Today, social media is a must for any business or personal brand. It offers multiple benefits for those who know how to use this tool in the right way. First and foremost, social media helps strengthen the connection between the company and the customer and facilitate quick feedback. Yet, for a business to succeed in this area, it takes much more than just creating an account on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram. The marketing world has seen many examples of how inappropriate postings nearly destroyed the public image of a company. Naturally, err is human and some mistakes are inevitable no matter how hard you try to avert them. Here are the biggest and most common errors many brands make. Make sure you read the list to the very end and remember them for your future activities on social media.

#1: Selling Your Product or Service

People easily accept the fact that every advertising or commercial they watch or listen to is all about a company trying to sell them its product or service. However, when they go on social media, they expect to see something different. If you continue pushing with the selling language and being overly promotional on your social media pages, it is a huge mistake. Instead of directly persuading your audience to purchase your product or service, invite them to join your lifestyle, an integral part of which your product/service is.

#2: Great Visuals

When people visit your company's social media pages, they believe they will see authentic and aesthetic messages and visuals that highlight the brand's mission and values. Brands that don't use imaging to their advantage are missing the mark. If you don't have professional training in graphic design and can't afford hiring a designer, then the best solution is to use already designed solutions, such as free Instagram highlight covers, offered by one of the most popular graphic design tools - VistaCreate. Try it and see for yourself that even a beginner can produce high quality designs.

#3: Lack of Professionalism

Regardless of what exactly a company does, it must look professional and of high quality, end of story! If you fail to meet your customers' expectations in terms of quality of your social media postings, how then will you persuade them that the products or services that your business offers are of top quality?

#4: Buying Likes and Followers

For many people, a high number of likes, comments and followers is a clear-cut sign that this company is a success. Buying likes and followers might appear tempting and a sure way to get noticed, but having a large but fake community doesn't guarantee anything good. There are several methods to artificially build up your community, like creating fake accounts or employing bot services. Still, we strongly advise against any of such methods. A good thing to remember here is that social platforms themselves don't like that and fight these methods.

#5: Leaving Your Page Information Blank

Though the "About" section of a company's social accounts are often overlooked, they are extremely important. When you show your audience the essential information about your business, such as category, official name, nicknames if any, business information, contact details, website, address, working hours etc., this helps them perceive your business as a serious and trustworthy company they can always rely upon.

#6: Forgetting About Influencers

When company's representatives praise their product or service, that does not sound natural. But the situation changes dramatically when somebody else is doing it, be it customers, trusted experts, partners or influencers. Influencers can be really effective and efficient, so don't miss out on this opportunity to enhance the potential of your brand.

#7: Ignoring Negative Feedback

Understandably, everybody loves appraisal and positive comments and feedback. However, in real life it sometimes happens that your company receives feedback that is not so favorable. Sometimes, customers leave bad comments because they have a bad day, and nothing beyond that. Still, sometimes their complaints might be well-grounded. Many brands tend not to take into consideration negative reviews, but, in fact, this may result in them negatively affecting your image. Rather than turning a blind eye to the negative feedback or, worse, deleting it, provide a short polite reply and try to figure out if it is true.

#8: Lack of Genuine Emotions

There is no doubt that automation is a very good thing in many ways. However, relying too heavily on automated posts may likely cause your whole account to look robotic and insincere. This in turn may result in your prospective customers turning away and leaving. As a rule, your audience wants to see that behind a brand name there are real people, genuine feelings and emotions. Try to show the "human" face of your business - your customers would definitely appreciate it.

Final Thoughts

It goes without saying that this list of mistakes is neither exhaustive nor final.  For sure there are unavoidable mistakes out there for you to make and get your lessons learned. Nevertheless, the bits of practical advice above can help businesses steer clear of falling into the same traps that many brands have encountered on their journey to success.