Common Social Media Mistakes All Brands and E-Commerce Businesses Need To Avoid

Brands, often, despite having some really great products, fail to make a name on Social Media as they should. They do not achieve the results that they expect and deserve, primarily because they fail to leverage the perks of Social Media marketing and also because of some mistakes that they make without even realizing so in the first place. Some mistakes, though they might not seem huge and might rather appear innocent, can create a huge negative impact on your Social Media marketing efforts in the long run.

Here’s your cheat sheet to learn about some of the most common Social Media mistakes by companies and how to avoid them-

Common Mistakes In Social Media Marketing Include:

1. Being Too Text-Oriented

This can never be emphasized enough that this is one of the huge social media mistakes that brands make, that is, of is not using visuals and instead relying on text-oriented posts for their feed. Human beings, for a fact, retain and process images faster than texts. Visuals, here, not only mean images but also, videos and GIFs. Brands might tend to use texts even for platforms like Instagram and Snapchat that happen to be purely picture-oriented. Using text, instead, defies the entire point of these platforms.
Creating visuals for your brand engages more people and could also, in turn, have those people share your content with their followers. Finding it a little too difficult to invest time in creating visuals? Do not believe in sourcing the said visuals from Google? Do it on Glorify! You can choose from thousands of templates specifically curated for e-commerce brands. Tweak the background, add text and logo, and even upload your own products’ pictures or choose from our extensive stock library!

2. Using No-Variation In Your Images

While some brands might very well understand the need for uploading pictures and visuals,
they might still be lagging behind by virtue of using the same kind and type of image over and over again. Social Media is an increasingly, ever-changing platform, therefore, social media mistakes cannot be ignored. The creativity of people on Social Media is beyond ordinary and hence for you as a brand to stand out, you need to ensure that you are also creative with your visuals.

Feed your audience with diverse content. Use images of your products but also engage in using GIFs, memes, and perhaps small snippet videos instead of just using one-format images across your feed. If you are a home-grown brand, for example, you can build trust in your brand by showing behind-the-scenes of the making of the product to your audience.
This also tells a story of you as a brand owner and could be a good post to look back at in the longer run.

3. Not Understanding Social Media Algorithms

Social Media, you would know, most definitely, does not work on a random basis, and if you are randomized, then this makes one of the other social media mistakes that you must avoid. There exists a well-defined, systematic way of how things work on these platforms and that is called an Algorithm. You might be led to believe that only your most recent post would appear on the feeds of your user, however, that is far from reality. Social Media platforms use algorithms to define what posts would appear on the feeds of the followers by determining what content would be suitable for a particular base of users.  If Instagram believes that your latest post is not suitable for User A, that post will not appear on their feed no matter how great your post might be.

These social media mistakes by companies of not understanding algorithms take away the chance for you to optimize the algorithms. Hence, as a brand, it is of paramount importance for you to understand how algorithms work. Watch videos, read up, conduct research around algorithms, and then optimize them to make the most of your posts. After all, what even is the point of effort behind your feed if it does not reach out to the audience as it should?

4. Neglecting Platform-to-Platform Optimization of Posts

Each Social Media platform is different How you post on Snapchat vs how you post on LinkedIn can never be the same. However, a lot of brands and e-commerce businesses tend to ignore this fact. One size does not fit all on Social Media, and hence, it is necessary for brands to optimize their posts as per the requirements or recommendations issued for each Social Media platform. For example, a user on LinkedIn will not mind indulging in a 200 word, 8-min read article. However, someone on Snapchat might not even be interested in reading 200 words.

Educate yourself and understand the needs of each Social Media platform in-depth and avoid making any social media mistakes. Optimize your content for each platform. This optimization might demand changing the styling, size, and layouts of your posts. Though this is undeniably tedious, it is also of extreme importance. Glorify has an extensive library of templates, custom-made to custom-fit each of the Social Media platforms out there. Visit Glorify, browse the templates for the Social Media platform you wish to post on, and have your perfectly fitting post ready under minutes!

5. Inability To Stay Active, Updated and Engaged

Though for a fact, Social Media can be a huge asset for advertising and marketing, it should not be forgotten that the very basic essence of Social Media is to stay connected and keep in touch, and failing to do so is one of the many social media mistakes by companies. A lot of brands fail to build engagement and stay connected to their audience. You, as a brand, need to ensure that you constantly monitor the comments, DMs, @ tags, hashtags,  queries, and questions that could be sent in by your followers to you on Social Media platforms.
Users largely look at Social Media as a platform where they can tweet/post/publish their views and get answers to form a brand. Hence, pay closer attention to establishing yourself as a brand that ‘listens’ and ‘responds.’ Respond to your users and engage with them as much and as quickly you can. This also works towards building a positive image for yourself as a brand, in contrast to coming across as a brand that ignores its consumers post-sales.

6. Having a Profile That Lacks Relevant Information About Your Business

When filling out the details on your Social Media profile, look at it as you would look at your website. Users only hardly tend to visit websites of businesses anymore, and instead seek answers and information from the Social Media accounts of brands. To rectify these social media mistakes, ensure that your brand page contains all relevant and basic, necessary information like your business address, contact details, brand description, a brief on the product catalog, your USP, and other information that could be of use for your users.

While incorporating this information into your accounts, it could also be beneficial to use targeted keywords for the informational text. Look at your competitor’s profiles and understand what keywords could you, as a similar brand, infuse in your descriptions and information. Using keywords and even hashtags can also have some people discover your brand on the web when they might not even know they were looking for you!

7. Not Strategizing the Content Schedule

Or even worse, not having a content schedule in the first place is one of the social media mistakes that you must make sure to avoid, especially in a business setting. For a brand to be successful on Social Media, it is essential for them to have a strategic and national schedule in place.
Generating content is an art and it might take time for the creative juices to flow day-on-day.  For some really great content, you could devise a strategy in advance and schedule your posts at the beginning of each week/month.

Doing so will give you a clearer picture of what your Social Media accounts need to look like over time. Using software for Social Media management could also help you crack this deal.

Final Thoughts-

Social Media is not really as intimidating as it might appear, given you have a set strategy in place, which means, social media mistakes can be avoided with some attention given to it. Learn, educate yourself about the nuances of Social Media, understand algorithms, and experiment to figure out what suits your business needs the best. The point here is to know when you are making a mistake, out in constant efforts, and not give up if you don’t see the results that you expect.

A brand’s Social Media profile could be the first place where a user learns about the brand, hence, it is only imperative that brands make the most of their web presence. For helping hands and everything else, Glorify is always here at your service!

‍