As the years have passed, the use of social media has gone from something that was once voluntary to something that is practically expected. A business that chooses to isolate itself in the physical realm or merely on a website has little to no long-term chance of expanding in the way that its competitors will no doubt do. In order to prevent this, leaping onto social media is commonplace for many businesses and brands these days. Unfortunately, many make a variety of mistakes in the process. Is it possible that your brand or business has made one of the classic social media goofs? Please read below and check to see if you’re currently in the clear or not.

Inconsistencies in Brand Image

You didn’t think that you could get away with having just one social media profile, did you? Social media is about the broader picture – in order to connect with all relevant aspects of your potential audience, you have to embrace networks like Facebook and Twitter, as well as Google Plus and Instagram. If your brand presence is inconsistent across these platforms – different usernames, different logos, different forms of contact information, etc. – then how can they be for sure which is which, and if all are actually your profiles? Always be consistent and you’ll avoid sending mixed messages.

Being Ignorant of Your Audience

Who is your audience? What do they enjoy, what do they do, who do they socialize with, and so forth? If you cannot answer these questions, then you cannot be for sure whether or not you are supplying your audience with ideal material, updates and marketing. You can, however, be sure that you are ignorant about your audience. Social media for businesses largely revolves around content marketing. In order to properly do this, you must first know who you’re talking to and what constitutes their behaviour. Otherwise, you’re just pinging noise at them, rather than appealing to them.

Marketing the Same Content

We emphasized above how important it can be to have multiple social media accounts. This is to reach people from all walks of life and with varying interests, which is based on the fact that different social media users have different interests. It falls on the shoulders of your brand to learn more about each audience and treat them accordingly. If you are simply sharing the same content across all social media platforms, then users of two or more of these networks will have no incentive to network with you on all of them. In order to engage the maximum number of people possible (and the maximum number of people on all networks in which they’re on), you’ll need to have separate forms of content and/or separate ways of marketing it for each social media network.

Conclusion

If you are marketing the same content across multiple networks, possess no knowledge of the innate characteristics of your audience or have dramatic inconsistencies in your brand image, then it’s no wonder your social media presence isn’t doing better than it is – you’re just pinging noise! Turn this situation around by employing the strategies mentioned above and you will be on the right track toward excelling on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and beyond.