The online marketing world is evolving at a rapid pace since the emergence of social media.

Nowadays, many prospective clients will judge you based on your social media presence so it’s imperative to keep a professional profile and maintain your social media presence consistently, in order to give the best impression of your business image.

After reading this article, you will have a better sense of social media, lessen the confusion you have around it and learn some tips on how to gain better engagement with your efforts.

Here are the 5 mistakes I commonly see entrepreneurs and small business owners make on social media:

1. MISTAKE #1 – Not Having a Marketing Strategy in Place

   I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage before, “if you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know you’ve arrived?”

   The same thing applies in any business marketing efforts – you must have a strategy in place so you can see if your efforts are not only working, but be able to determine WHAT you should be doing in order to meet your business goals.

   The first thing you need is to implement a marketing strategy. This strategy should include social media but not be exclusive to it. Social media should only be one spoke in your overall marketing strategy.

   Your ultimate goal is to maintain a consistent social media presence. Whether you do that 100% yourself or you hire people like eVision Media to help supplement your efforts, this is a critical component to your success.

2. MISTAKE #2 – Not Having Consistent Branding

   Another mistake I see is entrepreneurs not fully understanding the importance of a visual brand and keeping it consistent across EVERY marketing channel, including social media.

   This means having your logo on everything plus use consistent brand colours, fonts and style in order to present the same brand message across everything you do.

   Often I see disharmony between a Facebook page cover image and a website where there is little indication the two are related.

   Brand recognition is very important and shouldn’t be ignored. 

   This also applies to inconsistent messages. Be sure to keep a clear understanding of your values and business position so you don’t post things that are contradictory to that or give an incorrect impression about you.

3. MISTAKE #3 –  Not Fully Defining Your Ideal Client Profile

   In order to know what to post on social media, you must know who your target market is. This is imperative that you fully understand who it is that you want to appeal to in your social media efforts.

   There’s no point in going through all the work of posting if you don’t know who it is that will be the most willing and able to do business with you.

   You end up sharing posts your followers are not interested in and they will be quick to unfollow as a result.

   RELEVANCY is key. Once you are clear on who you want to attract as your ideal client, then you want to focus on sending “that person” the kind of posts that appeal to them or provide information they are seeking.

4. MISTAKE #4 – Trying to “Push” Too Much

   SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT A FORM OF ADVERTISING

   And don’t be fooled into thinking it is. If you do, then you will most certainly fail and not get near the results you are hoping for.

   It’s important to realize that social media is not a means for you to continually “Push” yourself upon your followers by trying to sell them or get them to sign up for something.

   There has to be an exchange of value happening or you WILL lose followers.

   I see a lot of new entrepreneurs not balance their promotional posts with informational posts and it’s important to understand to GIVE VALUE FIRST and build up relationships with your followers and then the natural tendency will be for them to want to know more about you and what you have to offer.

   I believe one of the main reasons why some people do this is that they are not seeing social media as a long-term strategy.

   It’s a long term commitment where you shouldn’t expect immediate results, but in the long run, you will  reap the benefits of your efforts.

5. MISTAKE #5 – Not Posting the Right Message at the Right Time the Right Way

   This is where a lot of valuable time and energy is wasted.  For example, say someone is wide awake at 1am and decides this is the perfect time to get caught up on their social media.

   You’ll see posts about how they can’t get to sleep or how their cats look so cute curled up together on the bed.

   Meanwhile, their target market is fast asleep, not paying any attention and more importantly, don’t care even if they did see the post!

   What is happening is many people are being too random on social media and not strategic enough where they haven’t figured out WHAT their followers want to read from them or what time of the day and week they would most likely be online to read those posts.

   So be sure to look at your social media stats regularly to find this information out and use your target market analysis to help you determine what to write about.

I witness several more mistakes but these are top of mind. Are you guilty of any?

About the Author, Susan Friesen

Located in the lower mainland of B.C., Susan Friesen is a visionary brand strategist, entrepreneur, and founder of British Columbia’s premiere boutique web development and digital marketing agency, eVision Media.

With over 20 years of experience in the industry, she is an expert in helping businesses establish their online presence and create a strong brand identity.

Her passion for empowering entrepreneurs and small business owners to succeed in the digital world has earned her a reputation as a leading authority in the branding and marketing industry.

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