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Social media can be an extremely powerful and effective tool – it can build and maintain relationships with clients, drive traffic to your website, boost sales, increase brand awareness – if used correctly, of course. Social media is such an established component of the marketing process as a whole, that it can sometimes feel infallible. However, just as with any other component of marketing, it is extremely important to strategize and use the correct tools and techniques when it comes to social media. There are plenty of mistakes that can be made, and here are the top five that you should avoid:

  1. Cross-posting identical posts on different platforms. Cross-posted updates ignore differences in channel audiences. Your Facebook audience is different from your Twitter audience, which is different from your LinkedIn audience. It is essential to tailor updates to match these differences in demographics.
  2. Ignoring “voice.” You need to establish what the personality of your company is before posting on social media. Is it funny? Serious? Witty? Expert? Determine this and then ensure that all your interactions on social media have a consistent tone and voice that reflect this personality and your brand as a whole.
  3. Being inconsistent. Posting too much, too little, or unpredictably are common mistakes companies make with their social media accounts. Posting six things on Monday and then nothing for the rest of the week is not the best idea. Post consistently throughout the day and week; people need to be reminded that you are there.
  4. Selling too much. People come to social media to take a break from the advertising that they are otherwise constantly surrounded by. Your social media stream should not be pure promotion; on the contrary, make sure that the majority of your content is unrelated to any sort of sales push, and rather just exemplifies your company’s culture.
  5. Not interacting with followers. Simply posting updates and pictures is not enough! Engagement is a two-way street. Replying, commenting, retweeting, and sharing are all essential to fostering relationships with followers and creating a sense of community.

While many people make these social media mistakes, they are completely avoidable if you are careful in planning and execution. Make sure that you are providing your followers and customers with valuable, interesting, and unique content, avoid these mistakes, and you are good to go!