Social media builds brands and businesses when it’s done smartly and consistently.
This quick list covers some of the more common mistakes that do the opposite, according to social specialists at Studio 3 Marketing.
These snags and snafus can turn social spend into an expense instead of an investment.
Here’s what to avoid and how we can help.
1. Impersonal or Inauthentic Content
Social media is real, raw, and human. It’s where the outer edges of human emotion are often displayed and where authentic people and personalities make the most progress. Yes, stepping out onto social media can be hard, and you may never have planned to become a public personality. However, for social media to succeed, many brands and businesses must have an authentic and human presence.
And it doesn’t have to be awkward for you or off-brand. Our social media specialists won’t necessarily ask you to dance on camera or to pick up on and parrot every TikTok trend. Rather, we’ll simply help you find the perfect balance between a buttoned-up corporate boardroom and your ideal client’s interests, then help you meet them in the middle.
2. Stock Imagery
Stock photography slows sales, growth, and brand recognition because it lacks a human element. People will follow your business to learn more about who you are, what you offer, and how you deliver it—all human elements that stock images fail to capture. Occasional use of stock photography is acceptable for certain announcements but should rarely make up the bulk of a brand’s social presence.
(@IRSNews offers a look at how stock social can be done right, but consider that the alternative would probably be IRS agents IRL. So there are great use cases for it, but your business might not be one of them.)
3. Botched or No Branding
Branding gives your social presence not just a cohesive look and feel but a logical reason why it’s so. Why is that the best way to put your brand’s foot forward? Why not something else—featuring your products, patients, and professionals? These questions are answered in branding, and a social profile should be built based on a brand strategy. Often, we see the opposite, which is easy to correct but difficult to do just right. (So we’re here for you on this and more.)
4. Inconsistency
Like much of marketing, social media is a long-term play. Or, more accurately, success on social media is a matter of consistency: Repetition, reminders, education, and edutainment are shared repeatedly, over and over. Show the world your wares and the right tribe begins to follow you, like you, want to be served by you, or sold your products. Long-term social growth depends on remaining consistent with a brand identity and the values that earned you followers in the first place. Consistent, on-brand content will help convert your followers into email subscribers, sign-ups, and sales. (It can be a ton of rewarding work when done right, and we’re ready to help you with it.)
5. Buying Followers, Likes, and Comments.
Buying followers (or likes and comments) for a new brand specifically is sometimes just too enticing. Please don’t. Fake followers slow your reach and growth because they don’t interact with the content you share. And since most social sites share your new content first with a fraction of your followers—testing it to see how widely and for how long it should keep showing it—well, fake followers limit your reach. Followers and comments can be bought for a dime a dozen (or $30 for 10,000), but please realize you’ll be setting yourself up for a social profile that not only looks fake but one that fails to reap you any sales or leads—which is why you’re on social to start with.
Avoiding or correcting these common mistakes can help companies greatly boost their social presence and see a tangible return on effort and investment.
Our results-driven approach to social media management solves all this and has helped local and global brands build campaigns that convert at scale.
We’d love to assist you in doing the same.
We’d love to get social.
