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When it comes to social media tips or looking for advice to help your business’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Linkedin, etc., sometimes it’s hard to know what’s good advice and what could actually end up hurting your business. I’m sure you’ve all heard some supposed truths, but through our own experiences of running social media accounts for over 10 years (and having experienced social media successes – and failures!), we’ve come up with a list of 12 common social media myths – and we’ll let you know whether these myths are fact or fiction.
#1: 80/20 Rule: 80% of your content on social media should be material from other people that should entertain your audience and only 20% should promote your brand
I’m not saying this rule couldn’t work for you. A lot of people adhere to it and it’s great for them. But the idea you have to do this in order to have a successful social media presence is just simply not true. It really depends on the brand. Certain companies may need to find outside material to keep people entertained; for example, if you run a blog about tax advice and all of your posts are about promotions for your services, it might be hard to get a following and you might benefit from finding interesting material to find to keep people following you in between advertisements for your brand. But other brands should be talking about themselves because that’s why people followed them. Take, for example, Disney World. If you follow Disney World, you expect posts, videos, news, etc. about Disney World. That’s why you followed them. And they should stick to that. So really, with this rule, I think you should keep it mind but really think about your brand and whether or not this will work for you – and never worry too much about keeping to a specific 80/20 amount, too. Even if it works for you, it’s really more of a guideline than a hard or fast rule.
#2: If you tweet too much, you’ll lose Twitter followers
It’s not really necessary anymore to worry that tweeting too much will make people unfollow you; most people’s Twitter feed is not shown in chronological order anyway so constantly tweeting isn’t going to hurt you. Instead, by the law of sheer averages, the more you Tweet, the more chances you have to get noticed and get word out about your blog, website or brand. And if you’re picturing having to be up at all hours Tweeting, don’t worry; you can get a SmarterQueue account and schedule out a bunch of tweets in advance!
#3: You shouldn’t use many hashtags, if any at all
Some people have said you should dial back from using hashtags, but this has absolutely not been my experience. I tried to dial back hashtags once and I noticed I was getting much less engagement to my social media posts and a lot less clicks to my websites. I started back adding hashtags, and guess what – my problem was solved. Sometimes people will try to tell you that using lots of hashtags is some kind of digital faux pas, but I find that kind of funny because social media is such a quickly changing medium where rules are changing daily, so there’s no such thing. Basically, hashtags serve as a way for people to find you. It’s essentially a free way to get your brand out to a new audience every time you’re covering a popular topic. Now, of course, make sure you use relevant hashtags; don’t just copy the most popular hashtags you notice on Twitter even if it has nothing to do with your post because then people looking for it most likely won’t care about your post since it has nothing to do with the hashtag. But if you are writing a tweet to a blog entry you wrote that say outlines information about say the Philadelphia Eagles, then it makes sense to include hashtags like “#flyeaglesfly” because you want Philadelphia Eagles fans to find your post and perhaps start following you to keep reading your blog. Now, please note there are actual character limits so you literally won’t be able to say do 1,000 hashtags – but if you’ve got the space, use it!
#4: A successful Pinterest strategy means consistently pinning.
Actually, this is true. If you want to be successful at Pinterest, then you will need to be pinning on a consistent basis for it to be effective. But it is absolutely worth it – I’ve personally found Pinterest to be the best social media platforms for more than one of my businesses. So don’t let the time involved with Pinterest scare you off from using Pinterest – you can schedule ahead of time using Tailwind and that saves you so much time!
#5: Linkedin isn’t a viable social media platform for me to promote my business
Certain businesses may not benefit from Linkedin, but Linkedin is absolutely a great platform for a lot of businesses – namely, if your business sells to other businesses or business people. We go into why you should promote your business on Linkedin here.
#6: You need really, really expensive equipment to make YouTube videos for your brand.
While you do need equipment, it doesn’t have to be super expensive to make good videos. Instead, you can use this deal to get great video editing software and you could use your phone or buy one of these affordable cameras.
#7: Posting videos on Facebook is a great way to reach customers
Per Forbes, 9 out of 10 people use videos to help them make purchase decisions, so adding videos to your Facebook page is a great way to engage your customers more. Yet another reason for you to invest in an affordable camera and video editing software!
#8: My business isn’t visual, so I don’t need an Instagram
Instagram is still a great way to grow your brand and connect to potential customers so it’s still worth it to have an Instagram even if your business isn’t overly visual. We have advice for Instagram posts if your business isn’t overly visual here.
#9: Tagging a location helps an Instagram post get noticed more.
Tagging your location for your Instagram post is a great way to get you noticed. It also gets you more engagement. This is especially true if you say are a travel blogger because people interested in traveling to certain locations will spot your posts and know you post pictures from that certain area.
#10: Social media accounts take up too much time so it’s not worth it
Social media is absolutely worth it because it’s such a good way to get your brand, product, blog, etc. out in front of all new audiences. And it won’t take up as much of your time if you use a good scheduler; my favorites are (and I’ve mentioned them already, but I’ll mention them again) Tailwind & SmarterQueue.
#11: Your social media posts will be seen more at specific days of the week and specific times
When you post your social media accounts really does matter. This is yet another reason I strongly recommend getting a scheduler like Tailwind because they tell you the best times to post on Pinterest and Instagram – and you can schedule them in advance so you won’t literally have to post at the best times.
#12: Social media accounts are free
Well…is anything in life free? Even if you don’t pay someone to run your social media account, you’ll need to spend some money, whether it is with a scheduler (like Tailwind & SmarterQueue) or get a company to help you grow your social media accounts, like Socialite Media and Goso do for Instagram accounts – basically, if you want your social media accounts to really and truly help your business, you need to spend money on it the way you do with advertising because that’s what it is – very effective marketing that, when done properly, can really help your business grow the way you would like.
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