Common Social Media Mistakes
And what you can do instead…
These are some of the most common mistakes we see on social media that can be detrimental to not only your growth but your overall brand image. We’ve compiled all of them in a blog and given you what to do instead! Keep reading and see if you’re guilty of any of them…
UNFOLLOWING & FOLLOWING AS A METHOD OF GROWTH
When people follow a bunch of accounts online, in hopes that they will follow back, and once they do - they unfollow them all. This is not only such a shady way to get noticed, but it just doesn’t work. There’s nothing authentic about unfollowing everyone you faked that initial connection with. It sends a message of inauthenticity, which people don’t want to stick around for (and yes - people feel that energy online… trust us).
Instead, focus on posting engaging content, or Reels specifically, to get new eyes on your page, for a minimum of 5x per week. Something else you can do to promote your online growth is discovering & engaging with new accounts, whether that’s through leaving a comment on their post or replying to their story. The key to this is being authentic. Meaning, if you wouldn’t say anything in *real life*, don’t say it online. If you genuinely find something interesting about someone else’s content on their page or stories, say it! Being authentic is as easy as that.
USING WORDS OF GUARANTEE
This one’s an unpopular one, but on our watch using words of guarantee & promising to make sales is a no-go. More often than not, the ones who don’t guarantee anything are the ones you can trust. A general rule of thumb online is to stay away from messages like ‘how to gain 10,000 followers in 1 month’. What works for one account may not work for others and delivering results depends on so many more things than we can predict!
If you’re someone who has been taught to overpromise to succeed on social media, instead, try highlighting the transformation you’re able to provide with your service & product through your copy, rather than trying to convince through your copy. Pair this with a really strong CTA, showing your audience where to buy from you and voilà — strong sales copy!
DM’ING WITH THE INTENTION OF SELLING
When we posted about our social media “icks” on our Instagram last week, 3 people commented this was their number one “ick”! DM-ing people and asking questions in an interview style, which gives an obvious impression that you want to sell to them, and not *actually* connect. The DM’s are a space where you build a stronger relationship with others - whether those are potential clients, customers or fellow experts in your industry. Don’t get us wrong — the DM’s can be a great place to sell, but NOT with accounts that are cold and new to your page. Our philosophy is the only time you should sell in your Instagram DM’s is when the lead reaches out to YOU. Never the other way around. Why? Because your content should be doing that already. You should not rely on Instagram DM’s to make sales. So many coaches & service providers tell you otherwise online, so we’re here to tell you to not fall into this trap.
Instead, as mentioned, focus on producing high-quality, high-converting content that drives your audience to you, in a natural, more organic way. If you really want to be in people’s DM’s — focus on relationship-building. As mentioned before, this means commenting on someone’s post or replying to someone’s story, only if you would in real life! Don’t force connections, let them form organically.
COMMENTING “love this” under posts you haven’t read
Commenting things like “love this” under every post you see, for the sake of the engagement, is not being authentic & organic. This completely misses the point of building a community, because in order to do so, you’ve got to be both authentic & organic. Doing outreach engagement is a great way to get new eyes on your page, as well as build new connections. We highly recommend it as a growth strategy, not to mention, it’s already a popular method. And of course, with it being a popular one, everyone wants to do it quickly, resulting in people commenting, for the sake of it without reading the post.
The alternative is pretty obvious — read the post! It’s so much more productive to focus on quality over quantity when it comes to engagement. This means, that spending 10 minutes leaving quality comments on 4 new accounts is more worthwhile and productive than spending 10 minutes leaving 1-liner, basic comments on 20 new accounts. Why? Because you’ve struck a relationship with those 4 accounts, by showing them you really read their post or watched their video and took your time to leave your honest opinion. Remember — quality > quantity.
THE BEIGE AESTHETIC
We’re going to get some hate for this, but it has to be said. Before we get started, we want to clarify that we’re not against nude/ beige colours in branding! We love it, but when it’s done in a unique way. The issue lies when everyone’s page looks the same and you can’t tell them apart. That’s completely missing the point of personal branding. You want to be able to stand out and have your colours, fonts and unique design scream YOUR name on its own.
Instead of following the current trend, you can work with a professional graphic/ branding designer (we highly recommend Ozge) to curate your brand based on how you want your audience to perceive you. If you can’t afford it yet — our top tip would be to stay clear from Canva templates, or any popular templates to purchase online, because chances are, others are using them and it diminishes your brand. If you’re thinking, “how am I going to design unique templates” — well, in all honesty, you don’t have to! Depending on your industry, you don’t *need* graphics to grow on social media. Take TikTok as an example — little to no graphic design skills are needed for brands to succeed. You can always focus on creating high-quality videos, then invest in branding when you’re ready to.
BEING UNREALISTIC IN YOUR HOOKS
For example, telling people things like ‘how to create 15 pieces of content in 15 mins’, or other misleading hooks. We’re all for hooking in your audience and leaving a good impression, but there’s a difference between a “hook” and being “misleading”. This is why people have a negative perception of people “lying and scamming” online. We have a great formula for hooks online, that is aimed to create hooks unique to your video, rather than using the typical hooks that people are running to the ground (i.e. “stop scrolling”, or “why is no one talking about this?”). In our formula, we want you to think about the main point you want to make with this video. What’s the goal? Try to think beyond the topic of the video. Think about what your ideal customer/ audience wants. That should be included in your hook. For example…
If you’re a career coach, instead of saying “3 ways to introduce boundaries”, you can say “if your boss is walking all over you, here’s exactly what you need to do”
If you’re a life/ beauty creator, instead of saying “5 ways to glow up”, you can say “if you want to glow up without spending $1,000’s, this is what you need to do”
These are just 2 examples, but the opportunities are endless!
SUMMARY
Let us know if these helped in the comments!
