In the spirit of Halloween, let’s review 3 social media mistakes that are easy to avoid.
1 — Not using native features
The goal of social media is to keep users engaged within their platform, instead of redirecting them to other websites.
To support this objective, every social media is developing native formats: videos, pictures carousels, document hosting… These features usually get a larger reach, as they increase users’ engagement on the platform.
Yet, many people and companies are not taking advantage of this opportunity. The most significant example is the use of videos. On LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, some users are exclusively posting YouTube links instead of uploading videos natively.
It has been shown that native LinkedIn videos native videos are five times more likely than other content to start a conversation among members.
Using this feature doesn’t only boost your reach but also improves your audience experience: they can watch directly your video within their feed, instead of having to open a link.
2 — Not optimizing the caption
The copy of your post is essential to make it attractive and drive engagement. But we can still see many posts which just contain the article title or no text at all.
Putting extra efforts to write this copy will encourage people to read your content and engage with it. This section is an opportunity to share your perspective on the topic.
If you’re not inspired, think about your takeaways from this content. Adopting this approach can also help you remember what you learned.
Each social media has its codes: on LinkedIn, you can write long-form posts, while Twitter encourages brevity with a more informal tone. On Instagram, we can see more and more long-form captions, giving the full context to followers without clicking a link.
3 — Assuming that Twitter is dead
Twitter can be intimidating at first, because of its specific functions. It has short messages, hashtags, a feed in real time…
With the rise of other social platforms, Twitter seems to lose popularity. But 500 million tweets are actually sent every day and 67% of B2B businesses use it as a digital marketing tool. Twitter made a number of changes to make it easier to use, including the choice between Top Tweets or Lastest Tweets on the timeline.
The social media keeps on innovating and is still a great place to share content and network. Here are a few ideas you can leverage:
- Twitter chats are public conversations organised around a specific topic. You can easily join and share insights with other attendees.
- Threads allow to create a series of tweets to talk about a specific topic.
You can read an example below, in which Ryan McCready explains how to use graphs on social media:
Graphs are being used to skew data & spin narratives like never before.
— Ryan McCready (@RyanMcCready1) October 19, 2020
Especially on social media…
One graph from a less-than-reputable source, can spread a false narrative in seconds.
So let's take a look at the MOST common misleading graphs now & how to spot them!
⬇️⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/zWlVyHm0VC
- Moments enable to curate tweets around a specific topic or event, for example.
With these features, Twitter opens the way for more ideas to interact and share your content.
Adopting these changes can have a significant impact on your reach and engagement. Don’t forget that consistency is key: you will see results by posting regularly while experimenting with various topics and formats. It requires a bit more time, but it’s worth the effort!