Social media can be a game-changer for small businesses, but only if used strategically. Many businesses unknowingly make mistakes that limit their reach, engagement, and overall success. If your social media efforts aren’t yielding the desired results, you may be falling into some of these common pitfalls.
Let’s take a look at 12 social media marketing mistakes small businesses make, and how to avoid them:
Not conducting thorough audience research
One of the most common social media marketing mistakes businesses make is failing to understand who their target audience is. Posting content without conducting proper audience research leads to either generic or irrelevant messaging.
Social media users want content that speaks directly to their needs, interests, and values.
If you don’t tailor your content to specific demographics, you might attract followers who aren’t genuinely interested in your products or services. Consequently, you might miss out on connecting and building meaningful relationships with potential customers.
Among all content marketing mistakes, this is one you should definitely avoid.
Solution
Define your target audience based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. You can check the page analytics of your social media profiles to find out the age group, gender, and location of the people that interact the most with your content. Plus, they also show the times when your audience is most active.
Using this data, you should:
- Tailor the format and messaging of content.
- Fine tune your ad messaging, timing, and spending.
- Schedule posts during peak engagement hours to maximize visibility and interaction.
Inconsistent posting schedule
Without a structured posting schedule, businesses risk losing audience interest and opportunities to maintain a steady connection with their audience. Social media algorithms favor consistency, meaning irregular posting can reduce the likelihood of content appearing on users’ feeds. If followers don’t see regular, valuable content, they may forget about the brand or disengage.
Additionally, posting at random times might not align with peak activity hours, further diminishing a post’s reach and impact.
Solution
Develop a content calendar and maintain a consistent posting schedule. The number of recommended posts is different for every social media and also depends on the business. Here are the suggested posting times for each platform:
- Instagram: 2 times a day
- TikTok: 1-4 times a day, 3-5 times a week.
- Facebook: Once or twice each weekday and once over the weekend.
- Youtube: At least once a week.
Stories: 2 times per day.
Using PosterMyWall’s Content Planner, you can plan, organize, and schedule your content to avoid the daily struggle of creating content.
It also shows retail, seasonal, national, and international holidays and the relevant templates for social media graphics which you can use to design content for these occasions. Start preparing in advance for the seasonal content and schedule it to go live at the time when your audience is most active.
Not offering any value in your content
A brand that only pushes sales-driven posts will be perceived as overly salesy and self-serving by its social media audience. This is among the most significant marketing mistakes to avoid.
Social media users are constantly bombarded with advertisements, making them more selective about the content they engage with. They seek relevant, useful content and meaningful interactions on social media. Without educational or entertaining content, a brand’s social media presence becomes forgettable, reducing follower retention and engagement rates.
Solution
Follow the 80/20 rule- 80% of your content should provide value (tips, tutorials, behind-the-scenes insights, engaging stories), while 20% can focus on promotions. Here’s a list of ideas for valuable content:
- Step-by-step tutorials for using a product.
- Before-and-after transformations using your product/service.
- FAQs addressing customer concerns.
- User-generated content featuring customer experiences.
- A day in the life of your business or team.
- How your products are made (manufacturing process, sourcing materials).
Lack of visual appeal
With social media users’ increasingly limited attention spans, first impressions matter. Posts with poor visuals or overwhelming text are often ignored as users quickly scroll through their feeds.
Visually appealing content attracts more interactions, such as likes, shares, and comments, and social media algorithms prioritize this content. Sharing poor-quality visuals, on the other hand, can lead to reduced engagement.
Low-quality images and cluttered designs also negatively affect brand perception. Audiences associate visually appealing and cohesive content with professionalism and credibility, while unattractive visuals can keep people from trusting your brand.
Solution
Share high-quality images, graphics, and videos on your socials. Create short-form videos, reels, or live streams to capture audience attention. Showcase behind-the-scenes content, product demonstrations, and customer testimonials in video format.
Using PosterMyWall, you can create eye-catching social media in minutes. Browse through the small business templates to find ones that match your brand personality and the type of content you want to create. Replace the placeholder text, logos, and visuals with your own, and voila! Your content will be ready to roll out.
Not following new social media trends and features
Social media platforms are constantly evolving, introducing new features and trending formats to enhance user experience. If you do not adapt or experiment with these changes, you miss opportunities to connect better with your audience and might fall behind competitors.
Sticking to traditional post types can make your content feel repetitive, reducing its impact and appeal. Audiences appreciate creativity and relevance, so ignoring trends can make your brand seem disconnected from the current digital landscape. Moreover, trends are a reflection of cultural moments and audience interests. Adapting to trends shows that a brand is observant, adaptable, and in tune with its audience’s evolving preferences.
However, it’s essential to choose trends that align with brand values and messaging, as inauthentic participation can backfire.
Solution
Experiment with social media trends and platform features like Instagram Reels, TikTok challenges, or interactive polls to keep your content fresh and engaging.
Here’s how you can stay updated with social media trends:
- Google Trends to analyze search interest in relevant topics.
- Twitter/X Trending Topics to observe trending conversations in real-time.
- Instagram Explore page for trending reels and audio.
- TikTok Discover and trending hashtags for trending audios, challenges, and reel formats.
Overloading your social media with content
While maintaining an active social media presence is important, excessive posting can have the opposite effect of what businesses require. Instead of fostering a meaningful connection, it can put you at risk of being muted, unfollowed, or ignored.
Solution
Spread out your content and ensure each post provides value. Remember, social media is about quality interactions.
Using the same content across all platforms
Every social media platform has different audiences and content formats. What works on Instagram might not resonate on LinkedIn, and vice versa. For example, Instagram thrives on visually appealing, short-form content, while LinkedIn favors professional insights and long-form articles.
Posting identical content across platforms can make a brand seem out of touch with its audience, resulting in lower engagement and limited reach. It also misses the opportunity to maximize each platform’s potential, reducing the impact of social media campaigns.
Plus, audiences who follow a brand on multiple platforms expect fresh and varied experiences on each platform. When they encounter identical posts across channels, they may unfollow the brand on some platforms to avoid redundancy.
Solution
Adapt content to fit the context of each platform while maintaining consistent messaging. This approach keeps audiences engaged and encourages them to interact with the brand across multiple channels.
Not efficiently interacting with your audience
The best part about social media marketing is that it allows for two-way communication with your target audience.
Posting content but not responding to comments, messages, or mentions makes your brand seem unapproachable. Your followers will feel undervalued, especially if you do not address their questions and queries related to your products and services.
Additionally, failing to engage with followers means missing opportunities to gain valuable insights and feedback. Customers often express their suggestions in online discussions. By not actively listening and responding, you will lose the chance to improve your products or services.
Engaging in conversations, acknowledging feedback, and showing appreciation can significantly enhance customer satisfaction and foster a loyal community.
Solution
Actively engage with your audience. You can use platforms such as Meta Business Suite to track and efficiently respond to comments and DMs on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
You should also monitor online discussions about your brand. Reply to comments, both negative and positive. Thank people for sharing their valuable feedback and assure them that you’ll work on meeting their needs.
Here are more ways to interact with your audience:
- Ask questions via polls and Q&A sessions on stories and interactive posts (that require the audience to share their opinion or answer a prompt).
- Go live on social media: host live Q&As, product demos, and casual chats.
- Create a broadcast channel on Instagram to share updates and sneak peeks.
- Create a Facebook group for connecting with and addressing the concerns of customers.
Not using hashtags or using too many
Hashtags can help expand the reach of social media posts by categorizing content and making it discoverable to the audience looking for something similar. By not adding hashtags to your posts, you miss out on opportunities to attract new followers.
However, you shouldn’t overload your posts with hashtags so they don’t look cluttered. Overusing hashtags can dilute your message and make your brand seem overly salesy and pushy. Plus, platforms like Instagram and Twitter favor strategic hashtag use, and excessive hashtags can lead to reduced reach due to algorithm penalties.
Additionally, irrelevant or overly generic hashtags attract the wrong audience, resulting in low-quality interactions and reduced engagement.
Using relevant, trending, and niche-specific hashtags can help you reach your target audience without overwhelming them.
Solution
Research and use relevant hashtags that align with your business and audience. Aim for 3-5 hashtags per post to increase discoverability without appearing spammy.
While posting on social media through PosterMyWall, you can utilize the AI Captions feature to generate catchy captions with relevant hashtags.
Not analyzing performance
Posting content without reviewing the performance of previous content is one of the most common social media marketing mistakes. Analyzing metrics like engagement rates, reach, and follower growth can help identify what resonates with your audience and what needs improvement.
Social media platforms offer valuable analytics tools. If you don’t leverage these tools and assess the performance of your content, you will continue to invest time and money in content that may not be effective. This leads to stagnant or declining engagement.
Solution
Regularly track engagement metrics provided by individual social media apps. You can also find engagement metrics for all content you’ve published on social platforms via PosterMyWall in one place- the Social Media Posts tab of your account’s My Stuff.
Adjust your messaging, resources, and posting times based on the type of content with the highest likes, shares, and comments. For example, If you notice that your posts get higher reach and engagement during 5-7 PM (commuting hours), you post more during this period.
Similarly, if people are viewing posts but not engaging with them, maybe you can offer a different incentive or selling point or change up content.
Optimizing your brand’s social media
The best part about social media marketing is the two-way communication with your audience. Collect audience feedback and use it to continuously refine your social media marketing strategy to remain relevant and competitive. Consistently crafting valuable content, actively engaging with your audience, and staying adaptable are the keys to social media success.
With a thoughtful, audience-centric approach, social media can be an invaluable asset in achieving your business goals.
FAQs
Can I edit or delete a post after scheduling it?
Yes! Go to the “My Stuff” section, find your scheduled post, and click on the three vertical dots next to it to find the “Edit” or “delete” options.
Which social media platforms can I schedule posts for with PosterMyWall?
PosterMyWall allows you to schedule posts for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X), and LinkedIn. Ensure your accounts are connected for scheduling.
How far in advance can I schedule posts?
You can schedule posts days, weeks, or even months in advance, depending on your content strategy and plan.
Can I add a custom event to the Content Planner?
You can add custom events to the Content Planner to display alongside other seasonal events. Your custom events be anything from company milestones to your current marketing campaigns. To add your event:
- Click ‘Add new’ on the top right of the Content Planner.
- Select ‘Event’.
- Specify an event date, add an event title and description. Click the blue save button to confirm.
