Social media marketing has been on a steady rise when it comes to marketing strategies. 

For startups trying to penetrate a crowded market, this relatively new form of marketing can be a significant factor for your startup to easily boost its image and brand awareness.

Is it as easy as creating a social media channel across different social media platforms?

Nope. Social media marketing has a different set of rules — all of them varying from one social media platform to another.

So, what should you do? Before you rush to shell out money and run social media campaigns, you’ll need to be prepared to avoid making any ‘rookie mistakes’– especially with every social media platform having unique algorithms to increase organic reach.

What are these mistakes that you should avoid as you begin your social media marketing journey?

Be wary of these five below:

Rookie Social Media Mistakes 

That Startups Should Avoid

Lack of a social media marketing strategy

If you think a social media marketing strategy is all about having a social media page and posting random content, you’re sadly mistaken. The age demographics alone of social media users who consume content vary on different platforms. This is one of the key aspects that should be thoroughly researched when creating an effective social media strategy.

If you don’t know where to start, consider these guide questions: 

• What exactly do you want to achieve from social media marketing? 
• Who is your target market? Which platform are they most active on?
• What message do you want to share? How do you want to share it?
• How are you going to measure success? Which tools will you use?

It’s also important for you to do ‘competitive research.’ Start by assessing their previous posts to see what works and what doesn’t, giving you a better idea of what to post.

Posting unnecessary or irrelevant content

Being active on social media is a must if you want to increase brand awareness and gain meaningful leads.

Your business doesn’t have to be active on all platforms. The best practice is to be active on at least one of the top social media platforms — where the majority of your target audience is most active. Your account needs to be consistently updated with recent content.

Once you figure out which channel your audience is most active, avoid publishing random content multiple times in a day; this can cause people to unfollow you on your social media page or channel because they’ll just get fed up with you overcrowding their feed.

So, limit the number of times you post in a day. Here are two tips you should take into account:

• Post when most of your followers are active: If you want to maximize organic reach, you’ll need to post when your followers are most likely to be around. This information can be learned by checking your account’s analytics tools. 

• Plot your content on a social media calendar: This will help keep you organized in terms of what you need to publish in any given month. You can use an excel sheet or invest in a project management tool.

Publishing too much promotional content

Aside from posting multiple times in a day, another big turn-off is posting excessive promotional content. Take a hint from the name – social media is a place to be social!

So, make sure to prioritize content that encourages users to interact with each other and your brand.

To find the right mix, you can follow the 80/20 rule.

This rule states that (+-) 80% of your content should be non-promotional content (industry news, how-to tutorials, holiday posts, and so on). Of course, that’s a generalization – it really depends on your brand and your market, so you’ll need to test content to achieve the best ratio for you.

Keep in mind that the content should be relevant to your niche to provide value for your audience. This will make it easier for them to trust your brand knowing you’re an expert in your niche.

On the other side of the coin, the remaining (+-) 20% should be for company-related posts – advisories, product releases, or an upcoming sale, for example.

Not paying attention to your audience

It’s crucial to engage with your audience. Most consumers prefer a brand that interacts with them.

When a business engages with its audience on social media, it’s one of the best ways to gain new leads and move your warm leads further down your conversion funnel.

Don’t leave your audience hanging; they should be able to know what type of business you are beyond the content you post and share. Interact with them as much as possible — all you have to do is reply to their messages and like or respond to their comments or acknowledge when they share one of your posts.

Not monitoring your performance

Social media constantly changes. Strategies that are working now may not work in a week or two. So it’s important to always keep an eye on your social media activity.

• Are your posts getting any engagement? 
• Are your pages getting any new followers? 
• Are people mentioning your brand in their posts?

Fortunately, social media platforms are equipped with features that measure these parameters. One of the most powerful is Facebook Insights.

When you don’t get favorable results from the beginning, don’t worry. Getting a brand noticed on social media will take some time before it takes off.

You just need to be patient and trust in your long-term plan.

Final Word

It’s okay to make mistakes, but if you want to maximize your effort and budget, it’s much better if you can avoid making them from the beginning.

If you’re able to get through the initial phase unscathed, you can establish a solid online presence and raise your brand’s value fast.

It will allow you to save money on revamping your social media approach and let you focus on enhancing your strategies for the future.