Most times while managing the social media of brands, individuals or organizations, social media managers fail to incorporate some key elements of Social media management to ensure the best of results from the use of the platforms. Here are a few of the common errors that managers make in this regard:
1) Assuming all Social Platforms are the same
The algorithms that apply on Twitter, definitely do not apply on Instagram; same also it is for LinkedIn vs other platforms. Most times social media managers create the same content for all the platforms neglecting that Instagram & LinkedIn accepts the use of multiple hashtags, while Twitter looks really ugly when you put more than one hashtag per post.
2) Focusing the content and delivery on the brand and not on the customers
Another big mistake social media managers make is to focus content delivery on the brand and not the customers that would see it online. This is very important and can ruin the kind of conversion a brand gets from its use of social media. If your content doesn’t appeal to your customers (the followers on your pages), you are doing yourself & client a disservice than anything else.
3) Automating Everything
Using third-party apps that help with automation is great, but social media users are already quick to detect when the conversation is not human & you tend to lose their interest with this.
4) Ignoring Negative Feedback
No matter the feedback, you need to be able to use it to the advantage of your brand (or client’s). One time I was working with a brand whose stickers were pasted on a random person’s car. The person sent in a photo of the sticker and the mess it made on his car. He left some really pained comments on their page and I had to respond to him; telling him how sorry we were and that we would do better next time. He seemed to understand the stance I gave him and I quickly moved the conversation into the DM, explained scenarios to him and got him calm. Imagine I had just ignored and he was the stubborn type; wahala reloaded!
5) Improper Proofreading on Content
Even after the content has been drafted for posting, there is always a need to proofread it at least twice before it gets published. You do not want to drop a post on social media and then be trying to edit it after discovering a typographic or grammatical error. Twitter, for example, won’t allow you to edit your post, so what do you then do? You’d have to take down the post and then redo it (the stress!!!) Something you could have just avoided by double-checking before posting.
6) Zero Conversation
Very similar to the problem posed with automation; you post and then neglect the people you are posting for and leave them hanging most of the time, especially when they are seeking answers to questions and clarification of doubts. Social media managers need to allocate time to engage in meaningful conversations with the audience of brands they manage.
7) Irrelevant Use of Hashtags
Like I mentioned earlier, hashtagging might be an important component of content planning for Instagram or LinkedIn, but it would look really unprofessional and disorganized to use a lot of hashtags on Twitter & sometimes on Facebook when you include too many hashtags. You need to know what/when to use your hashtags.
Written by: David Adesina
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