How Social Media Can Ruin Your Brand

When it comes to digital marketing – social media is a blessing and a curse. Through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and a few others, we saw brands rise and fall. We can also see global brands pivoting larger and larger chunks of their budgets into social media marketing.

But how can such a powerful tool do so much harm?

Well, social media can turn into a double-edged sword pretty quickly if we’re not careful. And this usually translates to sinking money.

So, let’s dive into some common social media mistakes that can make or break your brand!

#1. Throwing too much money at promotions

“I’ll just boost my post. That’ll bring us some new customers.”

You’d be surprised by how often this sentence is said and/or written. Brand owners, especially those new to social media, often fall into a just get a paid promotion trap.

The truth is – paying for ads doesn’t get you far if the ads suck. That money spent on post boosting has the potential to burn through your marketing budget. And quickly.

The key to getting the most out of paid promotions is testing. Do a simple AB test, see what works, and put more money in that direction. Repeat this process to calibrate every once in a while, and you’ll get a better understanding of your audience and a firmer grasp of your brand!

#2. Failing to set goals

Do you want more followers? Do you want more people buying your service or product? Or do you simply want more people to know about your brand?

These are the questions every successful campaign should start with.

And the reason behind these questions is fairly unsurprising – how will you know whether your social media campaign worked if you don’t know what the goal was in the first place. People think social media is a wild game of chance. While this is true to a degree, you have more control than you think.

Measure your stats and react accordingly.

#3. Not keeping your account info safe

Since social media management is usually done by several people, having a strong grip on your credentials is paramount! You’ve probably heard about or even seen hacked social media accounts posting inappropriate content or inviting followers to download malware. You can probably imagine how damaging that is to a brand’s reputation.

Juggling between social media platforms is hard and keeping them safe is even harder. The first thing you should ensure is that you use good passwords for all of your social media accounts. If you struggle to remember your passwords, a password manager (like the one here) can help overcome these struggles.

Also, remember to update your devices regularly, especially ones that you use to manage your brand’s social media accounts! Lastly, if you are dealing with a large amount of file sharing, having some sort of antivirus software is a good direction to take.

#4. Failing to provide value

From working on brand awareness to increasing sales, you have to provide value to the audience at all times. It doesn’t have to be big or game-changing all the time, but redundant and filler posts won’t do any good either.

So, to provide value, you need to do some research first. At first, it might seem overwhelming, but you’ll see the value as soon as the results kick in. To find out what’s seen as valuable content, you should:

• Get to know your audience
• Try out different types of content
• Familiarize yourself with the algorithms of the platforms you use
• Study the big heads in your sector
• Make sure you engage with your audience

By following these guidelines, you should be able to scope what’s valuable to your audience and what’s not. You can speed things up if you track engagement closely. Speaking of…

#5. Failing to learn from your mistakes

Let’s say you tested a new ad. You start promoting on all social media platforms, with initial success. However, one particular platform isn’t giving results. There’s a lot you can learn in the process of solving a problem like this.

By finding out why something didn’t work, you get access to a whole new layer of useful data. Mistakes make us understand the audience better and allow us to adapt our social media presence faster.

If a test failed, take notes and figure out why that particular type of content didn’t work. This pit of knowledge is virtually bottomless, so why not at least dig a little?

#6. Overdoing it

Lastly, you must not overdo it! There’s a reason why the “moderation is key” cliché exists. By overdoing it, you risk developing an unlikable social personality. While this isn’t a death sentence, it certainly can set your brand back.

No matter how hard it may seem, keep your emotions out of the equation as much as you can. Current political events are a risky area as well, so it’s best not to take chances. However, if you do decide to join in on current events, make sure to provide value while doing so.

Emotions are a metric that we can’t quantify, yet. So, make sure your brand’s tone of voice matches the audience, as well as the vibe you want to put out. Sometimes, waiting for a moment or two can make all the difference.

Also, posing as a “fun” or “witty” brand won’t get you real results, so there’s no point in doing so. Besides, it often looks and sounds disingenuous. A funny post is ok from time to time, though. Context matters.

Improvise, Adapt, Overcome

Social media is, above all, a game of patience. Business owners tend to fall in love with social media potential instead of utilizing it. There is no get-famous-quick scheme out there. Instead, take your time, test the waters with small moves, and scale up!

Even though everyone makes mistakes, only big, established brands have the luxury of recovering quickly.

So, the best course would be to listen to your audience and create value for them, so they can create value for you.