By Loren Jones
Wait, there’s a right way to “do” social media?
There’s a right way to do social media and a wrong way to do social media, especially when it’s for your business. This isn’t about doomscrolling on Dr. Pimple Popper or watching cute cat videos back to back. That’s consuming social media. Presenting social media to the world is a different story, and unfortunately, your business might be doing it wrong.
A few years ago, social media was considered the megaphone for a company. Today, it’s also your brand’s face, and represents the first interaction that a potential best customer could have with your business.
You want your company to be presented as honest, trustworthy, and worth considering when your competitor is just a click (or scroll) away. While low engagement might hurt your pride when checking the analytics, the cost of poor social media for a business is much worse. But before you hit post on that company potluck spotlight, take a breather. Let’s see which of these social media mistakes your business has made, what they’ve cost you, and how you can avoid them in the future.
Common social media mistakes that are costing businesses
A post is a post is a post, right? Wrong! Many small, medium, and even large businesses approach social media with the idea that simply slapping up a post will be enough to move the needle, then get frustrated and give up on social media when the ROI isn’t there.
Consider what you’re posting: a quick, unedited photo here; a holiday graphic there; and maybe the team grabbing lunch with no clear purpose behind it. None of these posts is inherently bad, but when a business posts without a clear purpose, social media becomes background noise, and the face of your brand gets shrouded.
When a business posts like this, rather than communicating its values, expertise, or even brand identity and positioning, its social media feed becomes a collection of random updates that are more likely to confuse potential clients than convert them into loyal customers.
If somebody lands on your social pages and cannot immediately understand what your company does and why it matters, the opportunity to build trust has already slipped away! More than that, now you’ll have to work harder to build that trust back.
Hidden costs that aren’t quite hidden
These mistakes stack up, and the consequences might not be immediate or obvious. They might even be easy to ignore for those who are social media averse in our chronically online culture. Over time, however, poor social media practices will negatively impact your company’s reputation, marketing effectiveness, and revenue potential.
Potential customers who are scrolling their feeds will move on without ever reaching out. Those missed inquiries (DMs, increased foot or web traffic) represent revenue that disappeared before your business realized that the opportunity even existed.
Do these social media scenarios sound familiar for your business?
Many businesses fall into the following patterns without realizing that they are bad habits. These examples highlight how small social media decisions, or taking the easy way out, can create bigger issues for your business over time.
- The family-owned business that focuses too heavily on the “culture” creative pillar and becomes a “community high five” Facebook page, but loses 15% of its web traffic each month.
- The design business that relies only on AI images that confuse their audience about their actual services and creates distrust within the community, hurting their reputation.
- The industrial manufacturer that does cool speciality work but only posts occasionally, and the caption is a 300-word block of text that loses engagement because, instead of being relatable, interesting, and beneficial to the viewer (lacking a hook), it doesn’t stop the scroll.
- The plumbing company that only posts on holidays or to plug a sale, and has no authentic images on their pages.
Did you catch the common denominator of all these examples? While well-intentioned, each of these examples lacks direction and strategy.
Without a clear social media strategy that defines what the content should accomplish, social media becomes reactive rather than a purposeful force that propels your business forward.
Don’t worry, there’s good news
The good news is that these problems are preventable! Improving your company’s presence and performance on social media does not always require a massive marketing overhaul. It often begins with just a few intentional steps to align the posted content with business goals. Combine that with social media best practices, and you will be unstoppable.
Prevention is future-proofing your social media strategy
You can stop these social media mistakes from harming your business.
- Conduct a simple social media audit.
The best place to start is by doing a simple social media audit. Take a step back, leave your pride at the door, and look at all the social profiles your company has as if you were a potential customer discovering them for the first time. Your social media should quickly answer these basic questions that every profile scroller has, whether subconscious or not:
- What does your business do?
- Where does it operate?
- Why would someone choose your business over a competitor?
Take a second to jot the answers for each platform down on a sticky note. Are you on the appropriate social media channels for your clients?
- Identify your goals
Once that foundation is clear, a basic, bare-bones social media plan will make a significant difference, noticeable soon after implementation. Start by identifying the primary objective of your business’s social media: Are you trying to build up brand awareness, showcase your expertise, attract new clients, or even trying to recruit employees?
Define your goal! That’s when your content becomes intentional rather than random pieces of content floating in the void.
- Human-connection wins, so use AI sparingly
Nothing replaces realness; authenticity matters more than quantity of content. AI tools can be great when you’re trying to brainstorm or proofreading, but only relying on these tools creates content that feels generic and disconnected from your business. There’s no replacing the human touch. Don’t forget, social media was originally created for connection.
- Review and adjust based on the numbers
Finally, social media efforts should be reviewed and adjusted over time as needed. Keep an eye on data points like engagement, reach, web traffic, and message inquiries because these can help indicate whether your content is actually resonating with your audience or if it’s just dissolving into the void.
Yes, there’s a right way to “do” social media marketing!
Social media has become the digital equivalent of a storefront window. The majority of businesses have them, but the ones that put in the effort and follow the simple steps above stand out in crowded markets. Your social media will not close every sale, but it strongly influences whether someone steps inside to learn more.
When you approach social media thoughtfully and intentionally, it becomes more than just another marketing checkbox. It becomes a tool for communicating expertise, building trust, and reinforcing your business’s credibility.
Businesses that recognize the hidden costs of poor social media are in a better position to turn their online presence into something far more valuable than just another post. They become a brand.
