3 Avoidable Mistakes That Can Mess up Social Media Marketing

Engaging in effective social media marketing can make your small business successful. If you make even one of the aforementioned mistakes, however, your social media strategy could be over before it even starts.

Buying Social Media Likes and Followers

There are several services you can pay to give you more likes and followers on social media pages. These likes usually come from bogus accounts. In fact, Facebook had at least 83 million bogus accounts in 2012. Regrettably, these artificial followers do not engage with the account. This means a lot fewer of your actual fans will see your content.

Improperly Hijacking a Hashtag

Hashtags are an effortless way for your brand to get a bit of widespread attention on a trending topic. Of course, you might want to ensure that the hashtag actually makes sense on the post. Even more essential, never assume what a hashtag means.

In 2014, for instance, DiGiorno sent out a pizza marketing tweet with the hashtag #WhyIStayed. They thought it was a fun and popular hashtag, but it was really related to domestic violence. Do not make a similar mistake.

Posting Too Much About Brand

The social media 80/20 rule dictates that only 20 percent of a business's posts should be direct advertising. The others ought to be related to the organization or industry, but directly promotional posts should be kept to a minimum. If followers feel like they are only being advertised at all the time, instead of receiving real value, they'll often unfollow a page.

Great social media marketing can take your small business to all new heights. If you are making any of the aforementioned blunders, though, all of the hard work in the world might not repair the damage.