Social media extends your reach and gives you the opportunity to engage with your audience in new and exciting ways. But simply attaching your business name to a Facebook or Twitter profile isn’t enough to guarantee success. You need to actively manage your social accounts to see a return on investment. Here are the social media mistakes to avoid in 2019 if you want to drive more interest in your properties.  

Getting Started: The Ins and Outs of Social Media Channels

Each social media channel has its own use-case and key performance indicators. Before you launch a social media strategy, it’s important to understand the purpose of each, so you can select the right mix to meet your goals.

  • Facebook: Best for brand awareness and driving website traffic. Share blog content, updates, and engaging community information with a diverse demographic. Facebook can be used to connect with a hyperlocal, highly specific audience.
  • Instagram: Best for sharing original visual content to drive brand awareness. Instagram should not be counted on to deliver more website traffic.
  • Twitter: Best for driving referral traffic via blog shares or website promotion. Twitter is considered a “news” or “what’s happening” platform and is not focused on geo-targeting. If your goal is to make more local connections, Twitter is not the best platform to use.
  • Pinterest: Best for building brand affinity and awareness with lifestyle-focused imagery.
  • LinkedIn: Best for professional networking and recruitment. All content shared on LinkedIn should be relevant to your business development, community relations, and/or employment opportunities.

Basic Social Media Etiquette: Mistakes to Avoid

When it comes to posting on social media, there are basic etiquette guidelines you need to follow if you want to keep your audience engaged. Avoid the following faux pas:

Brand Inconsistency

You probably spent a lot of money designing your logo. And why wouldn’t you? It’s the face your business presents to the world. That’s why it’s important to use it as your profile photo across all social media channels, to keep your identity consistent. Yes, social media is fun. And yes, it is more conversational than your website content, but your social media presence is a direct extension of your brand – don’t use it as an excuse to draw outside the lines.

Over-Selling

Remember that first and foremost, your followers use social media as a form of entertainment. Nobody wants to be spammed with sales pitches, ads, and gimmicky posts. Content should be engaging, community-oriented, and, of course, entertaining. Aim for creating and posting content that your audience will want to share with their followers. Remember the 80/20 rule: 80 percent entertaining, 20 percent selling.

Spamming Your Audience

Can you think of a local business you want to see pop up on Facebook more than twice a day? Unless they’re running a really great giveaway, the answer is most likely, no. Don’t make the assumption that just because you are posting at different times during the day, you might be seen by a larger group of people – you may just be reaching the same group. Keep your posting frequency in check and make sure you aren’t spamming your social channels with too much content.

Irrelevant Posts

It’s one thing to use social media to superficially connect with the local community. It’s another, and far more impressive and successful, thing to connect using relevant content that resonates with your audience. What you post and share needs to resonate with the needs of your followers, not just fill a quota of recommended posts per week. Relevant posts garner attention, which is followed by increased traffic to your profile, website, or business via likes, shares, comments, and reviews.

All social media channels provide access to user insights and traffic information. Take advantage of this data to understand which posts are the most engaging, the best times and days to interact with your followers, and how to best engage with your community.

Ignoring Comments and Reviews

Just like you need to pay attention to your social media engagement data, you also need to manage the public comments and reviews that are posted online about your business. This includes all social media channels and review sites such as Google and Yelp. Online reviews now have more weight than personal word-of-mouth advertising, and directly impact your bottom line. One negative review on an online review site drives away 30 new customers. It’s essential to respond to all reviews, both positive and negative, to invite dialogue, encourage engagement, and acknowledge feedback.

Streamline your Social Media Strategy with G5

Interested in learning more? G5 will be attending the Multifamily Social Media Summit in Napa, California, January 9-11. Schedule a time to speak with us there! 

In the meantime, download our quick guide to social media channels and KPIs to make sure you start 2019 off on the right foot.