Depending on who you talk to, social media is either the greatest thing since sliced bread or it’s the biggest waste of time imaginable! So why isn’t it working for everyone? Why do some people seem to hold the key to success while others are still struggling? The answer may surprise you!

Although there are many reasons why some people aren’t seeing results for their social media efforts, we’ve identified 6 common social mistakes that brands don’t even realize they are making. These will cost you BIG TIME!

1. Leaving Out a Key Piece

Have you ever worked a puzzle and found that the last piece wasn’t in the box? The end result is never as pretty as if you’d had the entire series of pieces working together to form a lovely image. Social media works in much the same way.

Very often businesses find once piece of their strategy distasteful or unfamiliar and so they decide not to do it. They are willing to do Facebook, but they won’t let people comment on their wall. They will open a Twitter account but they won’t share anyone else’s content. They want to ‘do social media’ but they aren’t willing to share anything of themselves online. These are all missing pieces to a very intricate and profitable puzzle.

Imagine trying to drive a car without oil. It might run for a bit but it won’t run well and it won’t run for long. Imagine baking a cake and refusing to use any type of sweetener. It might bake and your guests might take a bite but no one is going to ask for seconds!

Does this sound like what you’ve been experiencing with your social media strategy?

2. Trying to Do Too Much

There’s a very common phrase businesses use when they come to us to manage their social media strategies. Very often we hear, “I want to dominate the space!” Becoming the expert in your industry is an excellent goal! Becoming the only person to have a profile on every social site in existence is not!

Every social site doesn’t necessarily fit with the goals of every business. Some simply don’t support overall objectives and offer no real benefit for that individual client. If you’ve been spending time on sites that aren’t producing results for you then it’s time to reevaluate your strategy. Are your social sites getting you in front of your target audience? Are they offering you quality visibility? Are they helping you to be found in the search engines?

If your web traffic doesn’t reflect your efforts then you are throwing away valuable time and effort you could be using on more productive activities!

3. Thinking Too Small

Recently I received a call from someone who was interested in hiring my team. During the course of the conversation we followed each other on Twitter, friended each other on Facebook and connected on LinkedIn. We had a lovely conversation but ultimately we decided that they wanted a solution that we just couldn’t provide.

I had found some of the services they provided fairly intriguing so later that evening I was reviewing their website again. I decided to re-connect with them and inquire about retaining their services. Just a few hours after the call I found that I had been unfollowed and unfriended.

I decided to reach out online anyway and ask about one service in particular that they offered. They never responded. I imagine they decided that since they didn’t need one type of relationship with me that I could be of no further benefit to them. They ignored my communication. They lost a potential client. They lost someone who would have shared their content. They lost someone who may have referred further business to them. All because they were thinking too small. They didn’t consider the future benefit of a full scale business relationship with another entrepreneur.  They didn’t get what they initially wanted from me and so they moved on.  So did I.

4. Not Engaging In Conversations

Networking is all about building quality relationships with potential clients, partners and alliances and identifying mutually beneficial opportunities. Social networking is a two way street.

Using sites like Twitter and Facebook to blast your message to the masses is NOT an effective strategy. Identify people on each site that you would like to interact with. Reach out and say hello. Share their content. Engage them in conversation. See where this path of relationship building leads you!

If you own a business then chances are you already know how to network. Simply consider sites like Twitter, Facebook and Google+ tools that will allow you to network with far more people than you ever could at a physical event! Get out there and talk to someone! Listen to them too! Act on what you’ve learned and you might be surprised by what happens!

5. Ignoring Balance

Most entrepreneurs these days have had at least one social media class, attended one free social media webinar or read one or two free articles about social media strategies. They typically end up taking away one really good idea to implement.

The problem here is that one really good idea by itself is just that. It’s one really good idea. It isn’t a strategy. It isn’t a carefully crafted plan that is intended to produce the exact results you are looking for! The end result is a business that blogs three times a week but doesn’t promote their content effectively. It often also results in a business owner who chats endlessly online but doesn’t create content for their own business. In addition brands can end up using automation tools in a way that do more harm than good, using sites that don’t support their goals and connecting with large numbers of people who will never buy from them.

Too much of a good thing is never a good thing! Moderation and balance along with a complete understanding of how it all works together, go a long way towards producing quality results in a reasonable timeframe.

6. Believing You Already Know What Will Work

Of all the social mistakes you can make, this one can prove to be the worst.

• Do you think you already know how to implement a successful social media marketing strategy?
• Do you think you understand content marketing?
• Do you believe that you already know where you need to be online?
• Are you confident that you are already communicating in the right way with your target audience?
• Then why aren’t you more successful?

No matter how far along you are in your marketing efforts, there is always more you can learn. Sometimes only a nugget of new information that you implement can make you thousands of dollars. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of doing something old in a new way.

There is an old quote that says, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

Are you open to new ideas? Are you willing to admit that there could be a new way of doing things that could catapult your business to the next level? Are you willing to change your preconceived notions and let go of what you’ve been doing in return for bigger and better results? If you want to see changes then you’d better be ready to make changes!

By now you may have realized there are some holes in your social media marketing plan. If you haven’t been getting the desired results, consider the items above. Are you making any of these social mistakes? Is your strategy well rounded? Does it include content creation as well as promotion? Does your strategy involve actually meeting new people online and having conversations? Do you have a strategy at all or are you just moving through the tasks?

Once you’ve identified the areas where you are challenged, the picture becomes much more clear and you can begin to identify ways to make your social media strategy complete. Results are sure to follow and soon you’ll have an endless supply of new contacts, new partnerships and new business!