Social media is an absolutely critical marketing channel that every business needs to be using. While social media can be a powerful channel, it can also be a dangerous one. On the one hand, it helps put your brand out there for everyone to see, but on the other hand, it puts your brand out there for everyone to see. It’s strength can be it’s own weakness. When you’re doing social media marketing right, it generates positive online presence, when you do it wrong, people take note and it reflects badly on your brand. The following common social media mistakes are ones your business may be guilty of making.

Amateur graphics

Social media is largely visual and if the photos you’re sharing for others to see are of poor quality, it will reflect badly on your brand. If you’re taking your own photos, make sure you’re using a fairly high quality camera with a good lense. You may want to study up on the basics of photography including composition and lighting. Avoid using stock photos because people will almost always be able to tell they’re stock photos.

Content that falls flat

Social media marketing and content marketing often go hand in hand. If you’re using social media profiles to share industry-related content with your followers, you need to make sure that what you’re sharing is accurate, unique, and compelling. Well-written content makes your brand stand out while poorly written content makes you forgettable.

Off-brand marketing

For whatever reason, businesses are more likely to go off their brand-message on social media as opposed to other channels. There’s something dangerous about the spontaneity of social media where anyone with access to your account can post the wrong thing or say something the wrong way that doesn’t reflect your company’s core values. It’s important that everyone with access to social media accounts have a good understanding of the central goal behind social media marketing efforts to ensure that every post and comment is aligned with the brand’s message.

The wrong platforms

With the exception of Facebook, which is a no-brainer, every other social media platform is optional depending on your company’s social media goals and target audience. Facebook is the most versatile and membership is high among people of all ages, both male and female. Twitter is popular among teenagers but usage drops off starting around age 20. It isn’t until age 50 that Twitter usage increases for a demographic. Instagram and snapchat are almost exclusively visual and will be most popular among younger generations while pinterest is geared more towards a female audience and the artsy craftsy type. Don’t waste your money on platforms you don’t need because you assumed the more the better.

Your secretary or office manager is running your campaign

Unless your secretary or office manager has to have a degree in marketing with an emphasis on social media marketing, he/she shouldn’t be running your social media marketing campaign. The same goes for you. Success in social media marketing requires some training so don’t try and save money by doing it yourself or leaving it to your equally unqualified office manager.

You don’t advertise

If your social media strategy consists of posting stuff and hoping people read or watch it, like it, and share it, you’re not doing enough. You need to be paying to promote posts so that more people are seeing it even if they haven’t “liked” or followed your page. You can also use other marketing channels you have at your disposal such as SMS marketing, to inform your most loyal customers about your various social media profiles. You can include a link in a text as well as an incentive to get more people to follow your social media profiles so you will have more people viewing your posts and sharing them with their friends.