Within the last decade, social media has become one of the most powerful sources for news updates, online collaboration, networking, viral marketing and entertainment.

However, many brands are still making basic mistakes on social media. In this post, we’re going to take a look at 5 common social media mistakes and how you can avoid them.

Let’s get started…

1. Going for quantity over quality

Posting consistently on social media as part of your digital marketing strategy doesn’t mean you should choose quantity over quality. Posting too much might actually result in a decline in reach.

For Facebook, most studies agree that once per day is optimal, with a maximum of two posts per day. Hubspot found that pages under 10,000 fans experienced a 50% drop in engagement per post if they posted more than once per day. At a minimum, you should post to your Facebook pages 3 times per week.

It’s generally recommended to post at least once per day, and no more than 3 times per day, on Instagram. For Linkedin, at least twice a week, and no more than once each business day.

Whatever the platform, focus instead on posting high-quality, relevant updates your audience will want to share.

2. Posting the same content across platforms

Tailored content for each social media platform increases reach and engagement. Each platform is set up differently and people have different expectations for the content they want to see.

The types of content you share on Instagram Stories should be different from what you’re posting (and how you’re posting it) on LinkedIn.

You can be more casual and focused on the consumer on Instagram, while LinkedIn is much more professional (though still approachable) and will likely focus more on the business itself.

Users on LinkedIn are also typically more willing to read longer posts and click on valuable resources, where Instagram users may be more likely to scroll through their feeds quickly.

And hashtags can help to increase your reach on Instagram, but they don’t quite have the same effect on Facebook.

3. Abusing hashtags

#Tagging #every #single #possible #word is easy, but it won’t get you engaged followers. Neither will spamming popular hashtags, like #love, #life, and #cat. Instead, try searching for hashtags that have an engaged community behind them and are specific to your audience!

That doesn’t mean you should avoid popular hashtags altogether. If a popular hashtag happens to be relevant to your post, feel free to use it.

Hashtags have become the norm as marketers use them in digital marketing campaigns constantly. Just remember that, overall, it’s a much better digital marketing strategy to use a few relevant hashtags that improve the SEO of your posts than to use 20-30 popular hashtags that get you a few more likes!

Using too many hashtags in your caption can also look spammy, so it’s is best to use between 3-4 in your initial post description, and then up to 15 highly relevant hashtags in the first comment.

And do not use punctuation or spaces in hashtags. If there are numerous keywords in a hashtag, #theyshouldallflowtogether in one fluid phrase.

What is a hashtag?

A hashtag, introduced by the number sign, or hash symbol, #, is a type of metadata tag used on social networks such as Twitter and Instagram and other microblogging services. It lets users apply dynamic, user-generated tagging that helps other users easily find messages with a specific theme or content.

4. Using only one type of image

A lot of brands only want to share professionally-photographed product pictures on their social media, but this is an enormous wasted opportunity.

People like to see diverse content. It keeps things interesting, which keeps their attention. Otherwise, they can get bored as things get a little too predictable.

Sticking to only one or two types of visuals will also hurt you; each individual type of graphic you can share has its own distinct benefits, and neglecting to keep things diverse will prevent you from taking advantage of them.

Consider a mix of user-generated content, product images, pictures of employees, behind-the-scenes action and of course, simple seasonal or otherwise-timely images.

5. Ignoring comments/complaints

If a customer makes the effort to contact you by means of social media, you better respond.

When customers use social media to complain, it’s usually because a company already failed to satisfy them through traditional customer service channels. They’re also incredibly angry, so provoking them further through inaction is ill advised.

When you ignore consumer feedback on social media, you miss the opportunity to make positive improvements to your products and services, make a real connection with actual people, and most importantly, you lose customers entirely.

Conversocial found that 88% of customers are less likely to do business with a company that ignores complaints through social media.

Even if you can’t solve their problem entirely, the fact that you’re listening goes a long way. The Maritz study reported 83% of complainants who received a reply, liked or loved the fact that the company responded. The simple act of responding to a complaint is enough to help improve the customer’s experience.