Common Mistakes Small Businesses Make on Social Media & How to Do It Better

  As business owners, we should be prioritising our social media marketing, however we don't get told how to do it!
No one gives us a business handbook with all the how to's and what not to do's so we end up winging it and hoping for the best
This leads to most businesses just using what the platforms give us and not utilising them in the best way possible.

So here are some common social media mistakes that I see all the time and how to do it better yourself:

1. Having a personal profile as a business account on Facebook - big no no!  If Facebook picks up on this they have the right to close your account. 

         What to do instead - set up a business page from your personal account, change your personal account             name back to your actual full name and invite friends and family to your new page instead where you can           market to your audience from there.

​    2. Not having links to their business on their personal page on Facebook - if I am making a connection                with you from somewhere and I want to know what you do for a living, I would head to your personal                  profile to find what your business is.  If your link isn't on there then it's more than likely that I won't                    continue with that connection I'm afraid.  It isn't just me but most people like to head to your profile to              link to your business.
        What to do instead - go to your Facebook profile now and add your place of work, you can tag the                      Facebook page and Instagram profiles for it too.

     3.Having a logo as their business profile picture - this one usually surprises people but although a logo is a         great thing to have to get your branding out there, by having a face to the business it will help with those           relationships you want to build with customers.  People buy from people and as a small business, it is                 usually only one or a few people in the company, it's easy to fall into the corporate ways of working but by         having a photo of you and the team people will feel more comfortable buying from you.
       What to do instead - Keep your logo for your main content and marketing materials and change your                 profile photos to a photo of you or your team. A professional head shot works a treat or you in the job will         work too.

     4. Using hashtags from Instagram on Facebook - a common mistake to make as we all love to make our                lives easier by scheduling on one tool and let it go out on all the platforms.  But this is more detrimental              to your business than you think.  If you are posting automatically from Instagram to Facebook, all those              hashtags you use will also get transferred to Facebook which is a platform that doesn't use or like                        hashtags.  
        What to do instead - schedule your Facebook posts independently using the Facebook scheduler and                  turn off posting onto Facebook automatically on Instagram.

    5. Posting low quality or pixelated images - you have worked so hard to find content and write a great                post to go with it, except your image is really dark, or fuzzy, or not eye catching at all.  This isn't going to            make me or anyone else stop and engage with your post however good you think the post is.
        What to do instead - you can edit your images using an app that suits you, I recommend Pic, Tap Go or              Snapseed, if you need to brighten a photo, crop it, filter it in some way, do this before you post it.  If an              image is pixelated, don't use it at all.

    6. Using links in posts on Instagram - another big no no, if you attempt to add a link to your post,                          Instagram won't link it anywhere so no one will be able to click on it and it may affect the way you are                seen.
        What to do instead - you can use one link in your bio which is the section at the top of your page, so link          to your website most importantly.  If you need to link to more than one place, you can use Link.tree                    which lets you add as many links as you like under one URL.

    7. Not responding to comments on posts made by their followers - you have spent all that time creating               magical content for your followers to engage in, and you have received lots of amazing comments to go             with it.  Except what most small businesses do is not reply back.  You wouldn't ignore people face to face if         you had a conversation with them so why would you ignore those that have taken the time to comment on         your social media pages?
       What to do instead - take some time out of your day to respond to every comment left, make                               conversations, find out what your crowd are talking about and watch your engagement rates increase.

    8. Write long and boring posts that are hard to read - I have seen posts that are either one sentence long             or huge long paragraphs, neither of which resonate with me nor your audience.  You may have a lovely               image to attract people to read your post but no one has the time to actually read what you have to say if           it is written in such a sterile way.
       What to do instead - use the tools given to us on our phones and computers, you can write in a creative           way using emojis, paragraphs, spaces, etc.  Always start with an introduction as simple as Hello, and sign             off as you.  Have a call to action so your readers know what to do after the post, do you want them to go             to your website or get in touch with you?  Let them know what the point of your post is and make it stand         out.

   9. Blame the algorithm - I often see small businesses moaning about how their posts aren't getting                         seen than actually posting those posts!  It's easy to blame Facebook and Instagram for the change in                   algorithms but what we should be doing is embracing them and using them to our advantage.  Learn what         it means instead of going against it and concentrate on making sure your audience continue to see your             posts.
      What to do instead - put out a survey to your followers to see what they want to read about on your social        media pages, then apply it, after all they are the ones taking the time to fill it out and will stick around as            they value your business.  Create content that is engaging, stands out and places you as an expert and                eventually your followers will engage back and boom, the algorithm will catch up and realise you have                followers that want to see your content.

  10. Posting content that is all sales sales sales - no one is on social media because they want to be sold to,             fact.  However if they are following your page they obviously like what you do because they hit the like               button.  But this shouldn't prompt you to sell to them all the time despite the temptation.  In fact, selling           posts should be the last thing you should be doing.  
       What to do instead - think about placing yourself as an expert and talk about the things you know will               help your followers, what would they want to know?  What do they need help with?  You can also create             engaging posts to get them talking and they can be fun.  

So, don't make the same mistakes other businesses are doing, be better, be different and make a change to the way you work, I promise it will help you in the long run!

If you need help with anything discussed here, get in touch and I would love to continue helping you towards amazing social media content for your business.

Jade x