For an individual, social media is an easy place to loiter. He could be aggressive, he could be less professional, he could be overtly emotional, even he might offend someone with his posts.
However, it is much different with a brand. For a brand, social media is a battleground, where he has to continuously fight with competitors to stay abreast. A brand needs to strictly follow some right strategy that earns tons of new followers. A slight error and a brand loses its followers forever.
We cannot deny the tremendous ability and potential that social media has for businesses pertaining to brand recognition . It can either make or break a brand image. And when social media is not used rightly, it could actually damage the brand reputation costing a greater loss in the long run. And 2017 is going to be an important year for brands using social media to build a recognition.
This blog would let you walk through the errors that you must strongly avoid at all costs when it comes to branding purpose.
1. Inconsistent Posts
Well, this happens for many reasons. Maybe you didn’t feel the day is perfect for a post, maybe your enthusiasm waned. Or maybe you didn’t have enough time to dedicate for a new post. On top of that, perhaps you are against of using any scheduling tool. Whatever be the case, whenever your posts become inconsistent, your followers will take notice of that. And the day they get the hint that you are socially inconsistent, they won’t stick around you. Of course, we do not recommend a rigorous schedule just for the sake of it. But yes, it does have to be consistent no matter what.
2. Too many Social Networks
Definitely, you would reap more benefits if you have more than one social networks, there’s no doubt in that. But sometimes, quality supersedes quantity. You take control of hundreds of social media channels, and then end up in dedicating not enough time to any of them. What is the point in that? Does it value-add to your brand in any way? Rather you mess it all up and your brand image gets marred.
Better you prioritize the social media channels one over the other. You choose three or maximum four channels and allocate all of your time on those.
3. Irrelevant Hashtags
Hashtags are the buzzwords of the millennials. Since the advent of Twitter, they have made their way into many social channels, like Facebook, Instagram, and the likes. Well, though hashtags help customers find out relevant and useful content, too much of hashtags deviate and distract people. Many studies have proved that posts should have a reasonable number of hashtags. If not, the level of interaction decreases.
Make sure you use the hashtags correctly so that it remains in trend, but also promotes efficiency and your understanding of the context.
4. Posting too much at one go
This is one big horrible idea to make use of. You should not overfeed your customers/followers. Else they will most likely unfollow you or overlook all the posts you have shared, causing an immense loss for you. Ensure there is a proper gap between your tweets and posts. Also, try to dive deep and check which is the high time when your followers and fans are online. You can make the most use of it.
5. Ignoring Criticism
I believe criticisms are your praises in disguise. If you think in a way, when someone criticizes you, indirectly that person drives you to rectify that mistake and never to commit the same again. So take your criticisms in a positive manner. Have a sporting spirit to take them positively and use such circumstances as opportunities. Few companies think the best way to avoid criticism is to ignore and get rid of it simply. But this should never be the correct way. Use the criticism to make it big.
6. Incessantly Selling
Often companies and brands alike think social media as only a sales tool. But this isn’t true. Of course, social media is a place where you can get more sales because the outreach is wide, but people mostly use social media to see and interact with individuals and brands. If you constantly bother them with your sales pitch, you will be considered not only as insincere but also deceptive. And naturally, this will take a considerable toll on your brand image and reputation.
Don’t take social media for granted. Pitch and advertise your products ad service occasionally, but your prime focus should be building social image and social relation.
7. Spamming your Followers
Now, this is another terrible mistake that brands often commit. Spamming your followers would retain you adrift in the social media world. Neither your brand would have recognition. Nor you would have a steady number of followers. Because incessant direct advertising messages are perceived to be annoying by them. If you do this persistently, you lose a good number of followers.
Examples of spamming are, posting several messages in a single day, posting the same old message repeatedly, direct messaging your followers with contents that add no value to them, but just brandishes your pitch. Before posting anything on social media, think twice! Think from a potential customer’s angle. Would this post be valuable to you?
We had already discussed how social media can help promote brands and improve business. But social media is not a money making machine. Companies need to understand this. It is a supportive and highly effective tool to drive sales but only when used correctly. Don’t overuse or misuse this tool; else it would backfire on your brand, costing a bigger loss in the long run. Use your resources wisely, be pro-active, but don’t mix it with aggressive marketing.
Always remember to treat your fans and followers on social media, the same way you would treat them in person, in real-time. Only then you can create a sustainable brand image.
