Social media marketing mistakes, brands are guilty of

Social media marketing is no longer an alien concept . While brands are trying to use the medium optimally, there are some misconceptions we would like to clear out in order to pave the way for successful social media marketing.

A chaotic strategy

For any brand, jumping on the social media wagon can be exciting yet a daunting task. However, the excitement needs to be planned out into a well informed strategy that builds on itself steadily, rather than creating a frenzy that has only a temporary effect.

When it comes to start ups, it's important to aim at sustainability even if it means growing at a slow pace.

It's about setting an example than being popular only at the beginning.

Set foot on every platform

Brands today are greedy about hogging space across all platforms, thinking its omnipresence vibe will appeal to its users and help in building the brand's presence. On the contrary, a brand must asses how its personality can be synced into each platform.

It's about discovering the most favourable platform than diluting its presence across multiple platforms.

The same outfit for every platform 

It's simple, each social media platform responds to content differently and its up to brands to realise the same when creating content for each platform. Tailoring content according to the nature of the platform keeps its engaging.

Since the content doesn't appear to be the same across platforms, it keeps up on the surprise element and does away with monotony.

A brand blows its trumpet through content

When a brand is all set to show off, it's likely users are going to move away and keep at a distance. Be an informant, provide useful information that may come in handy to your users rather than harping about your brand and its product offerings.

When a brand is all set to brag, it sets off a cacophony, nobody wants to get used to.

It's less about yourself, more about how useful you can be to your consumers.

Trending is not equivalent to success

Just because you have trended, doesn't mean you have hit bulls eye. It's important to know, a campaign that has trended necessarily need not imply a successful one. The concept behind the campaign, execution process and levels of engagement for users, carry equal weight when it comes to gauging success of the campaign.

Force fitting campaigns into every theme

Imagine trying to unlock a door with the wrong key, just because you had one.

That's what it feels like when a brand tries to fit into every theme that goes by, afraid that it's missing out an opportunity. When it comes to being part of on going themes, a brand needs to seamlessly weave in its ideology.

It's about putting the pieces of a jigsaw together with little effort. Also, its okay to NOT be part of every occasion.

These mistakes have only scratched the surface of social media marketing. The social media 101 workshop on Saturday on 29th August 2015 will delve deeper into what works and doesn't in the social media terrain.