9 Common Social Media Mistakes

Social media networks if well used can be one of the biggest sources of traffic to your site. Most bloggers get to social media hoping to benefit from the big traffic presence there but get frustrated when things don’t work out as they anticipated. In this article we look at some of the common social media mistakes most users make on these networks that could be contributing to them not getting the best results in terms of traffic to their websites or engagements on their posts. 

Sharing only your own content

Sharing only your own content may not lead to your fan base growing that much, in fact your audience may get bored by the same content coming from same source. Try as much as possible to share content from other sources, this will increase engagement and your audience base will grow significantly.

9 common social media mistakes

Posting the same content across different platforms

Try as much as possible to understand the different social media platforms that you are using in terms of their content expectations. Having tailored content for each platform increases reach and engagement. E.g. Content related to careers will work well on LinkedIn better than other networks, Hashtags can help increase your reach on Instagram but they quite don’t  have the same effect on Facebook.

Focusing on quantity over quality

Posting less but quality content will increase your reach and engagement. Reducing the number of posts that you make in a day, enables you to focus more on the quality of the posts rather than quantity.

Not uploading videos onto social media platforms

Note that native videos are likely to be shared more times than YouTube videos on social media platforms. So ensure that you upload your videos directly to your social media other than posting YouTube links.

Related Content: How to Bootstrap Backlink building with social media outreach

Not boosting the right posts

When it comes to Facebook ads, do not just boost any posts that you think may perform well, rather look for those existing Facebook posts that have a high engagement rate. This gives you an indication of how successful the post is likely to be when boosted. To find details on engagement rate, go to your Facebook page insights posts tab, there you can be able to see the engagement rates for the published posts. Boost the posts with highest engagement rates.

Related Resources: Social Media Marketing for Small Business, how to create a successful strategy

Not replying to questions on social media

Try as much as possible to reply quickly to all the mentions and messages on your Facebook page, Twitter profile and Instagram profile from one place say by using your preferred social media monitoring and engagement  tool.  If you respond to your audience, they are likely to come back or share the good experience with other people.

Not targeting a specific audience for your content

Try to limit your posts to the relevant audience, for example by using Facebook, you can easily target your posts to a given audience that is more relevant to what you are promoting hence increasing the engagement rate.

Using only landscape videos and images

If you compare Landscape & Square videos and images, you will notice that Square videos and images tend to perform better on Facebook page and Twitter profile. Therefore it is worth trying to experiment to find out which videos and images perform better.

Being on all social media platforms

Take stock of your social media profiles and consider channels that are performing for you and those that aren’t. You can decide to stop using certain platforms if they are not working for you. Fewer channels enables you focus more on better content and engage more with your audience.

You can also read: 10 Common mistakes bloggers make

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Author: John Mulindi

John writes on a variety of topics. He blogs on topics ranging from social media marketing (SMM), search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), email marketing, business, personal finance tech, entrepreneurship to personal development. In free time he likes watching football, reading, listening to music and taking nature walks.

275 thoughts on “9 Common Social Media Mistakes”

  1. Your posts are always informative and thought provoking. I am at the point where I am getting conversions but I am overwhelmed with so many social media platforms. My next blog post will be another feature that I call Meet the Artist. These are virtual interviews with other artists and I when I did the first two I realized that the backlinks brought in new people interested in the niche that serves me. Now I need to look at which platform to concentrate on and I think this might be Instagram.

  2. Thank you for sharing. You are right it’s not necessary to be on all social media apps. Something I need to unlearn

  3. Hey John, Thanks for sharing this article. It has well-explained the mistakes that most of the businesses make in social media marketing. And I am completely agree with you, most of the businesses jump into social media marketing without any proper planning and end up doing most of these mistakes. Hopefully now they’ll get to learn from your blog.

  4. Thanks for sharing this, social media is tricky, and knowing what you’re doing wrong and how to fix it is helpful. I like the tip at the end about being on all social media, because it is a time-waster. So, it is better to focus on only the platforms that drive traffic to your website.

  5. Awesome article John! I rarely read articles about social media mistakes and I must say yours is well written. I like it when you said to try as much as possible to understand the different social media platforms that you are using in terms of their content expectations. Having tailored content for each platform increases reach and engagement.

    Angela Giles | http://www.angelagiles.com

  6. I had never thought about square images and videos getting more traffic! I think you are right though. I will have to try and implement this going forward. I also need to reply to comments quicker and will be looking into some of the tools that you suggest. Thanks John!

  7. Wow great tips! While I do most of them I’m definitely going to practice the ones I don’t!

  8. All of your tips were very active and on point. A learned a lot of new things and also stuff that I already do but need to be consistent on. Especially sharing others content!! I will share this post on Twitter. And start to follow you blog for more tips!!

  9. Social media is meant to be engaging and social (hence the name “social media”) and for organizations, more engagement on social media can translate into increased brand awareness, higher traffic to your site and more prospects in your marketing funnel. As you build trusted followers in your online community and give them quality content that’s relevant to them, you’ll see an increase in people viewing, liking and sharing your posts. But posts without the qualities that people like and share won’t engage anyone, won’t build your brand and won’t drive traffic back to your site and into your marketing funnel.

    1. Hi Monidipa, thanks very much for your insightful feedback! I totally agree with your points. Its all about producing high quality posts that people like that will attract high engagement.

  10. Such a great and very informative post I had the same mistake when I started using social media. So this post can be very heloful to others.

  11. This is such an amazing post and very informative as well. I’ve totally agree with everything you’ve cited here, this will definitely be a great help to all those bloggers out there.

  12. You always help me see things from a better perspective; thank you for sharing these tips, I need to remember quality over quantity is best.

  13. This is such a helpful article. Facebook. Groups are super important. Of all.. Facebook seems a little hard to get through
    But currently with all social media metrics getting tougher to compete with.. Social media marketing is on a rise.

  14. Really enjoyed this post – I need to work on my social media platforms, Instgram is the only one that I fully engage in so I need to make more effort.

  15. Social media is a huge part of blogging nowadays. It is very important to keep focus divided and not let your reader get bored. I am very guilty of being too lazy to make enough videos, I am more of a photo person myself. Awesome work on really most common mistakes

  16. These are great tips. I’ve noticed YouTube links don’t get as much traction on Facebook. I mostly focus on Instagram for daily posts.

  17. I LOVE that you opened with the mistake of sharing only your own content. You have to mix it up and encourage interaction. Unfortunately, I still see so many people making this error.

  18. Trying to understand all the various social media channels can be overwhelming. I appreciate your straight to the point, helpful advice.

  19. I think I am making all of these mistakes, thank you for pointing them out! Only half kidding. Great information, as usual. I really learn alot from all of your posts and look forward to reading them.

  20. I appreciated the blogging tips. The one that stands out to me the most is boosting the FB posts with engagement. I had to hear that one from a competitor, when my own hired SEO company never made that kind of recommendation.

    1. Hi Ryan, thanks for your comments. Boosting the posts with the most engagements brings in the most results than just boosting any posts, that is why you have to use insights statistics well when selecting posts to boost on Facebook.

  21. Thanks so much for these tips! I’ll make sure to apply them! I’ve been blogging for about 6 months now and never stop learning about what works best with each social media channel. They’re all so different!

    1. Dr. Elise, thanks for visiting. I believe if you select Facebook groups especially those that are suited to your niche, and be active, then you stand a high chance of driving people to your blog. I personally drive more than 70% of my traffic from Facebook groups, and have come to appreciate their importance when building an online community for a blog.

    1. I think in most cases is due to lack of plan and strategy hence wasting so much time and energy on networks that don’t bring in most results otherwise thanks for visiting.

    2. I agree. I block a certain amount per day and also now concentrate on one platform each month on a rotating monthly basis. I still will engage in the others, but main focus and effort on that months.

    1. Hi Leslie, thanks for dropping by, Videos provide more engagements and as move to the future, it will be one of the preferred formats of passing down a message to your audience

    1. It depends, I usually post old posts once in a while, this brings in additional traffic. Provided the content is of high quality, you can post over and over again. With regard LinkedIn, you will get more engagements on your posts if you post career related posts there, as compared to just any other topic. Find what works well for each network and try to leverage on it.

  22. People ask me for blog advice all the time – specifically – “how can I grow my traffic?”… And my answer is: DO THE WORK – IE: VISIT OTHER PEOPLE’S BLOGS and leave meaningful comments and engage with them! If you want people to visit you, you have to visit them!

    1. Hi, you hit the nail on the head! Blogging is not all about creating content and leaving it there, you need to promote it to your desired audience. Successful bloggers will tell you that they spend more time promoting than writing.

  23. John – These are great tips for people trying to utilize social media to advance a blog or business. You included more depth and varied your suggestions so I was able to really gain insights from your post.

  24. I have completely made these mistakes before too, thank you for sharing though, it’s a good reminder of what we all need to do.

  25. Thanks for the tips! I especially loved the idea of focusing on quality over quantity. It’s not a race, and I, for one, get tired of seeing “fluff”. I’ll be checking out some of your other posts as well.

    1. Hi, thanks for passing by, Native videos get more engagements since they are uploaded directly on social media or played directly in the feed as opposed to Youtube videos that are hosted at different place.

  26. Hi John thanks for sharing this. I saw on one of your responses to focus on FB groups – I think I will do that. I also know that I’m not engaging with Twitter at all (mainly focusing in IG as it’s so visual) and am not very comfortable with using twitter – one for the to do list! At the moment my posts from my blog and IG are posted across on twitter. I’ve made notes and will try to implement your tips. New to blogging so a lot to get to grips with at the beginning! 🙂

    1. Hi Miriam, am grateful for those insightful comments. Focusing on few is the right thing to do. Get the best performing networks and use them for maximum results.

  27. Great post! It’s definitely hard not to fall into the trap of signing up for every social media platform out there and posting on all of them. Tumblr and Twitter are my weakest ones and I’m debating on getting rid of them altogether. I don’t do anything on linkedin or google plus because my content I don’t feel will do well. I also agree about boosting other bloggers posts. It always seems like it’s one blogger vs. another but really we are community. We should stick together and help each other out! There’s plenty of room on the internet for all of us! 🙂

  28. Great post John! I am still new to the blogging world, so every bit of helpful information makes the difference! I am on more than a few social media sites, and I may trim that down some. As of now, I have noticed that Pinterest and Facebook bring in most of my traffic. I’ll work on enhancing my presence there. Thanks!

  29. Thanks for all these tips :). I am really glad for the tip on how to boost the right post on Facebook ad , because I think I used to post that I liked the most but it might not be the right one to promote my blog. I will try to take a look at my insights before boosting a post.

    Noémie xx

    1. Personally Facebook is the best for promotion, 80% of my traffic come from FB, though it comes with a lot of work. You have to be very active in facebook groups to be able to drive any traffic to your blog. The other platform that I use is Pinterest, but am still working on it.

  30. This makes me feel better about the fact that I don’t post multiple times a day or even daily on my social media platforms. Thanks for sharing.

  31. A huge issue I had when I first started taking blogging seriously was trying to maintain every social media platform consistently and it was just too much. Now I’ve limited the social media platforms I use and have a better presence on all of them. There’s a few things you’ve listed that I am guilty of doing so I’ll need to rethink my social media strategy.

  32. Really good tips! I’m signed up to a few different social medias but I primarily focus on two of them. For some reason. I really struggle with Twitter and have never really been into tweeting lol. I love Instagram the most, I guess I’m a pictures kind of person.

    1. Hi Jenn, focusing on a few that are working for you is the best thing to do. Personally I focus on around 3, and I have seen great positive results with that otherwise thanks for your insightful comments.

  33. Thanks for the helpful tips. Right now, I think Twitter and Google+ are the platforms I struggle the most with. Google+ I can easily see passing on but people are ALL over Twitter. I just need to learn how to harness it.

    1. Hi Raquel, I too struggle with Twitter and Google+ but I have put my focus on Facebook and Pinterest, that is where most of my traffic comes from. Facebook groups if used well can bring in big traffic numbers.

  34. Fantastic post! As someone who is new to the blogging arena, I need all the advice I can get. Thanks for sharing!

  35. Very good points! I especially liked the one about posting other content besides my own. I must admit, I’m trying to figure out FB. I get a lot of LIKES but hardly comments even when I ask an opened question. I was thinking I needed to post other content besides my own but I look for engagement. So I didn’t want to post other stuff and not get any engagement on those either. Idk… I’m still learning and trying to figure out this marketing industry lol. Thanks again!

    MsQueenRo.com

    1. Hi, grateful for those insightful comments. Promoting other people’s content increases engagement/audience base. Then you can leverage on this increased audience base with your posts once in awhile.

  36. I like your point about focusing on quality instead of quantity. I notice some bloggers post almost daily. That is a lot of content to manage and market. I like to post twice a week and the max being 3 times. Then I can focus on a quality article and tweak it as necessary. That also gives me the opportunity to really market that article. Thanks for sharing

  37. I think the most important thing to do with social media is learn where to focus your efforts. If you spread your efforts out over too many social networks, you may not get the same attention as you would if you figured out the best network for your audience and spent the most effort on that one.

    1. Hi, thanks for dropping by and for those nice comments. Yes, it is better to focus on those networks that bring in more traffic, and work even harder on them to get more better results.

  38. Great tips! The last tip, especially – I need to lay a little lower on some of my social media platforms. Sometimes it gets to be a bit much! Thanks for sharing.

  39. Great reminders to clean up my social media activities. I’m going to start playing with different size photos for Facebook.

  40. Thank you for the great info. I am struggling with the lack of traffic and given myseld a deadline to turn around or quit. I takes so much time!! Will heed a few tips first, thanks.

  41. All great tips! I especially like the last one about being on all social media platforms. This can be a real time waster and you are likely connecting with people who have already seen your post over and over again which can cause them to skip over your content in the future. I always tell my clients to focus only on the platforms where there ideal audience is.

  42. Some very useful tips for Social Media use. I do find it all overwhelming at times, as there are so many outlets to use. I am focusing on Pinterest this year and so far the results have been excellent driving traffic to my travel blog. Thanks for the tips! Rob

  43. Now posting videos on Social Media is very important as it grabs a large audience. This helped me manage to get few cents selling my products which was not possible with just post share.
    And we should definitely avoid above listed method.

  44. I agree with you on all points, especially on the last one. Pinterest, Twitter and LinkedIn (for example) are three completely different types of social media, targeting different audiences. Figure out where your audience hangs out the most and use that channel. Don’t waste time and energy on where they are not.

    1. Hi Vladimir, it is good to put focus where you get the best results in terms of traffic. Personally I put more focus on Facebook and Pinterest. I use Twitter and G+ just to a small extend.

  45. Thanks for sharing this information. I am currently only really focusing on Facebook and Instagram but I have accounts setup across all social media sites.

  46. Great read, I definitely needed this as I’ve been struggling with social media. I noticed I post the same content to all platforms & should focus more on really high quality posts. Thanks for the insight!

  47. Thanks so much for this post! Of the 3 social media platforms I’m on I have struggle with Facebook. It seems like no one ever sees my Facebook posts . I link Facebook and instagram together and get 200 likes on a picture but zero on Facebook. I see now that I need to treat them differently and make some changes to my Facebook page .

    1. I think when it comes to Facebook, try to focus more on groups, join FB groups in your niche, engage members, participate in daily promotional threads. If you do these, you will see improvements in your traffic from Facebook.

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