5 Content Marketing Mistakes to avoid on Social Media

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Five common content marketing mistakes to avoid on social media!

Social media is ever changing and always trying to do better and be better. Heck, there are times I'm on a social media platform and it updates right then and there! Sometimes the algorithms are in our favor and sometimes they're not.

But because social media is always changing and changes quickly because…well the internet doesn't stop for anybody there are things that used to work on social media that no longer work anymore. I'm sure you've noticed some of these yourself and maybe have even lost a few followers due to doing some of these things. Guilty over here!

I'm going to give you five common mistakes to avoid on social media to help keep you ahead of the curve and hopefully prevent you from losing followers and engagement. As online business owners, we've got to stay on top of this, so I got you!

Number one: Using the same wording as another influencer in our niche or the white noise effect.

Okay, we're all guilty of this right? We hear something a million times and we just end up tuning it out. We're like, look, I've heard it all before and I'm not interested! We go back to our teenage days when our parents told us to clean our rooms or take out the trash, and we tuned them out eventually because we'd heard it so many times before!

This happens in business too! We look to the people that are making waves in our industry and we try to use similar or even the same wording as them. But once everyone and their mother starts doing this it becomes, you guessed it, white noise! And it doesn't work for ANYBODY anymore. This includes wording to get your audience to sign up for your challenge, or purchase a product or sign up for your free opt-in.

The solution? Make it your own! You can continue to look up to the people making waves but instead of using the same wording, use your own words. Be creative! Put your flair, your style into it! Just like we each have our own way of teaching, we have our own way of speaking, so use that to your advantage!

NUMBER TWO: This next one comes to you from Instagram stories specifically. Instagram stories is fairly new, it only came out a few months ago, but already there are things that no longer work..yeah, the internet works fast!

The number one reason people are unfollowing or have a low view count on Instagram stories is because we're using it like snapchat. We're showing our whole day or posting too many stories per day. Unlike snapchat, on Instagram stories, you can see how many stories someone has posted. If someone has a million stories, people breeze on by or worse, unfollow your profile altogether.

The best way to go about this is to not treat it like snapchat. Snapchat users love seeing your day all day but Instagram story users do NOT. Keep it simple. Keep it quick and to the point. Show a quick tip or a quick story that only requires a few stories to tell. This will help your engagement but won't look like you have too many stories in your Instagram stories.

NUMBER THREE: Number three is all about leading with YOU instead of leading with your product or service. If someone enjoys your post on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, where ever and they go to your profile and all they see is your product or product name or maybe the service you work with, they know you're going to sell to them and they are less likely to follow you or engage with you.

People follow on social media for four reasons, to be entertained, motived, inspired or learn something. We have to give value to our target audience and lots of it! But, if they're not getting any of that from your profile they will not engage and you may lose followers.

Lead with you! Show your audience who you are, let them get to know you and your products will follow. People want to get to know the person behind the company, behind the business and this is how you're going to build trust with your audience, by serving them. Serve them with your stories. If you offer a fitness program, tell them your fitness journey story. Tell them why you do what you do, not just what you do.

NUMBER FOUR: Let's talk selfies! Oh, selfies! How we used to love you but now, you are no longer working! That's right, selfies do not work on social media. Especially selfies with no point or purpose. They may get you a lot of “likes” and “follows” but “likes” and “follows” don't from the people who are NOT your target audience, will NOT build your business.

Like I said above, the whole point of people following you on social media is because they get some type of value from you. IF you are not providing that value and you just put a selfie with stars as the caption…you'll get unfollowed.

This can get confusing because, for some, selfies bring in more follows and more likes but not all likes an follows are created equal. You can post a gorgeous selfie and get tons of likes and follows but your target audience probably doesn't really care and will unfollow, yeah the people that WANT TO BUY FROM YOU will unfollow you if it doesn't provide VALUE to them. While the people that just want to look at your gorgeous face and not buy from you will follow and like.

NUMBER FIVE: And finally number five is a two for one. Filters and voice changers. This goes for both snapchat and Instagram stories. Sad I know. And yeah, we've all been guilty of using the dog filter and the voice changers but seriously, people said this was a HUGE reason for unfollowing! Your audience wants to see you and hears your voice. Remember, they came to you for VALUE!

The simplest way to avoid losing followers and engagement? Stop using filters and voice changers! Let me put your mind at ease. You can use these filters to make a point or to add comedy when appropriate but, if you are sharing your story, providing valuable tips or sharing something important, people will unfollow if you are using a filter or voice changer.

There you have it! The top five mistakes made in social media in 2017! These will probably change again over the next few months because we all know social media is ever changing and changes come quickly! But when they do, I'll update you!

Did you learn something new or enjoy the post? Let me know below!

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