Building a thriving social media presence doesn’t happen overnight, and the most common mistakes revolve around attempting to boost your reach and engagement too quickly. These blunders can cost you followers, customers and credibility. Fortunately, these mistakes are avoidable. Read on to discover how to put your best foot forward as you break into the realm of social media.
Social media mistake #1: Using templates
You may be tempted to use templates to create your social media content. Free programs like Canva are handy when churning out content, and there’s no denying they make the job easier. The problem is that they are so widely used that everyone’s content starts to look the same.
When templates first hit the Internet, they looked fresh and inspired, but in no time at all, the same tired graphics are popping up all across the web. It doesn’t take long before viewers write these posts off as unprofessional and mass produced.
As a content creator, you want to stand out from the crowd. Premade templates make your content look unoriginal.
When posting social media content, quality always trumps quantity. Share only your best content, even if that means less of it goes out overall.
Quality posts resonate with your audience. Over time, your reach and engagement will increase.
If you are hard-pressed for time and tempted to try a template, try the next best thing. Take inspiration from the template, but craft your own graphic.
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Social media mistake #2: Creating content across multiple niches
Creating content across multiple niches may broaden your audience base, but mass-producing the information without custom tailoring it to each niche comes across as lazy. Each social media platform has a different audience. If you don’t take time to figure out who you’re talking to and how to address them, you appear out of touch and unrelatable.
Additionally, posting content to multiple platforms requires a substantial amount of extra time. Each social media platform you become active on involves new followers to engage with and new content to upload.
Because the audience on each platform expects different things from your content, it’s a good idea to create entirely new content for each. If you’re blasting the same content to platforms you haven’t thoroughly researched, you’re bound to be getting less than optimal outcomes. Exploring each niche upfront seems like a lot of effort, but improved results will validate the investment over the long haul.
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Social media mistake #3: Using growth hacks to boost social media presence
Yes, some content creators go viral overnight, but building a social media presence takes time, dedication and commitment for most people. Many people try to circumvent the process by using growth hacks.
At first glance, bots make your account look phenomenal. Each time you post, hundreds of comments pop into your feed, “Great post! Nice picture! Great comment!” Likes and followers appear out of nowhere.
Not surprisingly, tons of people buy followers to boost their numbers. Many people even appear to have success with this shortcut. The problem arises when people take a look at your profile.
It’s not difficult to determine real followers from bot accounts. Once you try this tactic, you lose the credibility you built with real people. In all honesty, isn’t it real people you’re trying to reach in the first place?
Automating engagement strikes followers as inauthentic and fake. In the long run, growth hacks like this only serve to damage your online presence.
Social media mistake #4: Perfectionism
Many people use social media to curate their highlights. They think people will only follow them if they are picture-perfect and scripted. Believe it or not, this approach can make you appear dull and unoriginal. While everyone thinks they want perfection, staring it in the face can be a bit of a turnoff.
People often garner more success when they are seen as human. Content creators who make mistakes, have bad days or flub a line every once in a while are relatable. Relatability and authenticity on social media translate into followers.
Take time to prepare professional content, be an expert on your topic and use the best equipment you can get your hands on, but don’t get hung up on perfection. Being yourself is far better than being perfect when it comes to social media.
The biggest takeaway for new content creators is pacing. Social media success is attainable, but it only comes with effort, creativity, originality, dedication and commitment. Avoid templates, untailored content across multiple niches, and growth hacks. Stick to quality content that allows you to show your authentic brand to the world.
