When social networking sites started, there is not much rules that users and marketers tend to follow. For many, they were only about connecting with friends, building relationships, and sharing interesting content with one another. Fast forward to today, 97% of businesses and marketers use social media to connect with buyers. The problem, however, is that many still haven’t figured out how to take advantage of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to increase their leads and ROI.

Below are common mistakes social media marketers do.

Being all talk

The key to social media content is to show, not tell. Web users have a limited attention span, so instead of bombarding them with paragraphs of texts, try visual content. Did you know that tweets with image links get an engagement rate 200% higher than those with just 140 characters?

Believing all social platforms are created equal

Well, they’re not. Thus, your social media marketing strategies should not be one size fits all. Facebook marketing should be different from Twitter advertising, as well as LinkedIn promotions. Moreover, just because some businesses or industries tap all these platforms doesn’t mean you have to do the same. Sometimes, one social platform should be enough. Thus, find the channels that best align with your marketing goals and audience’s interests, then experiment with the type, cadence and style of content that will work most effectively.

Not listening to your customers

The big difference between company websites and social media platforms is that the latter enables you to interact with your customers more freely and spontaneously. Take advantage of this feature to listen to your customers who will tell you what you best assets are and what needs to be improved. Without them, your business will not be operating in the first place, so learn to listen and interact with them.

Forgetting to be a human

Just because social media marketing involves tools and technology doesn’t mean you can forget to be human and leave everything to automated replies. Your customers want to reach out to you, so give them the benefit of talking to a person behind a brand or a business. Use words such as “we want you” or “our deepest thanks to” and avoid too much corporate jargons that might send your audience running in the other direction.

Social media marketing is an effective way in capturing the attention of your customers and getting them to like you. Make sure to do it right by avoiding the above-mentioned common mistakes that many social media marketers do.