It’s true that with social media, you have all the tools you need right at your fingertips. But those tools are constantly changing, developing, or disappearing and with trying to do a million things in a day, learning the ins and outs of each platform can feel daunting.

Let’s break down the top things to avoid when using social media so you can be a little better equipped in your day-to-day content creation.

1. You’re only on social to sell

Intention is everything. If you’re only getting online to push products or services, you’re not seeing the deeper value of what you do on social.

Over 50% of customers have said they will unfollow accounts that post pushy or annoying adverts consistently on their social media channels.

Your initial goal may be to sell x,y,z, and that’s perfectly fine – when you understand that there is a reason for that product.

When you can say with certainty that your services offer a value that you wish to give to other people. Not only will you see how a connection with others is what truly gets people interested but you’ll find that whatever you have to offer starts selling itself.

Your reasons for doing your business needs to go 1. What does my audience need/want/like? 2. What can I do to provide that for them?

2. You’re setting the wrong goals

If your ideal image of your brand doing well is to have one hundred thousand followers on Instagram, then put the processes and systems in place to create the content that gets you there.

But if that’s not your goal, you won’t be using those same steps. Maybe your follower count is below one thousand but you receive a ton of engagement through stories. If that’s the case, work with that!

Wherever your audience interacts with you most through likes, shares, or comments, let them know you see that by continuously creating something of value.

3. You treat each platform the same

You might have a few friends who follow you on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram, but generally speaking, you’re speaking to different audiences.

Cross-platform posting is important – it’s how you ensure each of your leads sees your content. But one person who keeps up with you on YouTube may not be the same person consuming your Facebook or Instagram content.

Long-form content does a lot better on YouTube than any other platform. People go there to learn how to do something.

That isn’t a typical Instagram user’s goal when scrolling their feed. Instagram favors short, catchy, and sharable content.

You can still serve two types of people by posting to each of these platforms, but by offering different forms of media, you speak to their specific needs.

4. You slack on engagement

It’s the last thing on your mind some days – going through and liking comments, responding to DM’s, interacting with other people’s posts. But this is the type of activity that you really just have to sit down and do.

Whether you block off time in the morning or evening to just go through for 15-30 minutes and start some conversations. Not only does your audience respond well to it, but the algorithm favors that as well.

You let Instagram, Facebook, and others know that you’re interacting with people, those people interact with you and the app sees your content as valuable.

But most importantly, it’s because you make those connections.

5. You ignore the experts

It’s pretty common to see a busy executive lack on their social media simply because their time is valuable and they’re in high demand. They recognize that having a personal brand is highly important but fail to find the time to understand the tools and learn all-new skills to create a strong online presence.

Even if they were to have the skills, managing multiple social channels is still time-consuming. That’s where deciding to work with an agency can save you the confusion and multiple headaches.

With an agency like Alimond, we take into account your personal goals, what your audience wants to see from you, and what performs well and combine it with our high-quality personal branding skills.

You can use the tools you’re given or you can choose people who make it their job to help you look good (and help you feel good, too).

Let’s stay in touch!

Cheers,

The A Team