If your digital marketing plan does not include any social aspect, you are surely missing out a great opportunity to promote your startup on a greater scale. If you implement social as an indispensable part of your digital marketing strategy, then, believe me, it is really great. But what happens if no one is following your social presence.

Social media can have a great power to provide with a great deal of exposure to your small business. But small business owners usually make some silly mistakes, making their efforts go down in the drain. In this post, I’ve highlighted a few big mistakes that companies usually make with their social media and explained their solutions as well.

1.  Not Implementing a Proper Plan

When you launched your startup, create a proper marketing plan. Without any marketing effort, your social media can’t work. You need to create goals for creating a powerful social media presence, techniques to accomplish those targets and measurement factors to figure out the success ratio. Social media is a low-cost marketing effort, you need to work hard to produce revenue, boost brand recognition to provide value to your brand. Having a proper marketing plan will help you maintain a clear voice of your brand.

2.  Not Completing Social Media Profiles

Many businesses don’t take social networking sites seriously and don’t include basic information like contact details on their company profiles. Social media channels are an extension of your company’s website that shows your online presence worldwide, providing information regarding your company. People may visit your Twitter profile to find out your products and services. If you don’t provide complete company profile, people may not take the time to go to your website to figure out. It is advised to complete your company social profiles and add a link to your website. Make sure the information you provide on your profiles is the same on your website.

3.  Engagement is Nil

Social media is all about engagement and relationship building. It has the real potential to generate revenue. Take a small step to acknowledge your followers and fans, helping you build a relationship with your audience. Social media can be served as a great customer service tool. Never ignore a customer who is reaching out to you through social media network.

4. Self-Promoting Your Services

Don’t be too promotional while posting on social media. Instead of convincing people to buy your services or products, tell them what benefit they will get if they have the product or service. Don’t make it everything about your brand, acknowledge other companies as well who are doing great things, post some industry articles as well to inform your readers. The point is not to make every post promotional, share informative posts as well. Keep in mind, your main objective is to build a strong relationship.

5.  Grammar and Spelling Mistakes

Although it sounds a small thing, poor grammar and spelling stinks can turn customers off. It feels like you are not credible and that you don’t care. If you don’t seriously proofread your posts, why should you expect others to take the time to read your posts? Take a minute or two to re-read everything you post on your social media channels to make it error-free.

6.  Going in the Wrong Direction

Creating a real presence on social media won’t guarantee success, especially if you are on the wrong direction. Just because any social media site is famous does not mean you should create an account there. Figure out the spots and ensure you are spending time on the websites where your audience is most likely to be. Don’t waste your time on LinkedIn if your audience is predominantly housewives. Marketing and branding are all about conveying your message to the right audience. Don’t waste your efforts on the website where you target audience does not exist.

All of these mistakes can greatly contribute to losing your followers and putting them off. Treat your social media presence as a great opportunity to your overall marketing effort. Remember these potential pitfalls as you plan, launch and work on your social media community.