Three Social Media Pitfalls to Avoid in 2015

The landscape of social media is constantly changing. The networks are changing how they serve up content, consumers expectations are changing around the quality of content posted by brands, and the skillset of what's needed to do social media well is changing. Good job security for those in the know, frustrating for those who don't have the time to keep up. To help navigate, here are three pitfalls to avoid in 2015 on social media.

1. If you post it, they will come.

As more businesses come on board, there is more clutter than ever in people's newsfeeds. The content you create not only has to be quality to stand out, it will also need to be supported with advertising. Facebook has decreased organic reach for the last few years and has publicily come out saying: "The free ride is over in 2015." You could have 10,000 fans but only 1 - 5% are ever seeing your content. The Solution? Set aside ad dollars in this year's budget, even if it's a small amount. You can throw $5 behind a Facebook post and reach the right audience efficiently. Don't forget, Facebook knows more about your interests and life events than some of your closest friends. As a marketer you can use that information to your advantage.

2. Telling your story in words.

The brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text. Standing out on social starts with a great image. Once you pique someone's interest then they may read what you have to say. Be sure to line up the right partners - photo, video and graphic design, when creating content in 2015, and think about how you can tell your story in a visual manner. If budget is tight consider inexpensive stock photography on sites like canva.com

3. Being too trendy, a.k.a. jumping on every trending topic.

When social media first started marketers were told not to "hard sell" on social. They were taught to be fun, light and casual, which led to a slew of "Happy Friday" and "National Cookie Day" posts. In 2015, you need to think of social media as a series of circles - what's relevant on social (the current conversation), what's relevant to your brand (your business objectives or story) and that magical area that intersects. If talking about a certain holiday or topic is an awkward fit, don't push it. Twitter users slammed the Seattle Seahawks for tweeting out a MLK quote with a photo of one of its players, they didn't see the connection, yet revered Krispy Kreme for a tweet which read: "Ours are fully-filled" after the deflate gate episode. No matter what the hot topic, your content should drive business results and should be relevant to your brand story in 2015, if not fans will let you know.

Facebook's Call-To-Action Button, Worthwhile?

Any good community manager knows the action is in the newsfeed on Facebook. People like your page once and then interact with your content via the newsfeed page. Facebook's redesign of the page itself over the years has placed less and less importance on page design, outside of the cover photo, which when changed, feeds into the newsfeed. That's why I found it odd that Facebook rolled out the "Call to Action" button, a button which prompts fans to "Shop," "Contact," "Book," etc, and can only be accessed by visiting a business' page.Now you can make the argument that if someone needs to reach out to you they'll visit your page and behave in a more proactive manner, but those fans are few and far between. At least that's what my gut told me. I decided to test this theory by activating several "Call to Action" buttons on client pages and here are the results.

Out of the 10 pages I activated, only 1 click on a "Contact Us" button has occurred in the last two weeks and I'm not convinced that wasn't from me testing. These are active pages which are supported weekly with advertising and are gaining new fans daily. On the other hand by including a website link in a promoted post I received several clicks to "Shop" on my client's website. Not surprising as the content appeared in the newsfeed, not just the page.

The "Call to Action" button is free to install, so there's no reason not to do it, but don't rely on it to do the heavy lifting. If you really want to drive action you need to be where the action is and that's in the newsfeed. Include links to your site and promote your posts to a targeted audience to see results.