Four Social Media Missteps to Avoid.

There are lots of ways to miss the potential of social media for your company. Here are four of the biggest to avoid.

Hiring the Wrong Person.
Just because someone is active on their own personal social media — even if they’re wildly engaging — doesn’t mean they can do the same for your company. If they don’t really understand your business — and more importantly, your customers — it’s unlikely they’ll post the kind of content that will truly resonate with them and move them closer to a purchase.

Here’s the good news. There’s probably somebody who already works for you who knows you and your customers well and who would like the opportunity to start handling your social media. They get an opportunity to do something different and earn a bit more, and you get a much higher chance that your content will hit the mark. If that won’t work, consider hiring an agency or a professional to manage your social media accounts.

Now Hiring. Again.
If you’re constantly posting open positions you’re trying to fill, you’re either saying that you’re short-handed, or that you have a lot of turnover. In either case, it suggests that you’re having some internal challenges, and that the service you’re providing right now may not be great.

Should you use social media for recruiting? Absolutely. But try positioning your postings as signposts of growth. Use testimonials from existing employees to talk about what a great place yours is to work. And post plenty of other kinds of content so it doesn’t seem like you’re always looking for help.

Same Old Same Old.
Take a look at your posts from the last three months. If they’re all pretty much the same kind of content (“congratulations to or team for doing ____”) the chances that your audience is paying attention are getting slim. You need to be helping them, informing them or entertaining them — and ideally all three — every step of the way.

The cure? Take time to build a content calendar that really mixes things up — and stick to it. Schedule lots of different kinds of posts, with a focus on what interests your customers the most.

Always Be Closing. Or Not.
If you’re using social media only to sell what you do and promote how awesome you are, with pictures of your team doing exciting things, it’s pretty unlikely to move the needle for your brand.

Instead, make your customers the star. Ask them questions. Tell their stories. Share their posts. Like their content. Show how their lives or businesses are better because of their connection to you. Check your analytics to see which posts seem to catch on — and create more like them.

Social media is a fantastic tool, but like all tools, you get more out of it when you really know how to use it. Use yours well.