Avoid these five common social media mistakes and create a strong social media presence with ease.
As business owners or professionals, we all know we need to post to social media.
Yet this seemingly simple job always ends up on the back-burner.
We’re too busy. Too disengaged. Too intimidated. Too confused.
We don’t have the ideas or resources we need to do a decent job.
All the while, the demands of posting are never-ending.
So how do you streamline your social media strategy – while still creating quality content that’s engaging enough to get noticed?
Well, we asked ourselves the same question.
Here’s what we came up with …
5 Common Social Media Mistakes & How To Fix Them
Ready to level-up your social media presence? Avoid these common social media mistakes.
1. Not posting at all
There are a lot of barriers when it comes to posting to social media – from time and resources to feeling intimidated – but the one we hear most is: “I don’t know what to post about.”
Coming up with ideas is half the battle when it comes to social media marketing. Why? If you can’t think of anything to post, then you’ll never do it. It’s the first obstacle you have to overcome, which is why it’s often the one that stops us from posting anything at all.
Making matters worse, it’s a problem you have to overcome every time you post. It doesn’t go away or necessarily get easier – unless you set yourself up for success by creating a robust source of ideas.
That’s why, at SchlickArt, we created the 100 Posts system, a collection of prompts, ideas and questions that give any professional enough quick and easy ideas to create two posts a week for a year. All 100+ post ideas are there for you in one spot, so you can quickly find one that speaks to you that day, and create a post that’s as easy as it is substantive.
By creating a source of high-quality, branding-focused ideas, you’ll never have to sit there and think, “What should I post about today?”
Of all the social media mistakes, this one can be a simple one to solve.
2. Posting just to post
As business owners and professionals, we all know that we should be posting content to social media on a regular basis, if we want to develop an audience that will know, like and trust us. Unfortunately, that often means we end up posting just to post.
Maybe, at first, you post with intention and even a little inspiration. But then the ideas run out, the inspiration dries up, and you start posting random stuff based on whatever comes to mind when you have a free minute between clients.
Feeling the pressure to keep up with the competition, you keep posting even though you’re not really sure why you’re doing it anymore. Engagement is low, and it’s not producing the kind of leads you were hoping for. It all just feels like wasted effort.
So how do you fix it? You need a plan! A solid small-business social media strategy doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, it can be quite simple as long as you do a little work up front. But you have to create some kind of plan.
We recommend defining what type of audience you want to attract, and then building your plan from there. What platforms do you want to post on? How many times a week do you want to post? What type of content will engage your desired audience?
Start by defining the basics, and don’t overcomplicate it. You don’t need an over-the-top complex strategy – you just need a little bit of intention and a basic plan.
(Not sure where to start? Our 100 Posts Social Media Guides include an easy yet effective worksheet to help you create a strategy that will get you started in no time.)
3. Posting inconsistently
Once you have a clear strategy and a wealth of ideas, consistently posting content should come easily. On the other hand, if you don’t have those first two steps in place, posting consistently is going to be pretty tough.
In fact, not having a clear strategy or enough content ideas are two main reasons why business owners and professionals don’t post consistently. Why? Without a clear strategy, you don’t know why you’re investing your precious time into social media, and without a pre-written bank of content ideas, you don’t have the how figured out either.
Establishing a consistent posting schedule is one of the most common struggles business owners face when it comes to social media – because it requires the kind of setup that most people skip over before getting started. Don’t skip the initial setup work, and consistency becomes much easier to maintain over time.
4. Content that doesn’t engage
While the first three social media challenges often keep us from posting, this next one keeps us from seeing results.
It’s happened to all of us at some point. You’ve been posting content regularly – maybe this is even your best streak yet – and some posts get good engagement. But unfortunately, most of your posts are just … falling flat. You’re putting a significant amount of time and effort into your feed, but without the results, it all feels frustrating and discouraging.
At this point, most of us give up. Why keep going if it’s just not working?
While consistency and high-quality content are crucial for engaging an audience, there’s another piece to the puzzle that many people don’t realize. You see, we often show only one side of ourselves on social media.
Maybe you create a highly professional account that sticks to business-related topics, or you cultivate a personal account that shares stories about your family and daily life. Even more problematic, you don’t show yourself at all, leaving your face and personality out of your posts entirely.
In order to create an authentic and engaging social media presence, however, it’s important to show all sides of yourself with a well-rounded and balanced feed. That means sharing some personal moments, such as photos of your family, as well as your professional expertise and even your community involvement – all in one place.
Creating the right balance of content is critical if you want to show up authentically and actually engage real people. That’s why our 100 Posts strategy is broken down into categories: personal, professional, community, current events, and miscellaneous. It helps you cover all your bases while leaving room for a little creativity as well.
That’s how you create a well-rounded presence that actually engages people – while still posting according to plan.
5. Overcomplicating your strategy
Now, if you’ve been posting authentic content easily and consistently, you should be well on your way to establishing a social media presence worth following. However, as we often do, it’s easy to complicate things at this point in the game.
As business owners and professionals, we like to think that social media has to be this complex, time-consuming job that requires a ton of resources – or else it’s just not good enough.
Well we’re here to tell you that your social media strategy doesn’t have to be complicated in order to be effective. In fact, it’s just the opposite. The more you streamline this process and make it easy (and fun!) the more likely you are to actually stick to it.
That’s why we believe it’s crucial to make this as easy as possible on yourself and your business. Start by committing to two posts a week. Get into a rhythm. Pay attention to what works and what doesn’t. Put in extra effort when you can. Then systematize the rest.
But don’t go into this thinking it has to be rocket science or another full-time job you have to add to your plate. Use this plan to remove the common barriers, then get to work. Do what you can and improve when you feel so inspired.
And if you need a little help making this process even easier, check out our SchlickArt 100 Posts Social Media Guides to avoid these common social media mistakes. They’re designed to help you put this process into action with ease and confidence – so you never have another excuse not to post again.
Learn More: The SchlickArt 100 Posts Social Media Guides
After years of practicing and refining this process, we’ve gathered our best ideas, prompts and processes into three tailor-made social media plans – one for Small Business Owners, one for Realtors, and one for Loan Officers.
These SchlickArt 100 Posts Social Media Guides are actionable workbooks designed to get your social media strategy off the ground and streamlined for a year’s worth of easy yet engaging posts.
The 100+ prompts are broken down into specific sections, such as personal posts or community-related posts, to help you create the perfect balance of content for a well-rounded personal brand. (Say goodbye to slapdash content creation.)
Plus, each guide includes a worksheet to help you structure your social media strategy, starting with your marketing goals and ending with a consistent posting plan.
To make sure you really get the most of your social media guide, we’ve also included a 30-minute instructional video that walks you through the entire process.
We’ve done everything we can to take the guesswork and stress out of the social media process – so you can put your visual marketing content to use in the most effective way possible.
And it’s all at your fingertips in one simple yet powerful workbook.
Say goodbye to common social media mistakes!
Learn More: About SchlickArt Photography & Video
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About SchlickArt Photography & Video
SchlickArt, a boutique photo and video studio in Santa Clarita, started in March 2012 with the simple idea that empowerment creates a kind of beauty and authenticity that shines through every camera lens. Built on a philosophy — rather than a product, service or person — SchlickArt has rapidly evolved, meeting professional portraiture, business photo and business video needs as diverse as the community we capture. It’s the desire to take care of you, the client, that drives us at SchlickArt.