The Top 5 Mistakes Your Brand Should Avoid on Social Media
Sometimes the "best practices" or "common knowledge" we find on search isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Especially on social there's a lot of noise about "going viral", often without a conversation about the resources and strategy required. Building an audience is about more than posting and chasing trends, it's about ensuring your brand has the runway it needs to return on your investment of time, money, and hard work.
The smartest small businesses, startups, nonprofits and entrepreneurs know that social media is about long-term strategy and short-term goals. Knowing the speed bumps ahead can help you navigate toward growth and avoid the serious problems that either slow growth or do brand damage.
Let's talk about how to break through the bottlenecks.
Content attrition.
Not featuring images of real people is hurting small brands (especially high-touch brands) right now. As platforms have made the pivot to video-first content, posts, carousels and short-form videos with humans get the most views and engagement. With the rise of genAI, more people are questioning what they see and looking for authentic content, especially if it's imperfect but feels distinctly human. Not documenting what you do, showcasing your team's skills, or providing your audiences with a basic barometer on brand identity raises more red flags for the consumer now.
Asking for consent is essential in this process as many people have different reasons for not wanting to be hyper-visible online. But it's crucial that your workplace be seen and that your brand have a definitive story centered on your audience, the value you deliver, and points of contact within your organization.
Influencer Marketing and Social Media Marketing both require their own individual strategies.
Influencer marketing typically features a partnership between a brand and an influencer with whom they make content. Social Media Marketing is the everyday marketing of brands, from organic evergreen posts and carousels, to paid ads. Knowing the difference between these two things is important because Influencer Strategy requires dedicated time for onboarding, contract negotiations, planning and integration into your social calendar. As someone who loves working with influencers and brands, it's crucial to understand these distinctions to deliver reciprocal protections for both parties.
Not tailoring your language.
Every platform and brand has their own rhythms, cadence and tone. Writing within the expectations of a given platform helps your content move further and it helps you to build a digital community where communication is a two-way street with your digital community. For example, writing Instagram posts like a press release may work for search visibility but it doesn't leverage the community-building functionalities of that platform to best effect. Instagram wants you to talk like you do in your groupchats and if that doesn't work for your brand, then your main growth channel is likely on another platform.
Likewise, using genAI text wholesale has proven to be a sticking point for most brand audiences. I'm getting more business from brands seeking a human writing voice with expertise as a result. GenAI writing can do some marketing, but it really struggles with relational brand writing as a result of linguistic flattening. Think of it this way: if all of your posts sound the same on every platform, you're not reaching the entirety of your audiences where they're at, you're reaching bots. That means leaving potential leads on the table.
Never doing account cleanup.
This is one of THE most overlooked issues in social media to the point that it's become one of the first things I notice when conducting brand audits. Most brands and companies haven't had the time to properly assess administrator permissions once a project is complete or ensured that their username and brand name is secured across all channels and platforms. Someone leaves, and securing the brand's public-facing communication channels decreases in priority to services and deliverables.
Account cleanup ensures your brand is protected and that your actual digital pages are secured from potential hacking opportunities. It also means that your brand is able to hold your specific handle without having to go through the difficult process of requesting an already-held handle from platforms and individual users. A good social media specialist will check in with you for approval if they notice these things and coordinate with you on cleanup.
The refresh without optimizations.
Let's say your brand just had an amazing new graphic designer redo your logo and brand templates, and you've started a newsletter. You're ready to launch but there's one problem- your content may not be as discoverable as you think it is. I've helped brands get leads on Youtube by delivering refreshed visuals with SEO-optimized titles and descriptions. With the right optimizations and copy built for query intent, your social media profiles become more visible and you'll see more people returning to your previously published content.
If any of this sounds familiar to you and you're looking for ways to change things up this year, let's talk (no strings) about your business growth goals this year.
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