It's no secret that social media is the most affordable and most effective form of marketing, when used correctly. But making mistakes on social media is easier than you think. Small missteps won't always lead to disaster, but may make customers shake their heads and take their business elsewhere without saying anything. It may be a good time to do a quick survey of your social media and see if you're making any of the following mistakes.  

Getting into Social Media without a plan

It's easy to get excited about social media at first. Many people will join a network, load their profiles with great information, generate some buzz, then disappear when keeping up with it gets time consuming. The first step is to have a social media marketing plan. A good plan will include the time investment, goals and strategy, and plan for interaction. Create a calendar and fill it with articles, information, marketing opportunities and more, then use a scheduler to set up your posts weeks or months in advance. Once your initial time investment is taken care of with planning and scheduling, you can maintain your work, posting periodically if you come across useful information and interacting with your audience.

Not Posting Regularly

You'll be surprised to know that you don't necessarily need to post every day to be considered "active", but you do need to post on a regular schedule. You'd hate for a potential client to find your page through a great post, only to see that it was your first one in six months! For Facebook, 1-2 posts per day is ideal. For Twitter, the number is 3-5 tweets. If those numbers sound outrageous, start with posting two or three times each week, and working your way up.

Overposting

While you want to post regularly (see above), inundating your followers with more information than they need is a quick way to lose their attention. Every couple of weeks, take a look at your progress and see which posts are getting the most or least interaction, check if there's been a significant rise or fall in your audience numbers, and adjust your posts accordingly.

Very Little Interaction

In many cases, profiles have updates but no participation in conversation. Lack of conversation with your clients and followers decreases value of your social presence and you don’t build on valuable relationships. Social Media should be treated like a live event. You would never go to a party and wait for everyone to speak to you - you reach out, you engage, and conversations thrive. Social platforms work the same way. Follow sites you find interesting, comment and converse as your page.

No Real Followers

Are you posting information to the same 50 or so followers every month? Your page could offer the best information, but a small following won't get you anywhere. To avoid this, interact on social media, tag other businesses and colleagues, and give people a reason to follow your page. If you've invited all of your friends to like your page and the number is still stagnant, it may be time to run a promotion or pay for sponsored post to reach new people in your target demographic.

Not Spending Wisely

Speaking of ads... Social media advertising can be very affordable, especially as your following is just getting started. However, if you're spending money on ads and not seeing results, you may want to do a quick search on how to create a more effective ad, utilizing Search Engine Optimization and current trends.

Not Knowing Your Target Audience

Just like in any other form of marketing, it's crucial to know who you are trying to reach so that your efforts aren't wasted. Trying to reach millennial? The way you speak and act online will make a huge difference, as you want to stay ahead of trends. Trying to reach the elderly? Though many older people are using social media, your target may actually be their middle-aged children who are more likely to use the internet.