Social media is an integral part of marketing and branding. Since millions of people spend countless hours on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and other platforms, as a business owner, you can’t afford to ignore their importance in your promotional and sales campaigns.
Using the right social media channels and following a carefully planned strategy will also help your brand grow.
However, one misstep on social media can hurt your company’s image and reputation, which can then impact your potential for success. Because of this reason, you have to tread lightly when using networking channels to build your brand.
A reputable provider of branding consultancy services shares below the top six mistakes you have to avoid making when building and boosting your brand on social media:
Being active on all social media channels
Although signing up for and using most social networking sites can be done for free, it may not be worth your time to use all of them.
Keep in mind that each platform has a different purpose and appeals to a certain group. If you use one that doesn’t help you meet your goals and which is not popular among your target market, you will be wasting a lot of time, effort, and possibly, even money.
To avoid this mistake, understand your target audience first. By doing this, you can narrow down the social media channels that will help you reach out to and connect with them.
Additionally, identify your branding goals. Once you determine these, you will be able to find the right platforms that will help you achieve them.
Remember that being on too many social media networks can hinder your ability to reach your target audience. It can result in having an ineffective content strategy. As such, you have to put some thought into choosing the best ones that will aid you in your branding campaign.
Choosing the wrong people to run your accounts
Your social media accounts have the potential to be seen by thousands of people. Because of this, you have to be sure you are sharing the right content that showcases your brand identity.
This is why you need to pick the right people for the job — the ones who’ll have access to and use your social media accounts. Whether you are sharing this responsibility or giving it wholly to one or more of your employees or an agency, you need to hand over the work to someone who knows your brand inside and out.
If you have an official brand style guide, make sure you and your staff read it and consider all the guidelines when posting something on social media. Everyone should be consistent with the tone of voice, use of images, and other elements that they will share on behalf of your company.
Ensure everyone understands and follows your branding strategy, as well. This will enable your employees or agency to be consistent in all posts, which is a must if you want to build your brand.
Sharing too much information within a short amount of time
Whether you’re new to a social media channel or already a member for several years now, you have to avoid bombarding your followers with too much information. Keep in mind that your target audience can get tired of reading or seeing your posts. As such, you need to avoid flooding their newsfeeds.
The frequency of posts you should share online varies per social media channel. You can follow this guide to avoid over- or under-sharing:
- Facebook: Share at least one post daily, with a maximum of two per day. At a minimum, you should share three posts every week to keep your audience engaged.
- Twitter: Share three to 30 posts per day. Tweets have a short shelf life, so you can share as much as 30 but spread these throughout the day.
- Instagram: Post at least once a day, with a maximum of three times daily.
- LinkedIn: Create or share a post at least once daily and no more than three times per day.
Sharing content that does not provide value
People can get easily bored and annoyed when you flood their dashboards or pages. However, they will be doubly irritated when you saturate your page with useless or irrelevant content.
To avoid this, think about and choose all content you share. Aside from posting tips, news, or information about new product features, add user-generated content in the mix.
By posting user-generated content, you show that you listen to your loyal customers. Moreover, you demonstrate that you value them and their opinions and experiences, whether they are positive or negative.
This type of content also enriches your company’s social media pages and is effective in boosting engagement, which is important in building your brand.
You can also increase engagement and grow your brand at the same time by experimenting with new approaches and different types of content from time to time. By doing so, you will avoid boring your followers. You will give your company a unique and memorable identity, too.
Using overused hashtags
Posts with hashtags receive more likes and they also work as keywords and, therefore, can help with your SEO strategy. However, you have to use these with caution, especially in your branding campaign.
At the very least, be selective with the hashtags to use. Although you can go with generic, popular ones, such as those used for events and fundraising campaigns, choose additional hashtags that personify your brand identity.
Additionally, use clearly defined hashtags on your post, so it will reach the right audience.
Neglecting your audience
One of the biggest mistakes you can make with your branding campaign on social media is to forget what these platforms were created for in the first place.
Aside from giving people opportunities to socialize and interact with each other, social networking sites help individuals and organizations develop their voice and personality.
Because of this, customers will notice that your company is not a robot and that they are, in fact, doing business with real people. Moreover, they can engage with you right on these social media channels.
To boost your brand online, make sure you respond and reply to what your followers and connections are saying. Try to interact with every single post on your social media accounts, so you can build trust and camaraderie among your target audience.
It can be tricky to maximize the potential of social media in building your brand. But if you avoid these mistakes, you can let people know more about your company and what sets you apart from your competitors, so you stay top-of-mind.
AUTHOR BIO:
Hasan Fadlallah is a Serial Entrepreneur – Founder & CEO of Brand Lounge, the region’s leading and award-winning branding consultancy, whose role is to help organizations align their business behind an idea that will deliver success time and again. Equipped with over 20 years of professional consulting experience, today he advises businesses throughout the Gulf and Africa on brand development and in 2014 was recognized by the World Brand Congress who awarded him the prestigious Brand Leadership award in Brand Excellence.
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