There's a lot of advice out there about what to do to be effective at social media marketing. Now find out what NOT to do.

1. 15 Ways to
BY INKLYO.COM
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2. INTRODUCTION
You've accepted the importance of social media marketing for your business.
You've read all the statistics about the increasing value of social media for your
content marketing plan, and you've begun integrating social media into your
business strategy. Good for you! You're already in the game. While other people
are still trying to figure out how to tie their skates, you're out there doing laps
and taking practice shots. But how many of those shots are you missing?

3. INTRODUCTION
When it comes to social media marketing, there's a lot to learn. Between all the
various networking sites and blogs—not to mention other aspects of your
marketing plan—social media can be overwhelming. If you never learn the rules,
you're never going to have the competitive edge you need. So, because I know
you're eager to dazzle your loyal fans and prospective customers with your
newfound aptitude for social media, here are 15 marketing fails to avoid when
using social media marketing for your business.

4. #1. BRAGGING
Here's the thing: for one reason or another, your fans and
followers already like you. Maybe they want to keep an
eye out for promotions, maybe they've purchased from
you before and are big on brand loyalty, or maybe they
just like your blog posts. The bottom line here is that, in
some way, you've already won them over. So, unless
you're determined to change their minds, don't spend all
your time on social media bragging about how great your
company is. It's a big turnoff for your followers, 45% of
whom will probably unfollow you if you're too heavy on
the self-promotion.

5. #2. BEING
ANTISOCIAL
It's in the name: social media. The whole point
is to reach out and create a community based
on your company or brand. Not being social on
social media is like holding a press conference
and refusing to answer any questions. Take
advantage of your social media accounts by
retweeting, sharing, and responding to your
followers.
Speaking of social media . . .

6. #3. TREATING SOCIAL MEDIA AS A SIDE PROJECT
Social media editors have borne the brunt of
many jokes over the past few years. You may
still think you don't need a person dedicated to
managing sites like Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, and YouTube. Depending on the size
of your business, you may or may not be
correct; you may actually need several people
dedicated to your social media. The fact is,
social media marketing done right can lead to a
huge increase in conversions for your company.
Don't believe it? Here's some food for thought:
companies that generate more than 1,000 Likes
for their Facebook pages also tend to receive
approximately 1,400 website visits per day, and
approximately 46% of online visitors take social
media into account when they make purchase
decisions. Take advantage of social media by
investing time and money into your social media
strategy.

7. #4.
INCONSISTENCY:
A COPYWRITER’S
NIGHTMARE
The copy on your social media
pages needs to be consistent with
your brand's voice. While you
may need to take a slightly
different approach to tweets than
you do to blog posts, your overall
tone needs to be consistent.

8. #5. IGNORING
YOUR
FOLLOWERS
Your social media followers aren't just interested in
what you have to say to them—they also want to be
able to communicate with you quickly and conveniently.
If someone asks you a question that you don't answer,
other followers will think you don't care about your
followers (and, by association, your customers). Take
the time to respond to both positive and negative
feedback. This may be especially important for negative
feedback; 25% of consumers who use social media to
complain about a product or experience expect a
response within one hour of that complaint.

9. #6. AUTOMATION GONE WRONG
Automation can be very helpful when you are
managing social media across several different
sites and platforms. However, as with
everything, automation in social media can go
too far. Make sure you have a human behind
your social media to avoid embarrassing
mishaps.
Naturally, the consequences of not measuring your social
media-related metrics are that you will never know whether
what you're doing is actually working. What you focus on
measuring will depend on what your social media goals are: are
you trying to drive traffic to your site, or are you trying to
improve your ROI directly? Whatever your goals, you need to
measure your social media metrics to see if you are achieving
them.
#7. NOT MEASURING

10. #8. TALKING
THEIR
EARS OFF
Written posts are great, but visual content is better. I'm not
saying you should trade all your blog posts in for videos,
photos, and infographics, but you should integrate some
visual content into your social media posts. If written
material is all you have to offer, your followers are going to
get bored.
Remember the golden rule: When in doubt, sleepy puppies.

11. #9. BEING
OBLIVIOUS
TO CURRENT
EVENTS
As I mentioned before, automation can be great when
you're managing several social media accounts. Using
sites like Hootsuite to schedule your posts can save
you lots of time; however, you need to remain aware of
current events. There have been a few incidences of
unintentionally insensitive social media posts being
made by companies due to prescheduled posts, like this
one. If some terrible tragedy has occurred, a tweet
about your newest promotion or a funny dog meme will
very likely come off as distasteful.

12. #10. FORGETTING THAT PEOPLE
BUY FROM PEOPLE
Computers are extremely advanced, but they
are not advanced enough to create content for
social media sites––only humans can do that. So
why are you emulating a robot in the copy on
your social media sites? Your followers like
seeing your human side. Tell some jokes, share
some insider info about your office, or share a
funny picture. Revealing the real people behind
your brand will likely garner you some new
(and human!) followers.

13. #11. REPEATING
YOURSELF
Repurposing your content for different venues is good––
repeatedly reusing the exact same content is not. Don't
bombard your followers with the same content in the same
format. If you do, you're running the risk that 21% of those
followers will leave your social media page behind for good.
Repurposing your content for different venues is good––
repeatedly reusing the exact same content is not. Don't
bombard your followers with the same content in the same
format. If you do, you're running the risk that 21% of those
followers will leave your social media page behind for good.

14. #12. WINGING
ITWhen we're talking about your personal Twitter account,
you’re totally free to "wing it." Fly by the seat of your
pants, go where the wind takes you, play it by ear––any
clichéd expression about not making plans will work. But
when it comes to your social media marketing, you need
to have a plan. Creating and following through with a
social media strategy will seriously improve the
effectiveness of your social media efforts.

15. #13. PROVIDING USELESS CONTENT
Content marketing is all about creating and
distributing quality content. You need to provide
your followers with information they will not
easily find elsewhere. This also includes the
content you share; if your social media pages
are a source of quality information on specific
topics, it won't matter if not all this material
was created by you. The hope here is that
other people are sharing your original content
on their social media sites too!

16. #14. BEING
SLOPPY
Typos, grammatical errors, and punctuation mistakes are
never acceptable in your company's social media posts. If
you’re careless about the quality of your posts, you’re being
careless about the number of followers you have, which of
course means you are being careless about your company's
leads. If you need to invest in an editing service for your
social media posts, do it. Do whatever you need to ensure
that your posts are error-free.
Keep you’re sight error free!
site
-
your

17. #15. NOT
TAKING
SOCIAL
MEDIA
SERIOUSLY
If this presentation has done nothing else, I hope it has
proved to you that social media marketing can and should be
an integral part of your company's marketing strategy. Your
social media presence needs to be taken seriously, and that
means avoiding gaffes like this. Avoid social media fails by
making sure your employees understand the importance of
your company's social media strategy.

18. Looking for more great marketing tips?
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