Did you know 81 percent of people use Instagram to research services and products? Capture the attention of these consumers. If you hope to improve your social media marketing strategy, we’re here to help.
This guide will go over common marketing mistakes businesses make with digital marketing. There are ways to capture social media users’ attention and engage with your audience.
Ready to learn more? Keep reading.
1. You Don’t Spend Time Defining Your Marketing Goals
When you use any marketing channel, you should set up goals. Why do you want to use social media platforms for your business?
Some owners use Instagram to increase brand awareness or showcase their company culture. Others will use social media primarily to sell services or products.
Write down the goals and track how you’re doing. Make sure you refer to the plans before posting new content. Written goals will help you remain intentional and focused when creating content.
Do you want lots of engagement from followers? Track how many likes and comments you receive with every new post. Sometimes, you can invest in more likes. Check out stormlikes.com.
2. You Post Low-Quality or Unaesthetic Photographs
Social media users love to browse through images on various platforms. Don’t ruin the reputation of your business by posting crappy photos.
You might worry that you can’t succeed at this step because you aren’t a photographer. You can still post quality photos on your account. You could invest in a decent camera or use an iPhone to take pictures.
Browse the social media platforms of your favorite businesses. You might notice they have a particular aesthetic. Some use a light palette, while others post bright photos.
Take photos that match your brand. If you want to take photographs outside, use natural light. Late afternoon lighting is the best time to take pictures outdoors.
If you need to take photos indoors, open up a window. The natural light will pour into the room and improve the photograph quality.
You could download a photo editing app. It would help if you spent time editing your photos before posting them. This way, you can make a few minor adjustments. Your photos will look as if a professional took them. Go here for free online photo editing tools that can be used to create an amazing meme with a passport photo.
3. You Aren’t Showing Off Your Creativity
With social media, you might post routine content to your followers.
As a business owner, try to showcase what you do creatively. Instagram allows you to create an aesthetic page for consumers to browse. Provide your customers with information while giving them an aesthetic experience.
Is your business service-oriented? Help consumers learn about company culture. Share some helpful tips or tricks on TikTok. You could show them the process behind providing the service.
4. You Forget to Use Instagram Stories
Use Instagram Stories to provide new information about a product or service. The slideshow format is only live for 24-hours.
Stories will get displayed at the top of followers’ timelines. You can share behind-the-scenes content.
5. You Don’t Bring Customers Behind-the-Scenes
Customers tend to feel curious about where their products come from or how they get created. You could bring customers behind the scenes with social media platforms.
Some people will go live and bring their customers through the company. Your consumers will get a chance to learn more about company culture.
6. You Use Too Many or the Wrong Hashtags
As a business owner, you might not be using hashtags correctly.
Hashtags will help build your reach. Business owners will choose general or specific hashtags. Ensure the hashtags remain relevant to your brand, product, and service.
Set up your company’s hashtag and use it across Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. If someone wants to find out more posts about your company, they will type in #yourbrandname.
Pick campaign-specific hashtags and popular hashtags to increase your visibility. Try using between three and five hashtags. Avoid posting tons of hashtags on every post.
7. You Didn’t Spend Time Creating a Unique Profile
Did you rush through setting up your different profiles?
Spend time setting up a business account on different platforms for your business. Standard business profile items include your location, hours, and business category.
You should also have your contact method. Some companies will also link to their latest product or a service catalog.
Ensure your social media profiles line up with your social media branding elements. Use the same profile pictures and tone.
8. You Forgot to Optimize the Link
Some business owners don’t optimize the link they share on social media. For example, you have one link field on Instagram, and you need to get creative.
Social media scrollers will understand what ‘link in bio’ refers to on your profile. Use your link as a way to provide consumers with a landing page. You should have recent content on this landing page and links to service pages.
You could also have a landing page that will look like your Instagram grid. This way, viewers can browse clickable links for each Instagram post. People have an easier time finding their preferred content.
9. Forgetting to Work With Influencers
Some people make the mistake of deciding not to work with influencers. Yet, influencers can increase traffic to your company website.
You could also help improve social media engagement by working with an influencer. Influencers tend to have thousands of followers who look for advice on products.
Find an influencer who works in your niche area. The influencer will create an Instagram or TikTok post and share how they’re working with your brand. You should contact them to find out how much they charge.
You’ll send them your product to try out. This helps bring your brand to more consumers. You could also offer those consumers a special promotion.
10. You Forget to Geotag Posts
When you post from your physical location, you should add the geotag in the post. Scroll into your past posts if you hadn’t done so before. Geotagging will help add more information about the location of your business.
Viewers will have an easier time sorting the posts.
11. You Don’t Use Instagram Highlights
Do customers ask a lot of similar questions? Save yourself time. Direct them to check out the Highlights on your Instagram profile. Use Instagram’s Stories Highlights to share more about your business.
Highlights will lengthen the life of your Stories. It will feature them on your profile after they typically disappear. It will help you collect the stories in one source of the excellent content for your viewers.
You could have a highlight feature for your FAQs. Here, you can share information that your customers or new consumers request. You can redirect customers and new consumers to the Highlight Story.
Interested consumers click to hear what people think about your service or product. Consider creating a highlight called “About.” You can share a few posts about your brand, store hours, and values.
Some companies will also share a post of customer posts or reviews.
12. You Don’t Stick To a Content Schedule
If you hope to build your presence on social media, post consistent content. Maintaining a presence on social media will help you boost your customer engagement.
There’s usually an optimal time of day to post and a certain number of posts. It will depend on your audience, the content you post, and your business. Test and make changes as you learn more.
You could plan your social media content calendar within a specific time frame. Consider planning it out four weeks in advance. You will understand the time that gives you the most engagement to new posts.
13. You Don’t Engage With Customers
Do you notice people leave comments on your social media posts or ask questions? Do you have the time to answer them?
Owners should respond to comments on Instagram posts or questions they receive. Consider hiring a social media manager responsible for these tasks if you don’t have time to respond.
When you comment and engage with your followers, they will feel appreciated and seen. Most customers will feel more loyal to a company that comments back.
Avoid These Marketing Mistakes
We hope this guide on marketing mistakes to avoid was helpful.
Boost customer interest and engagement with your social media accounts by remaining consistent. Work with a famous influencer in your niche area. Add a Highlights post on Instagram for common questions your consumers ask.
Need some more helpful business tips like this one? Check out our posts on the blog today.
