Social Media Mistakes to Avoid

There are over 152 million active Twitter accounts, 1 billion active Instagram accounts, and 2.7 billion active Facebook accounts in this world. That is a lot of social media content, and a lot of people looking at it. Those numbers represent a host of opportunities to grow an audience, connect with like-minded individuals, find companies to collaborate with, and get some new loyal customers. IF you manage your social media accounts thoughtfully.   

If you’re creating new company social accounts just to post a picture of the office cat once a month, your accounts are probably DOA. If you’re shooting for genuine growth and an engaged following, there is a right way and a wrong way to manage your social media accounts.  

Whether you’re creating a new account or trying to drum up engagement on an older, neglected account, there is tons of room for growth and adapting better social media habits, and a few not-so-obvious social media mistakes to avoid.  

Social media mistakes to avoid  

Post frequently and then fizzle out  

Many teams get very excited right when they create an account and overdo it on the posting schedule. Once that initial content runs out, they may decrease the posting frequency a little (or a lot). This is an issue if you want your posts seen by a maximum amount of people.  

Social media account algorithms prioritize showing consistent posters over inconsistent posters every time. If they don’t “think” that people will be consistently engaged by an account’s content, they won’t show that account’s posts to many people.  

The Fix:  

Decide on a realistic long-term posting frequency, and stick to it.  

Don’t bite off more than you can chew off the bat. Most companies don’t have the bandwidth to post quality content multiple times a day, or even daily. So, if you start with that frequency, it will be difficult to keep it up.  

Different companies can handle different posting frequencies – it’s better to choose the right one for you than to follow non-contextual best practices. Yes, posting several times a day is generally too much, and posting 1-2 times a month probably isn’t enough to get you growth. But there is an acceptable range (from daily to 2ish times per week) from where you can choose the best frequency for you and your team.  

Download our checklist of 30+ ways to promote content here.

You find followers for follower’s sake  

Follow count is but a number.  

Yes, lots of followers look great. But they can do just as much harm as they can do good. You may not realize it, but followers are only as good as their engagement. Tons of followers that don’t care about your content will damage your rep in the eyes of social media platforms, and affect your reach.  

If you use strategies that boost your follower count (reaching out on your accounts, buying followers, etc.) without taking targeting into account, it can seriously mess with your engagement levels. You may get those pity or purchase follows, but chances are they won’t engage like a follower that you gained organically. That high follow and low engagement tells social media accounts that you aren’t creating quality content, and it will stop showing your posts.  

The fix:  

Grow your followers from your content.  

Yes, growing organically means growing slowly, but it is an audience that followed you for your content. The people that followed you because they like and want to see more of your content. Those are the people that will like, share, and comment on your content, boosting your reach and prioritizing your content.  

You only post and don’t interact  

Social media platforms want to highlight accounts that have real people behind every action.  

Yes, scheduling posts on a third-party platform saves you time and logistics, but the buck doesn’t stop there. If your account is post, post, post with no other interactions, social media accounts will probably flag you as robot-esque. This can hurt your post reach and your order in social media feeds.  

From the human side, there are even more repercussions. People can easily see whether or not a company engages with its audience on social media. If there is little to no communication or responses on posts, what incentive do they have to reach out? If there is radio silence from your company, followers most likely won’t even try to interact with you.   

The fix  

Consistently hop into your account and engage.  

Like follower posts, comment on photos, respond to DMs, and follow relevant accounts. The more you interact with an array of accounts, the more your handle gets out there to new potential followers.  

Only post static images  

It’s no secret that video performs well on every social media platform – not to mention the new forms of content that popped up over the last year from TikTok videos to live content.   

If you’re not taking advantage of all of the tools at your disposal, you’re not tapping into the full possibilities of social media.   

Social media prioritizes accounts that post different types of content, from stories to live videos to IG reels – you can see this by the prime real estate these types of content get on the platform  

• Stories are the first type of content you see when you open a social app  
• IG live gets to be the front of the line on live stories, AND all of your followers are notified when you go live.   
• IG reels get front-and-center attention in IG explore  

The fix  

Don’t be afraid to experiment with your content types to find what social strategy works for you!   

Trying new content strategies and new media can be a little awkward at the beginning, and your first pieces of content with a new media probably won’t be your best. But after the growing pains, you just may find new content channels that your audience loves to engage with.   

Test out a collaboration with another person or company for an IG live interview to boost your reach. Try making IG Reels to leverage the great app real estate this content type has. There are tons of ways to get content in front of people, so take your pick on the ones that may work for your company and test out some new posts!  

Don’t leverage new social connections  

If you’re doing something right, you will probably get some DMs from relevant accounts that want to connect. Don’t sleep on that networking!   

While some DMs are spammy and not very helpful, others can seriously grow your engaged audience – and it’s usually pretty easy to tell the difference. DMs from interested potential customers can lead to purchases, sometimes a quick reply to a question is all someone needs to decide to purchase. Genuine DMs from other companies can lead to new PR, interview opportunities, more shares and promotions, and industry stamps of approval.   

The fix:  

Respond to DMs, and DM accounts that you want to potentially align yourself with.   

Find accounts that align with your message, promote a similar quality of content, and discuss topics that resonate with your current audience. Reach out with a genuine message that mentions a name, why you like their content, and what you are hoping to do with a connection to maximize your chances of growing a relationship.  

There are great opportunities to try a joint IG Live video, schedule social interviews, reach double the amount of people, and benefit from each other’s promotion.  

Publish “blah” content  

There is wayyy too much social content out there to think you can squeak by with mediocre posts.  

From bad ads to skippable posts, people won’t spend a second on content that looks half-assed or uncreative. It’s more important than ever to create quality content because otherwise, you’re revving an engine without going anywhere.  

The fix  

React to how your audience reacts to your content. If they like a certain topic or format, weave it into your regular strategy. If there is minimal engagement, that may not be the right content for your posts.   

Grow from your audience’s opinion and ask them what they want to see in the future. Test different types of content, consistently post, and review past content to identify the most engaging content for your social accounts.    

No matter how old your brand is, it deserves to be shown in the best possible light. If you need help creating a strong promotion strategy, reach out to our team!