Social media needs to be on every marketer’s radar. It also needs to be done the right way. It’s one of the easiest ways to boost your brand presence, as long as you properly manage it. There are many ‘how to’ articles on social media, but it’s also worth noting what NOT to do. Instead of mentioning the obvious pitfalls, this article will focus on some overlooked ones that can also derail your marketing program.

Not being active when your target segment is.

This really depends on what sort of business you are. If you operate only in the local market, by all means post entirely during standard business hours. If you are an internet business though, paying attention to your target segment’s hours of activity is trickier. Possible leads and sales can come at any time of the day. That’s why it’s important to take advantage of social media platforms like HootSuite or TweetDeck that allow you to schedule tweets ahead of time. Make sure your business has a steady stream of tweets throughout the day so that it is always in front of the right eyes, regardless of where they are in the world.

Not taking advantage of free analytics to track engagement.

A lot of people think the most important metrics on social media are follower counts. While these are important, they don’t give an accurate picture of what kind of engagement you are getting. There are many free tools out there that can track important metrics like engagement, influence, and clickthrough rates. For example, Klout measures your social media influence and what you are most influential in. Services like bit.ly not only shorten your URLS, but also track when and where people are clicking through on your links. Using services like these in conjunction with the standard metrics social media networks give you will help to paint a much more accurate picture. You don’t need a fancy analytics solution right off the bat to help give you insight!

Abusing hashtags.

#Don’t #Use #Hashtags #For #Every #Word. Hashtags used to only be used for Twitter, but they have since expanded to services like Facebook and Instagram. Instagram is notorious for people abusing hashtags like #nofilter etc. Don’t treat your business accounts like a teenage girl’s. Only use hashtags for appropriate phrases that reach out to your target segment. For example, #webdesign if you are in the web design business. Don’t use too many hashtags even if they are relevant in every post. That can turn people away from engaging with your posts. Finally, please avoid using hashtags in networks that can’t leverage them. There are many people on LinkedIn who post things that use hashtags even though they don’t serve any discernable business purpose. Use them when they’re appropriate and crucial to reaching your audience.