10 Biggest Social Media Marketing Mistakes Businesses Make

Do you pour your heart and soul into social media posts that perform poorly? Don’t throw in the towel just yet. With 41% of local businesses depending on social media to drive revenue, you don’t want to miss out on your piece of the pie.

Here are ten social media mistakes you could be making and how to fix them.

Free Guide: Need Help Getting Social?

We’ll show you how to set the right goals for your social media platforms so you can grow your following and draw new customers in.

Save Now

1. Cross-posting the Same Content on All Channels

Not all social media platforms are created equal. For instance, your perfectly crafted photo might not go over as well on X (formerly Twitter) as it would on Instagram.

Plus, you don’t want your followers feeling like they’re watching “Groundhog Day” — seeing the same post over and over again.

Try your best to tailor content for each social platform based on what its users prefer to see.

Sometimes duplicating content is unavoidable. For instance, short-form videos are what drive TikTok and Instagram Reels. It’s not as if you’re going to make two different videos, right?

But you can tailor your caption to match each platform’s tone so it feels less like you posted the exact same content twice. Plus, you don’t need to use every single platform out there. Just use the ones that make the most sense for your small business.

2. Incorrectly Using Hashtags

The two biggest offenses when using hashtags are not researching beforehand and using way too many. A little bit of digging can help you decide which hashtags are relevant and will perform better.

You don’t want to use a hashtag with little to no engagement or one that represents something completely different than what you intend.

Using too many hashtags can make a post look cluttered and compromise its overall reach. Just like keyword stuffing for websites, stuffing as many hashtags as possible into your caption will negatively affect how many users see your post.

Focus on your post’s most important points and keep hashtags between two to five, in general.

3. Lacking Human Element

Social media is all about storytelling and giving users a reason to engage. Pull back the curtain on the small business machine to show consumers you’re human, too — it’ll help them relate to you. This is especially true when you posts ads.

Posts that are only about booking services or buying products are likely to turn off customers. If you’re not sure where to start, get the creative juices flowing with a day-in-the-life post or a behind-the-scenes post. You can also get tips from our Content Creation Guide.

You can also write click-worthy social media captions using an AI tool. These programs are installed into your social media management platforms and they can suggest captions for you. That saves you time and it helps you stay on top of your social medai strategy.

Here’s an example of what one of these tools looks like:

4. Ignoring or Deleting Negative Feedback

Building trust is the foundation of a consumer’s relationship with a small business owner. The social media mistake you should avoid at all costs is ignoring or deleting negative customer feedback.

In fact, some platforms like Instagram still allow users to see feedback hidden by the social profile owner.

One of the first things consumers do when researching a business is read reviews and comments. If you’re not making an effort to resolve a conflict with a patron, a potential customer won’t trust you to do the same for them.

A little acknowledgment will go a long way. If you see a negative comment or review on your social platforms, reply to the user with an apology and offer to rectify the issue offline.

5. Focusing on Followers Instead of Engagement

Does your competitor have twice as many followers as you? Don’t sweat it. Your number of followers doesn’t automatically correlate with engagement.

Your goal on social media is to build a community of people who regularly engage with your content. A group of 200 heavily active followers is better than 500 who don’t engage at all.

Followers who frequently share, comment and like your posts can help your brand’s social media presence grow. Plus, high engagement rates can improve your position in the platform’s algorithm, increase reach and gain more active followers.

6. Spelling or Grammatical Mistakes

One of the easiest ways for your brand to get criticized onliine is by having spelling or gammatical mistakes in your captions and comments. While they might seem like small mistakes, these comments are low-hanging fruit for social media trolls who are looking for any small detail to criticize about your brand.

You can avoid these mistakes with built-in web browser tools like Spellcheck, or install an extension like Grammarly which can edit your writing and make suggestions for potential changes. Always proofread your writing before publishing, and take advantages of these tools to ensure you never let a funny spelling or grammatical error slip through the cracks.

7. Not Having Social Media

As cliche as it is, you can’t score a goal if you don’t take a shot. And, social media is one of the most effective marketing channels for small businesses. In fact, the average return on investment (ROI) of a social media advertising campaign is 95%.

If you don’t have social media for your business, here’s how to get started:

• Identify the platforms that your customers are using (more on this in the next section). 
• Adopt a social media management tool to create, schedule, and post content.
• Create a social media publishing calendar. 
• Research trends, topics, and updates that are relevant to your audience. 

8. Using the Wrong Platforms

Social media marketing is only effective if you choose the right channels for your business. If you’re advertising on the wrong social media platforms, you’ll spend time and money promoting messages that your customers will never see.

It’s important to research your customer base and identify the social platforms that your audience is using most. You can use surveys to gather feedback from customers, or compare your social media accounts to see which ones generate the most followers and engagement.

Source

9. Ignoring Social Media Performance Data

Did you know that each social media account has built-in reporting tools? This data is incredibly useful when trying to improve your marketing campaigns over time.

Depending on the platform, you can see which posts generated the most engagement (likes & comments), impressions, or shares for your account. You can also track your followers over time and reviews left for your business. Most platforms even offer comprehensive dashboards that summarize this data for you. You just have to keep an eye on it over time and you’ll identify trends that lead to engagement.

10. Not Using a Social Media Management Tool

A social media management tool is a program that combines your social media accounts into one app. You can write, schedule, and publish posts without having to switch between platforms. You can also respond to customers and like their comments from the same place. They’re incredibly handy for small businesses because they save you time and help you avoid embrassing social media mistakes.

For example, let’s say you’re working on a jobsite and you receive a bad review on your Facebook page. At the same time, that unhappy customer is leaving comments on your Instagram page, demanding a refund. Rather than having to jump between apps on your phone, you can use your social media management tool to handle the situation on both platforms. You’ll stay more organized, which will make it easier to keep up with negative comments and write thoughtful responses.

And, many of these tools come with AI assistants. So, if you get writer’s block or aren’t sure what the customer is saying, you can lean on your AI tools to help you come up with an effective response.

Social Media Mistakes in Business

If you’ve read this far, it must mean you’re ready to turn over a new leaf. So here’s a bonus: You can correct all these social media mistakes until the cows come home, but it won’t mean anything if you’re not learning how to improve your followers’ experiences.

All platforms have at least a basic analytics hub to track how your posts perform. Do yourself and your followers a favor — check metrics often to spot posts with the most engagement, and replicate what makes them work.

Social media is a fickle and fluid beast. But no matter how much a trend or platform changes, avoiding these mistakes is your best chance to master the small business social media marketing space for the long haul.