Avoid These 3 Common SMM Mistakes in 2023: A Guide for Success

Digital marketing has grown 30% faster than other sectors of marketing (according to Social Media College). If you’re wondering why that is, I blame COVID-19. With so many losing their jobs and forced to be indoors. Where did people run to for financial stability? The internet. Luckily for many, the digital marketing space is quite easy to break into as a beginner. Needless to say, we are not short of social media managers in 2023.

Whether you’ve been doing this for 10 years or have just redirected yourself into a social media management role, these mistakes creep up even in the most experienced managers. So, what mistakes are social media managers making and how can you make sure you avoid them?

Give your audience the credit they deserve

Let’s start with this. Audiences - especially on social media - are more informed than ever before. Not only that, but GenZ can scope out inauthenticity in a second! All of these social media mistakes lead back to the idea that your audience is clever and they want to be treated as such.

Being too salesy

Businesses hire social media managers to increase awareness, create an online community, and eventually drive traffic to a product or service offering. Diving straight into ‘driving traffic’ completely dismisses the most important part of an online presence. Trust.

No one will buy from a brand they don’t trust, or resonate with.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What makes a specific product or service different from others?

• What experience are you selling?

• Who are you talking to/ (detail this person as best as you can - and speak directly to them in your posts.)

• What benefits do they get from the product/service? (Not features!)

Being self-indulgent

Many social media managers are also content creators, copywriters, video editors, the list goes on. This can lead you to become precious about your work - especially if you were involved in the shooting and editing of a product! You may want to post a specific picture or video without realising that it will mess up a feed... Or maybe the content doesn’t exactly fit the strategy you once created for the brand.

Whatever the issue. Sometimes you have to ‘kill your darlings’ as they say in theatre. If a piece of content is not working, revise it or throw it out. Don’t let it jeopardise your overarching goals for the brand.

How to tell if this is you?

Have you spent an unreasonable amount of time trying to make a piece of content fit in when it just doesn’t want to? You may need to redirect.

Being reckless

Working in social media can make you hyper-focused on things that are not necessarily important outside the digital world (as GenZ calls it - chronically online). We all love shiny new things, but hopping on a trend just for the sake of it can actually be detrimental to your client’s (and your) reputation.

A mistake many social media managers make is jumping onto a new platform and immediately offering it as a service (we’re looking at you, Threadfluencers). Yes, you probably could’ve killed it on Threads and made loads of money from it. If only it actually caught on and REMAINED as hot as it did for those first few weeks.

The problem with this? One of the worst things you can do on social media is be clickbaity. It leaves a bad taste in youraudience’s mouth and hurts the trust you worked so hard to build.

So, make sure to practice patience in this fast-paced environment.

Have fun with it

Working in social media is a great way to make money online and kickstart your marketing career. Be sure to avoid these mistakes and you’ll be good to go! Once you’ve found your niche and landed some clients that match your vibe, we’re sure you’ll make some waves in the digital space.

Join Zoomsphere for all of your social media management needs.