Mistakes are dreaded and seen as weaknesses; however, they are what makes you human. What separates you from the rest, though, is your willingness to learn from your own (and other people’s) mistakes. This can’t be more true for the making of a social media marketing strategy. Here are four social media mistakes that are commonly made as well as tips to help you avoid them.

1 – Not Having an Appropriate Social Media Marketing Strategy

If you’re new to the business world, you may have yet to realize the importance of social media in reaching out to customers. The truth, however, is that these online platforms are classified as mission-critical by some companies. Thousands of businesses worldwide utilize social media as a medium to promote their products and services. If you’re serious about doing business, it’s time to take social media a little bit more seriously.

To get started, create a social media marketing strategy. This will act as a foundation for everything else you do on social media. Remember— the plan will not only include how many posts you will be uploading in a day but also clear goals and an action plan. It should be very detailed, containing what type of posts, images, videos, retweets, hashtags, and other aspects of social media you want to utilize. To a customer, this is your brand’s tone of voice.

2 – Not Tracking Your Performance

You need to be able to track your real-time progress when using social media marketing. Doing so will help you to continually adapt and evolve your campaigns according to the audience’s preferences and trends. You can also discontinue any ads that aren’t performing up to par, saving you money until the announcement has been reworked to perform better.

On that note, do not expect too many results from your first post. Think of it as a learning step, knowing what the customer wants and what changes to make. Social media marketing strategy is continually evolving, adapting to customer preferences, and bringing you ever closer to your business goals.

3 – Deleting, Attacking, and Avoiding Negative Comments

This can be a tough pill for you to swallow, but everybody makes mistakes from time to time. When a customer is dissatisfied with your service or product and spews anger in the comment section, don’t ignore it. Some businesses may ignore it, delete it, or even reply to it with harsher words. However, you don’t have to follow the rest.

Be different and address your customer’s concerns. Take this opportunity to learn from your mistakes. See this as an opportunity to turn an angry customer into a loyal customer as well! It will leave a good impression, not only on the once angry customer but to the rest of your audience as well.

To address these types of comments, you can first engage them on the thread then later take it to private direct messaging.

4 – Being Un-Engaging With Your Audience

Customer engagement is vital to the success and growth of your business. If a customer sees that you are replying to their comments, they will be able to see that you care about them. Over time, they will learn to trust you.

The more you respond, the more the customer will engage. Each new comment on your thread is another chance to boost customer engagement between customer and brand. With active participation, high growth and engagement rates will follow.

Remember, social media is one of if not the most powerful medium to reach new customers and build loyalty. Take your time to do it well, and you will reap the rewards.

If you’re looking for a social media management platform to help streamline your digital marketing, get in touch with us today to see how we can help!