In a previous post, I shared some big digital marketing mistakes to help you avoid them. Continuing on that theme, I’ve picked five smaller mistakes that are some of the most common mistakes I’ve seen. By avoiding these, you’ll definitely be a step ahead and it will make a big difference in the long run.
Forgetting to unpin an out of date post
Being able to pin a tweet or Facebook post to the top of your feed is a great tool for businesses. You can pin a post that’s performing well or use pinning as a way to share Christmas opening hours etc. The mistake arises when forgetting to unpin the post afterwards. It’s so easy to forget about it if you don’t visit your feed very often but potential new customers might. Time and time again I visit Twitter profiles and find an older tweet that’s not relevant anymore. If you’re planning on pinning a time-sensitive post, don’t forget to set yourself a reminder when the post needs unpinning.
Not tagging the right account
This is a mistake that can happen on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, especially when there are similar accounts to the one you are attempting to tag in a post. It can be so frustrating if a company has tagged the wrong account (especially if you are the wrong handle they have tagged!) Before you tag accounts, double-check their handle in a separate browser window. Remember that a company might have differently named handles on different social media channels.
Typos
Typos have become a regular sight on social media, especially on Twitter where there is no edit button. To avoid typos, you can use a Chrome extension such as Grammarly which will pick up a lot of the mistakes before you post or get a second pair of eyes to look it over. If you do post a tweet with a mistake in it, should you delete it and re-post it? My advice is this: If you spot it really quickly then yes, delete and re-post. If the tweet has been out for a while and people are engaging with it, then leave it.
Not checking a hashtag before you use it
There are a number of reasons why you might want to check a hashtag. First of all, to make sure you know exactly how people are using the hashtag. The infamous story of DiGiorno Pizza‘s mistake is a cautionary tale. Sometimes an innocent looking hashtag is being used in an unexpected or more serious way. Secondly, if you’re creating your own hashtag, it’s worth checking to see if other people are also using it. For an event, it’s better to have a hashtag that isn’t used much so two conversations don’t get mixed up.
Forgetting what you have scheduled
Scheduling posts on social media makes life a lot easier for social media managers. It means you can post at times when most of your audience is online and also means you can schedule content ahead of time, leaving you more time to monitor the content and reply live (as well as do those other jobs on your to-do list!) The problem lies in scheduling too much content and forgetting about it. Companies have been caught out by posts going out at inappropriate times (whats happening in the news will play a big part in the reaction to your posts). To avoid this, try not to post too much in advance and check it regularly to remember what you have scheduled.
Got any other examples of common mistakes that you’ve seen or have any questions? Let me know in the comments below.
Looking for more digital marketing advice for your business or charity? Check out my marketing advice tag to view all blogs on the subject.