We Asked the Social Media Companies in Orange County About the Worst Marketing Mistakes You Can Make

Social media efforts can be a double-edged sword for companies in Orange County. You know that you need it for promotion, but at the same time, you need to be aware that if one of your platforms if being mismanaged then it can tarnish your reputation in a way that is impossible to repair. Lots of celebrities have discovered this if they’re the ones who are solely responsible for their content. Many a brand has been damaged due to a single late-night, off-color tweet.

Today we’ll go over some of the worst social media marketing mistakes you can make, according to the social media companies in Orange County to whom we spoke.

Don’t Spread Yourself Too Thin

This could be considered a rookie mistake in the social media arena. If you’re starting to do social media for your Orange County business, but you have no prior experience, the thought might be for you to create a profile for yourself on every conceivable platform to maximize your exposure. But that’s almost always going to be a mistake, for two reasons.

The first reason is that your potential customer base is not going to be active on all social media platforms. Different platforms attract different crowds, and if you’re active on Facebook, then that might not mean it makes sense for you to be on Pinterest and Snapchat as well. You’ll need to do some research and work up a profile of your typical customer, then focus on the three or four social media platforms where they are likely to be found.

The second reason you don’t want a profile for your Orange County business on every platform in existence is that it’s going to take too much time and energy to maintain all of them. Whether you are handling all of the social media tasks yourself or you’ve brought in an agency to assist you, your budget and time are limited, so you need to spend both in a way that makes sense.

Poor Quality Images and Videos

You likely know that a visual component is critical for your social media platforms, whether that comes in the form of photos or videos. It’s likely that you’ll need both, and if their quality is poor, then your followers aren’t going to be impressed. There’s no surer way to alienate your fan base than by posting obvious stock photos on your social media feeds and videos with awful production values on your Facebook or YouTube accounts.

Be sure that the pictures you post are original, colorful, artistic, and creative. Avoid the derivative and the ill-conceived. Photos of your employees enjoying their work usually go over well, as do shots of your company interacting with the community, taking part in charitable events, or you can do a series of shots showing how your products are made if that’s appropriate. Your followers will appreciate a candid, behind-the-scenes look at how the magic happens.

As for the videos, you want them to be crisp, clear, and never blurry or poorly edited. The sound quality should be consistently excellent, and they should always convey the proper image and tone for your brand. YouTube’s popularity is something that you’ll undoubtedly want to exploit, and a few videos that showcase your expertise in some area related to your niche should serve you well.

No Discernable Strategy

The other thing you should avoid is being the Orange County company that gets started with social media but has no real strategy in mind. If you start posting things that have little to do with your niche or products, then it’s not going to help your marketing efforts, and the same is true if you don’t have a consistent posting schedule.

Do some research to figure out when your followers are most likely to be around, and you should only send out posts into which you have put equal amounts of effort and thought. Once you’ve figured out what your audience desires and likes then you can have a brainstorming session that is geared around specific goals and benchmarks.

With social media, inconsistency is your enemy. If you’re posting five times a day on one of your platforms but only once every couple of weeks on another, it’s doubtful that’s going to prove an effective strategy. Stick to a disciplined routine and figure out which kinds of posts are getting the best results for you. The more you study and the more practiced you become, the more likely you are to achieve your goals.

Brand Building

The inability to build a brand can be seen as a social media failure for Orange County companies. If you’re doing social media marketing correctly, then your customers should see consistency from you in terms of how often you post, on what platforms, and in what tone. They should be able to view a post from you and know that it comes from your company based on the content even if they don’t see your name on it.

If you keep changing how you go about things on social media, then you won’t be forming the bonds with your potential customers that result in brand loyalty and repeat business. Try to avoid too much self-promotion as well. Yes, the result of your marketing efforts should be to get sales, but strive for a conversational tone sometimes with your followers. All of your posts needn’t be a hard-sell for one of your services or products.

Social media for Orange County companies can change your fortunes if done correctly. It can be frustrating if you do not see the conversion or engagement numbers you want, but stick with it. The longer you do it, the better at it you will become, and if you’re meticulous and tenacious, then there is no reason you cannot become a social media expert as time passes.

There is no better way to communicate directly with your customers, so try to take advantage of the two-way street that the many platforms out there provide. Social media is a conduit for your customers to contact you as much as it is one for you to reach them.