We can often get so wrapped up in the art of managing our social media accounts that we forget to take the time to read our posts, tweets and blurbs from another perspective. While this is often a necessary part of social media strategy (to ensure that you do not alienate your audience), there are a variety of efforts you must also consider on the back end of your efforts. From proper marketing strategy to comprehensive data analysis, you need a variety of tools and features enabled in order to excel in this area. So many people want to know how to succeed at social media: the real way you do so is by not failing spectacularly in the beginning. Below, we’ll discuss five social media mistakes that you should always strive to avoid.

No Analytics

If you do not have some form of analytics installed or configured to monitor your social media presence, then you are destined to fail. Ultimately, a variety of data points and trends can be collected from the information analytics provides – whether it’s marketing, viral sharing potential or community engagement, these indicators can often be measured by analytics. You can find several free and premium solutions that will be pinging servers with all sorts of information about your presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more.

Off Topic Rambling

If you like to vary up your social media content routine, then you probably know that some days do better than others when it comes to likes, shares and mentions. This is of course due to the fact that your audience has varying tastes, and different aspects of your audience will catch each piece of content when it’s posted. When you go off-topic or fail to incorporate a foreign subject into the message of your brand, it is bound to bomb. By avoiding this strategy, you can ensure that each update or post at least has the opportunity to be well-received.

No Personality

A stale, generic message to your audience will probably not perform as intended, so you must strive to develop a sense of character and personality with your brand. By knowing how you want others to perceive you, it suddenly becomes much easier to be pinging servers with the narrative that best fits said vision. Without a plan to craft personality for your social media presence, few people will care enough to interact with you.

No Engagement

If you only post and post – but never reply – then you are committing a huge social media faux-pas. In order to build community and increase reach, you have to interact with your audience and show them they are appreciated. Without a dialogue, these people will have very little reason to engage with your brand and will soon forget about it.

Dumb Posts

Last but definitely not least, stupid posts that can frame your brand in a negative light should be avoided at all costs. While not likely to sink your brand early on, larger entities have suffered severe social media snafus as a result of compromised accounts, poorly-timed posts and irate social media staffers. You can minimize this by double-checking each post for insensitive remarks and scheduling posts in advance only when needed.