Kyle Toscano

08.06.2019

3 Major Social Media Mistakes

Following your favorite brand on social media can be a great way to get insider info on products, stay up to date with the company and create a connection with a brand that has meaning to you. However, users are quick to hit the unfollow button when an organization’s content rubs them the wrong way. Here are three major mistakes brands you can make with your organic social media strategy that can plummet your follower count.

  1. Spamming your audience: Overly-frequent posting was voted the most annoying thing brands do on social media by 5% of surveyed consumers. Promotional content is a great way to directly get information out to the audience, but not getting creative can hurt you in the long run. Social media is not a one-way channel of communication, it is important to consider quality over quantity of posts to be digestible on social media. When you do post, be sure it’s not just for the sake of posting, but that the content provides some sort of value to your followers.
     
  2. Trying “too hard”: 29% of consumers reported they unfollowed brands on social media for using jargon/slang (like “BAE” or “FOMO”) and trying too hard to connect younger audiences like Gen Z. Being entertaining is a major aspect to succeeding at social media, but when a brand forcefully uses trendy language to connect with a youthful audience, they can sense the inauthenticity automatically. Identify the language your target audience uses themselves and the context surrounding it before trying to squeeze in slang to your content wherever you can.
     
  3. Ignoring your followers: Lastly, 24% of consumers in this study said they unfollowed brands because they didn’t respond to their DMs. Like previously mentioned, a key characteristic of social media is the “social” aspect, and consumers want to feel a two-way channel of communication from brands they follow. Social platforms are an excellent way to engage with your audience that should definitely be taken advantage of, especially if your followers take the first step to connect!

Social media is a great resource to directly connect with and influence your consumers. When used correctly, it is a spectacular tool to expose products and services to broad audiences. However, strategy is key when developing a social media presence, and it’s important to prioritize authenticity and two-way communication when building a loyal follower base.

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