No, it is not about not posting at the “perfect” time. It is not about how you edited that photo, or what target groups you used in your digital advertising campaigns. These mistakes have to do more with your perception of the industry, how things work and…basic marketing principles that are way too often completely missed out on.
If I get a penny for every single time I see the same post structure or similar design on social media posts, especially in Bulgaria, I would be a millionaire. The first rule of social media marketing – there is no right answer! Social media advertising has its features and process for implementation, which is different for every platform. There are certain types of content that are preferred from the algorithms of social media platforms. There are certain tactics that generally work for this target group, other tactics for other demographics. The big “No-no” for me though is accepting every piece of advice as a given truth without implementing your own creativity, research and customisation (for the client, business, market, goal).
Imagine the following situation:
You take a Facebook marketing course in which somebody asks one of the most asked questions “What is the best time to post?” The lecturer then replies “In the evening, around 8 PM – that’s when people are at home after work, scrolling through Facebook and are most likely to engage with your content.” You then complete the course and get a client for which you post only at 8 PM…so do the other 100 people that were in your course. Do you see where the problem lies? In social media everything is advisable. It works in some industries for some profiles. Teaching social media marketing should make that clear. On the other hand, when learning social media marketing – do not accept everything as a given or an infinite truth.
I know it’s a little bit of pride, a little bit backed up by the years of experience someone might have… BUT social media is a very dynamic industry and what worked yesterday might not be trending today. Like every marketer with years of experience I also struggle with this sometimes, it’s inevitable. Know your strengths, know what you’re great at and always try to learn something new. Don’t under-appreciate your skills, but also don’t be arrogant, because arrogance might be the death of you…professionally speaking, not only in digital marketing, but in everything in life.
Talking about the fact that the digital marketing industry is a very dynamic one, not keeping up with current trends, features and developments might be a nail in the coffin. I know that this is very demanding, considering the number of social media channels and the fast-paced environment, but I found it best for myself to keep track on new articles from a few credible sources. If you want to know more about which media I follow for social media updates, you can check out my article for “My top social media marketing resources in 2021”.
The digital marketing industry is a demand industry, meaning users dictate what is trending. So you keep on posting content that you or your client likes and wants, instead of what the statistics have shown you works best, you’re definitely going in the wrong direction. Marketing in any form is a science that is based on research and analytics. A way better approach to this would be, for example, to evaluate which types of content are performing best and concentrate on producing more of it.
Because of its dynamic nature, social media marketing is an industry, in which you have to experiment and test different approaches, strategies, content… You should definitely focus on the quality of your work, but don’t overthink it. My biggest problem in the beginning was my tendency to be a perfectionist. Nothing was ever good enough, nothing felt like it was ready. That stopped me from even starting things. This is not what you want. What you want is to be confident enough in your skills to try different things and see what works best for your clients or your business. And in social media you cannot know for sure what works for you, until you try it!
There are of course many other mistakes we can make on social media, but if you have the above-mentioned aspects covered, you will do great. Do you agree, or do you think I’ve missed some important ones? Let me know in the comments below!
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2 Comments
Reading your article has greatly helped me, and I agree with you. But I still have some questions. Can you help me? I will pay attention to your answer. thank you.
Reading your article helped me a lot and I agree with you. But I still have some doubts, can you clarify for me? I’ll keep an eye out for your answers.