Here, we discuss six ways you are sabotaging your brand performance in social media.

1. Incomplete profile:

Probably the biggest sin, ever, is to have an incomplete social media profile. Having an incomplete, partially complete, outdated, social media profiles of your brand not only bring down the overall impression but also send a negative note about your company culture. Having a poorly maintained profile is highly unprofessional and in a sense, shows general indifference towards marketing or social media management.

To avoid being blacklisted in the social media circuit, maintain a short, crisp, and updated profile. A few words about your brand, some important facts (date of launch, category, the line of service, etc.) will do. Post regular updates about company happenings, events, and new releases.

2. Choosing incorrect social media image sizes:

Not using the right social media image size is one of the biggest mistakes ever made. Your profile picture or display picture is the first thing someone notices about your profile. Most people are of the perception that a passport size photo perfectly fits into the square block reserved for the profile picture, not realizing the minor differences in dimension could make or mar the impression. The same picture will appear very small in Facebook or stretched out of proportion on Twitter. The same applies to cover images. Here, we provide the standard image sizes for some major social networks:

• Facebook profile picture: 170 X 170 pixels
• Facebook cover photo: 828 X 465 pixels
• Twitter profile photo: 400 X 400 pixels
• Twitter header image: 1,500 X 500 pixels
• LinkedIn profile photo: 400 X 400 pixels
• LinkedIn banner image: 646 X 220 pixels
• Instagram profile picture: 110 X 110 pixels
• Pinterest profile picture: 150 X 150 pixels
• YouTube profile picture: 800 X 800 pixels

1. Using inconsistent handles across social networks:

How does it feel when you go to an old friend’s place, a stranger opens the door asks who you are? You kinda feel lost, right? You ask about your friend, and then you are let in. the same thing works for your social media profile. Your brand may be represented by its logo on Twitter, but by some other picture on Facebook or Instagram. It leads to confusion and sets a precedent about brand reputation management. Having consistent profile photos will increase your chances of having people follow you on different social networks. The more attention your logo gets, the higher are the chances of being recalled when people think of similar products/services.

2. Not adding keywords to your profiles for SEO:

Social media profiles often go unnoticed because appropriate keywords are not used for SEOs. People fail to find your brand. Using relevant keywords for promoting your product/service improves brand visibility. If you belong to a niche segment, for example, manufacturing learning resources for visually impaired students, choose appropriate keywords like “reading”, “visual impairment”, “adaptive equipment” or “Braille”. Make sure that related terms should appear in your LinkedIn job title, job description, and skills. These terms should also appear in your bio copy, in photo names, interests, and experience.

Keyword tools like SEMrush and Google Keyword Planner can help you find the right words or terms to promote your brand across social media networks.

3. Using invalid links:

Nothing is more frustrating than clicking on a broken link when you are trying to find something important. It makes the user feel cheated and leads to believe that the company does not care for its customers. Having a broken link also points to your inefficient resources and lack of due diligence.

To avoid this, check your links every week, to make sure they are working fine, and remove the ones not working or outdated. This is very important since a link on your social media profile might be used as a CTA, a redirect to your website, or to point someone to your business’ landing page.

4. Being irregular with posting:

Nothing is worse than ghosting out after a series of posts. I once knew of a company which would only post once or twice a year to inform users of changes in management. Another company I know posts only of new recruitments. Needless to say, most of the times these posts go unnoticed because, in social media, users do not care much for infrequent postings.

Post regularly in the social media networks, to avoid being lost in the crowd. Brands with regular postings always remain ahead of others. Post something that promotes a strong piece of content might be an important message, landing page, offer, blog post, video or other media asset. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson posts articles every day, engaging readers’ attention. Oracle posts short duration videos for sharing industry insights, and promoting their own products.

Surprised? Scared? Or shocked? Are you sure your organization does not make any of the above-mentioned mistakes? Find out now. Quite often we fail to reap the returns of our efforts, because of the loose ends or casual glitches that bring down the impression. That is because we want the sign on the billboards to remind us of our favorite shoe store, and not something else.

Like what you read? Got a point to prove? Have a different perspective?

Let me know your thoughts. Share your thoughts in the comments box below.

1. Video sharing:
Facebook video ads are one of the best ways to spread brand awareness. It is a strategy that works to engage and convert website visitors, to push leads down the funnel in email marketing campaigns and to fuel engagement across multiple social channels like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Periscope. On an average Facebook user watch 100 million hours of video every day. Facebook videos get 135 percent more organic reach than photos. According to Hubspot, 53% of people want to see more video content from marketers.

The videos may range from lightweight animated formats including GIF, Slideshow, and Cinema graph formats, to automated videos. The users can watch the videos, comment, tag, and share them. Facebook videos allow advertisers have proved as more effective for marketing, without spending much on budget or time. According to a recent Adobe report, shoppers that view videos are 1.81X more likely to purchase than non-video viewers.

Multi-product ads allow advertisers to showcase multiple products within a single advertisement. Viewers can scroll through the images and click on individual links to each product. You can also promote blog posts, e-books, or webinars, through Facebook. These ads can be created in the Facebook Power Editor.

This is reason enough to explain why most brands have invested heavily in videos and 46 percent of marketers still plan to add Facebook video to their digital marketing plan in 2019.

2. Going live:
Facebook live has been gaining tremendous momentum ever since it was launched in April 2016. Search Engine Journal found that their average Facebook Live engagement was 178% higher than their average post engagement. The average reach of live posts also increased up to two times. Facebook Live videos have a better organic reach and it allows for real-time interactions between publishers and audiences, one of the primary reasons for its increasing popularity.

With reactions, comments, and viewer numbers being available in real-time, you can get prompt responses by asking and answering questions in your broadcast. Bigger brands like Starbucks, Trey Ratcliff, Martha Stewart, and Mashable are using it to their advantage.

In September 2016, Starbucks organized its first live event at Rufus King Park in Jamaica, Queens, NY for National Voter Registration Day, and broadcasted it over Facebook. Broadcasting this event Live brought attention to Starbucks’ involvement in the community and allowed viewers who could not be part of the event, yet wanted to learn about its importance and its cause.

To cite another example, Sephora invited Jen Atkin of Ouai Haircare and Christophe Robin Paris for a 30-minute video where they would casually talk about makeup tips, trends, and beauty products. The guests in the informal discussion could answer questions posted in the live feed and advertise Sephora products. The live video chat had viewers researching the recommended products online, reading reviews, and purchasing them.

3. Image posting:
Though video posts are often outperforming image counterparts in Facebook, visual posts are 40 times more likely to get to get shared on social channels (according to the data provided HubSpot). Image posts are also growing in variety, memes and infographics, included. Photo posts are still one of the best ways to connect with users and sure shot ways of generating a response. With more than 37 million fans, the Starbucks Facebook page is ranked among the top 10 brand pages. Starbucks has been winning more users by asking for tips to use their products, for more innovative concoctions. Users are encouraged to post pictures of the products in usual settings (say for example vacation sites)or personal snaps (of sipping coffee in the balcony) for organic reach.
Qatar Airlines, on the other, posts pictures taken during the soccer season in America. Their fans are very responsive to questions and post regularly on the company’s page, for more engagement.

4. Chatbots:
According to Facebook records, there are over 100,000 monthly active bots on Messenger, providing an instant connection between brands and customers. Customer service remains the main realm of chatbots, addressing basic queries and issues, and providing an automated interaction to drive sales. Chatbots, as in most social media channels, are built as networks to converse, discuss and share content.

Mastercard created two chatbots: one for banks and one for merchants. The bot for merchants is designed to facilitate transactions right in Messenger. Consumers can place orders and create accounts and also employ Masterpass to make each transaction easier.

Trulia, a real estate company, has introduced a chatbot for renters, to have live updates on real estate properties, once they become available. The users can search for “rentals in Chicago,” for example, or get more specific information with keywords like “four-story condominium for sale in New York.” The Trulia bot then returns applicable listings.

5. Advertising:
Small businesses prefer paid ads on Facebook for better organic reach. There are now over 4 million businesses paying for Facebook advertising to promote their products or increase brand awareness. According to Contently, 78% of marketers using the platform are satisfied with how their Facebook ads have turned out.

Simplilearn, an online education platform wanted to increase awareness, consideration, and enrollments, by using Facebook’s ads, tracking, Insights, Custom Audience, and Lookalikes. Simplilearn created Facebook video ads with a targeted audience of 24-45 year-olds in India and Indian expats in the U.S. It engaged them with video ads, serving them photos and carousel ads, which contained a linked to registration, that highlighted Simplilearn’s major benefits. The results were amazing! Simplilearn doubled its leads, increased reach by 50%, decreased lead cost by 60%, and reached 10 million viewers, all in five months.

Which of these trends, do you think, can be integrated into your Facebook marketing strategy? You may try experimenting with a few of these elements, and find out what works. We always love to hear about any new Facebook ad tactics or tests you ran that really paid off for your brand or organization.

Share your thoughts with us. Reach out in the comment section below!