Twitter feeds at different times throughout the day so tweets should be posted throughout the day as well between 8 am and 8 pm. This is easy when using an automation platform like HootSuite, Tweetdeck or HubSpot to schedule tweets ahead of time. Also, it is a common Twitter courtesy to avoid junking up followers’ newsfeeds with multiple tweets all in a row. (The exception to this mistake is live-tweeting.)

-Super long Facebook posts: Facebook allows more characters than Twitter but that doesn’t mean Facebook posts should be unlimited in length. Long Facebook posts are ineffective as the target audience is less likely to take the time to read the entire post. Instead of trying to fit all of the details into a Facebook post, create a catchy ‘headline’ and attach a URL to provide readers more information while keeping the post short.

-Facebook posts without a photo: Ever hear the saying “A picture is worth a million words?” This is true on social media especially! Posts with photo are more visually appealing and more likely to get noticed. Marketers should try including a photo with every post to draw attention and increase engagement. This is a very easy fix that can have a huge impact.

-Spelling and grammatical errors: Social media is not the intern’s job! Social media is reaching thousands of potential or current customers everyday; should that responsibility really be left to someone who might make spelling mistakes and doesn’t truly know the company? Social media marketing should be given the same attention to detail as a press release and other marketing materials.

-Too much selling: Social media should be social; this sounds obvious but is one of the most common mistakes businesses make on social media. What if a friend only tweeted about how amazing they thought they were? It would get annoying, right? Companies need to avoid only tweeting about themselves and start being more engaging on social media. Marketers should try finding industry news to share and commenting on other’s posts. A good rule of thumb is to follow the 80/20 rule: 20% promotional and 80% filled with interesting and engaging content.

-Broken Links: This is an easy mistake to make but one with huge consequences. Not only does it look unprofessional to have a broken link but it is a missed opportunity to make a sale. Double-checking that links work and go to the correct place are a chance to direct customers back to the company’s website. Link checking should be part of a marketer’s spell-check routine!

-Not using #hashtags correctly: Many people do not know how to use hashtags correctly. Hashtags should only be used if they are relevant and meaningful to both the tweet and the company. B2B companies should use industry-related hashtags in order to reach their target audience. Twitter uses hashtags to allow people to search for topics they are interested in, such as #engineering, #solarpower and #windenergy. Only use one to three relevant hashtags per tweet.

-Tweeting “I just posted a photo” fb.me/7131tyxJXcQf: A very common mistake marketers make is connecting their Facebook and Twitter for ease of posting. While it is nice to post a photo to Facebook and have it automatically tweeted it is a bad technique. Readers can easily spot an automated tweet and are less likely to engage with that post. Spend a little more time when posting to sound less robotic and increase engagement. A good tip is to think of a catchy ‘headline’ for the photo and tweet that with a link to the photo instead of the automated Facebook-linked tweets.

-Same post 20 times: If a company has created a great evergreen piece of content they should continue to share it over time… but not repeated as the exact same tweet or Facebook each time. Before posting marketers should try to think of multiple titles, introductions and descriptions of the content. They should then use those different and unique headlines to recycle great content but keep it new and interesting for readers.

-‘Egg head’ Twitter accounts: There are two reasons that a business especially should never have an ‘egg head’ account. The first is that it might make the company look unprofessional and as if they do not understand how to use Twitter. The second reason companies should change their profile image is the added branding opportunity. This is a spot to help brand the account to create a unified message across all platforms.

 
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