Are you struggling with your social media marketing? Don’t panic! You may be making some basic mistakes that are hurting your engagement.

We know you’re feeling frustrated — we are too. The trouble is, content is everywhere, and it’s hard to tell with social media whether it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing.

If your engagement is low, check out our list of the most common pitfalls that are making you feel down. We’re here to help get your posts back on track!

There are a lot of things to think about when it comes to social media marketing. With different networks and different engagement tactics, it can be hard to keep track of everything. You may be making some mistakes that are making you feel defeated, but we can change this. Let’s get started and look at some of the most common social media mistakes… 

 

Mistake 1: Using links on your Instagram post

We all know by this point that Instagram is one of the best platforms to showcase your business, but did you know that you can’t include a link in the captions of your Instagram posts? 

Unlike its partner, Facebook, when wanting to direct someone to your webpage, you cannot do this directly from a single post. So, what steps should you take to ensure you’re driving traffic to your website? 

Firstly, on your profile, you should have your website link or a Linktree link (which shares multiple links or resources) in your bio. 

If you’re unsure how to set up a Linktree account, follow the steps listed in this informative blog post.

When putting a post out on Instagram, you should ask people to click the link in your bio and add more detail about the next steps if the post is for a specific purpose (such as to visit your blog page).

 

Mistake 2: Not using hashtags on all social media platforms.

Instagram is known for its wide use of hashtags and how it helps a business’s engagement rate, but did you know that you need to be using these on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter?

When adding hashtags to Facebook and LinkedIn, results have shown that it is best to use between 3-5 to get a better result. However, on Instagram, you should be utilising all 30 hashtags. It is best to check how many followers hashtags have on LinkedIn as the popular tags for one social media platform may not be used so much on another.

On Twitter, you should use hashtags either throughout your tweet (to efficiently make use of the character count), or at the bottom after you have written your post when you have some characters remaining. 

Another point is not to use hashtags that are too popular. What do we mean by this?

Let’s take Instagram for example. If you use the hashtag #Funny you will see that this has been used 78 million times. Do you think your post stands a chance of cutting through this noise? It is better to stick to hashtags that are more targeted to your business for a better chance of your post being seen. 

For more information on the use of hashtags, you can read through marketing connoisseur Neil Patel’s top tips on how to use them.

 

Mistake 3: You’re choosing quantity over quality

Did you know that posting more than once a day on Instagram isn’t that great for your engagement?

We’re not talking about people seeing your posts too often and becoming annoyed because it might not even get to that stage. Instagram’s algorithm will only put your content high up in your followers’ feeds if it deems it relevant and engaging. By posting twice in one day, you risk Instagram perceiving the posts as spam. Therefore, it will push both posts further down in your followers’ feed, making them less likely to be seen.  

 

Mistake 4 – Not replying to comments on social media 

If someone has taken the time to reach out to your post, you should be replying to them within the first few hours. Why is this?

If a person can see that they can trust you and feels like they are personally connected with your brand, they are more likely to keep engaging with you. And therefore, will be more inclined to share their great experience! It would help if you also went back to that comment the following day and liked it; this helps push the post back to the top of the algorithm.

 

Mistake 5 – You’re not posting enough images

With the rising use of short video platforms such as TikTok, research has shown that our attention span isn’t what it used to be. People are more likely to engage with a post that is a picture as they can briefly take in the visuals instead of reading through the text.

 

Here are our top tips for staying relevant on social media:

  • Engage. This gets your name seen, and your posts are more likely to be engaged with. Make sure you reply to comments, follow new accounts, and like other accounts’ posts. 
  • Add a link to your bio. Don’t leave your bio blank; make sure you add that link and check that it is in working order.
  • Don’t forget those hashtags. Add relevant hashtags to each social media platform that you are on to better expand your reach.
  • Keywords. Like with hashtags, make sure you add keywords to your posts to help with SEO.

 

For further advice on keeping the algorithm on your side, speak to a member of the 10X team today. We’d be happy to help!

 

Looking for a guide pack to answer all your burning questions?

By downloading our 10X Marketing Guide Pack, you’ll get three fantastic guides that will walk you step by step through the following: 

  • Competitor analysis
  • Content repurposing for platform specifications
  • Blogging consistently with an editorial 

Download today.