7 Cardinal Sins Of Social Media Marketing

Social media is a very powerful tool that you can tap on to generate a huge following and expand your brand to infinity and beyond. It may look easy to handle an account, but it can get daunting to stay on top of things. Even more when you consider there are specific guidelines that you need to follow to maximize your content and reach on each platform. 

Wait a minute. Did I mention guidelines? Oh yes, I did. Posting your business content to social media requires strategic planning and detailed analysis. What works? What doesn't work? What's a good time to post? Where should I post? And if you've not been asking yourself these questions prior to putting out your content, then you for sure have committed one of these 7 cardinal sins:

1. Crossposting The Same Content To Different Social Media Platforms

Crossposting is the act of posting the same content to multiple places. In this case, posting the same content to different social media platforms. One of the benefits of crossposting is that it saves you tons of time. One post to rule them all. That makes sense if you're posting an announcement. If your plan is to increase your YouTube subscribers, then posting the same video to your Facebook profile pretty much prevents anyone from subscribing. If I can get the same content here, why would I want to leave this platform?

You should also understand that each social media platform thrives on different language style, tone, visuals and overall formatting. What you use on Instagram will not work on LinkedIn. Or how you write for Instagram may not necessary work on Facebook. So you expect everything to translate like it should to all the platforms when you're crossposting, but the truth is it doesn't, and it looks bad on you at times.

Solution: Cross promotion. Set a goal and decide which platform you want to post to and then cross promote using a graphic or simple sentences to drive traffic to the platform of choice. This will help increase awareness of your various platforms, and also increases your subscriber/follower count as they'll find different content at different places.

2. Crossposting From A Page To A Profile

Very similar to the above, but you post your content to your Facebook Page and share that content to your Facebook Profile, and find your content get more likes your in Facebook Profile than your Facebook Page. The goal is to increase your follower count in your Facebook Page. Why would anyone bother to give you a "Like" in your Facebook Page if you are posting that same content to your Facebook Profile? And it is actually more valuable to you as a content creator to get more "Likes" in your Facebook Page than Facebook Profile as that expands your personal branding and worth.

Solution: It is okay if you want to crosspost once in a while. Like one time for every four content you post. Every other time, create a post or graphic to let your Facebook Profile friends know you've posted new content to your Facebook Page. Divert the traffic there. It'll take a little while before your friends get used to liking your content in your Facebook Page. And the more they like it, the higher chance of them seeing new posts from the Facebook Page next time.

3. Posting The Wrong Kind of Content To The Wrong Platform

We devour content differently from different social media platforms. No one goes into Instagram looking to read long posts. No one goes into LinkedIn expecting to read the funnies. No one goes into YouTube to view a photo. Each platform has their own demographics, tone and strategies. The way you write, the language you use and the visuals you create will affect the reach of the post. Posting the wrong kind of content to the wrong platform harms your brand more as no one would bother looking at what you've created. 

Solution: You'll need to look at the demographics you're targeting. The kind of content the demographics devour. The platform they choose the devour the content. Then you'll want to create content that suits that platform. That'll give you the bigger advantage.

4. Over Posting

I get it. You want to engage with your followers. You have a million things you want to share with them. And you think by posting more you'll be reaching out to more people. Right? Wrong. Most social media algorithm work in a way where if a post gains traction, the post gets shown to more people. This is high quality content that we are talking about. What is the likelihood that you'll be posting high quality content 5 times a day? Very unlikely. Most content creators manage to put out ONE high quality content every week and repurpose that for the rest of the week.

When you over post and every post doesn't gain traction, your organic reach starts to fall and the social media platform will deem your account to be less valuable to them. This in turn means you'll not be able to reach more of your followers. Not only that, if your content isn't of the quality your followers expect of you, and you're flooding their newsfeed, then they'll likely unfollow you. Double whammy there.

Solution: Post once or twice a day MAX. And ensure that you're posting out quality content. If you have nothing to say, then do what Ronan Keating suggests: "You say it best, when you say nothing at all."

5. Posting At Odd Hours

I've seen friends posting their content at odd hours like 11pm or 1am and then wonder why no one is or very few are engaging with them. Well, that's most likely due to people have shut off their devices have have gone to bed. And if no one is there to engage with your content the first few minutes of posting, the social media algorithm will deem your post to be less valuable and the organic reach will fall even further. That's the danger in posting at odd hours.

Solution: One of the most important things you need to constantly relook at is the analytics that the social media platforms provide. Remember that each platform will always want the best from you so that they can generate the most income for themselves. As such, they will provide you with the timings that your content gets the most view. Use these timings to schedule your post. Best time for organic outreach and also for engagement. 

6. Posting Your Personal Stuff To Your Business Account

From sharing cute dog videos to jumping in on the latest social media trends to posting random photos of you doing random things that have zero to do with what your business account is about. Let's be clear. Unless you are a celebrity, otherwise, no 👏🏼 one 👏🏼 cares 👏🏼 . Unless your page is all about it, otherwise be very careful when posting political or religious content into your business account. Anything that can be divisive can be detrimental to your business.

Solution: It is very important to have distinctions between your personal profile and your business profile. Be clear and be intentional in what you post. Focus on adding value to your followers, and not distract them with noise. It's okay to take a stance, and people do love companies who take a clear stance, but this requires you to take very careful consideration and ensure you word your content as accurately as possible to prevent anyone from twisting your words. If you're not someone who can word things out clearly, either hire someone who can, or don't do it at all.

7. Posting Without A Plan

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Likewise, posting to your business profile without a plan is just noise. There's no strategy. There's no vision. There's no purpose. All your followers will get is blah, blah, blah, and they'll probably tune out after a while because they have zero idea what you are getting at. What you will look like is an amateur trying to run a business. What you want is to look like a professional running a business. In case you haven't noticed, you are the professional and you are the business. The last thing you want to portray yourself in social media is a hot mess.

Solution: Remember why you want to be in social media. Understand what you would like to share in social media. Set a goal and plan your content around it. If the goal this week is to help your followers understand the importance of having strong glutes, plan content that goes with what you want to focus on. Prepare your posts in advance. Schedule them. Look through your posts to ensure the messaging is standarized. Make sure the message is clear. Ensure you set your graphics in your branding colors if you use them. Or create a campaign and work around that. In all that you do, be intentional.