Don’t Make these 4 Social Media Mistakes when Building your Follower Count

For all Internet-based businesses, social media marketing is incredibly important to one’s online success.

Even so, many brands are inexperienced with how to use social media and which platforms to use for their audiences.

The result is oftentimes sending out the wrong type of marketing messages or failing to provide value to their target customer. As a quick rundown of some of the top social media mistakes we’ve seen others make, this is what you not want to do with building your follower count.

Mistake #1 – It’s all about you.

If you’re not getting a raise in followers or are seeking a lack of engagement, it might be because you’re not putting your audience first. If all a social media account is doing is promoting its own brand and why it’s so great, that doesn’t provide a lot of value to the customer. Although this type of promotional marketing is very traditional, when it comes to social media, it doesn’t work.

The solution is to apply an 80/20 rule, focusing on posts that target your customers 80 percent of the time and which promote your own brand the other 20 percent. Social media is an opportunity to provide better customer service, to create and share informational or educational content, and/or entertaining the customer – that’s how you put them first and provide value!

Mistake #2 – Your only concern is with your competitors.

Chasing after what your competitor has is never going to get you what you want and the audience will only see you as a knock-off. So forget about being what your competition is or comparing yourself to the competition.

Ideally, you want to be unique, personal, relevant, and true to what your brand is. Are you fun, educational, quirky, helpful, and what are you doing to distinguish yourself from others in your category – think about these things? Identify your unique selling points. Although you can analyze your competition’s social media activity, use it to note, assess, and tap into underdeveloped opportunities that you think could work for you.

Mistake #3 – You’re taking attacks on your brand personally.

If someone has posted negative comments on your page and has made a complaint, it’s important not to react in an emotional, rude way. Although that might be your first inclination, wait. Should you react to a negative comment in the same tone, it will make you look unhinged. The best thing a social media brand can do is to keep calm, validate their concerns in your response, apologize if/when appropriate, and address the issue. Stay polite and helpful.

Mistake #4 – You’re stretched thin across too many channels.

Brands who want to dominate social media oftentimes set up 10-12 accounts across many different channels. Slow down! Sometimes, all you need is one, two, or three accounts to focus on. Connecting and engaging with your audience is far more important than the number of accounts you’re on. Streamline your time and effort into the channels that matter most, and where the most return on investment can be derived. Give your brand the chance it deserves to succeed in the marketplace. Ideally, managing one or two social media accounts and maximizing those is where you want to focus.

If you’re serious about building your social media follower count and expanding your brand’s reach on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and others, speak with a representative at Unlimited Exposure today.