The use of social media has seen a major transformation in recent years. Earlier, social media channels were only used for their literal purposes – socialising. However, now, they have become a vital marketing tool.

You must have come across sponsored posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Reddit – these are all examples of social media marketing (SMM).

SMM allows companies to broaden their reach, get more leads, and spread the word about their products and/or services. It also helps in branding as well. Therefore, companies are always on the lookout for strategies to improve their social media marketing.

Suffice it to say, SMM has become an integral part of digital marketing strategy for every company if it wants to thrive and survive in the cut-throat competition.

Many mistakenly believe that SMM is all about regularly posting on different channels. However, in reality, it’s a lot more than that. Simply put, it may appear simpler but SMM can be quite complicated. You can only obtain its maximum benefits if you’re doing this the right way.

To help you with this, we have curated a comprehensive list of do’s and don’ts of social media marketing in 2023. Continue reading!

Social Media Marketing in 2023 – 33 Do’s and Don’ts

Do’s

• Update Your Business Profiles

First things first, start with updating your profile pages. They should have a professional look.

Remember that your potential customer is going to check your profile if they come across your products/services online. Therefore, in order to leave the best first impression, you should have a professional-looking profile.

The profile picture and cover photo must be carefully selected. For the former, you can have an attractive version of your logo, while the latter can display some exciting ongoing offers to attract new users. Also, provide accurate information in the “about/bio” and “contact” sections.

• Identify Your Brand Voice and Tone

This majorly depends on the niche of your company and the target audience. For instance, if you sell medicines for old people, having a quirky or funny tone won’t resonate well with your brand.

Therefore, it’s important to identify your brand voice and set the tone accordingly. You can also use fun emojis along with pop culture references in your posts. But again, it depends on the audience you target. If the pop culture references go over their heads, it may only cause confusion in their minds.

• Keep Your Followers Engaged

Promote your products/services/offers in a way that keeps your followers engaged. This keeps alive the actual purpose of social media platforms – socialising.

You can host fun contests or share quirky posts to engage your followers. Also, don’t forget to respond to their comments. This will keep the conversation flowing and the engagement rate will be higher. It is one of the 7 pillars of social media marketing.

• Be Professional in Addressing Criticism

No matter how good the quality of your products and/or services is, there will be some negative feedback. It can be due to any reason. People may leave negative comments on your social media handles as well.

It’s important that you address these issues and resolve their concerns gracefully and professionally. Don’t be rude or bitter. It can put off other potential customers. Draft a professional response to their concerns and acknowledge their statement. You can also request them to send you a DM (direct message) explaining the issue in detail.

This practice can not only satisfy the grieved customer but also show your professionalism to the rest of your followers.

• Provide Value through Your Content

Social media users have abundant options when it comes to accounts to follow. So, you need to give them a reason to follow your account, and nothing works better than providing them value through your content. This is one of the most effective tips for social media marketing in 2023.

Now, the question here arises, how to identify content that creates value? This depends on your target audience and business niche as well. For some companies, simple “how to” related to their industry can suffice.

Having said that, you have to dig deeper and find out what actually works. A little bit of experimenting here won’t hurt as well. For example, if you sell dairy products, sharing interesting recipes of your products can prove to be a helpful way to retain users on your page and keep them coming back,

Similarly, those dealing with tech gadgets can share reviews or “top 10” lists to keep users engaged.

• Tailor your Posts for Different Platforms

Social media marketing in 2023 isn’t exactly a piece of cake particularly if you’re using multiple platforms. Even if you plan to share the same content across different channels, there’s a lot of editing, retouching, and re-sizing involved. You may also have to change the caption in order to meet the requirement of particular platforms.

• Review Content Before Posting

A post with grammar or spelling mistakes looks unprofessional and adversely impacts your brand’s credibility. So, make a point to proofread it thoroughly before posting it. Also, if it’s a video, review its captions for accuracy.

Apart from grammatical and spelling mistakes, it’s also important to review your content for factual information as well. Sharing inaccurate content can harm your brand’s credibility more than making a spelling or grammatical mistake.

• Plan Your Posts Ahead

Social media marketing in 2023 is all about strategising and planning. It requires proper campaigns if you want to generate the desired results. Therefore, make sure your posts are properly planned. Ideally, you should have a calendar, which you should follow rigorously. Of course, you can be a little flexible in case the need arises.

• Include Visuals

A picture speaks a thousand words, and a video can do even more!

Including visuals in your social media posts can make them immediately attractive and engaging for your audience. However, make sure the content is original and relates to your brand. Most of all, it should be creative.

• Use Short Videos

Speaking of including visuals, short videos have taken over social media marketing in 2023. You’d find them with different names on most social media platforms (Reels on Instagram, Shorts on Facebook, etc.).

According to 94% of marketers, video content helps viewers better understand a product or service. So, needless to say, short videos should become an integral part of your strategy for social media marketing in 2023.

• Use Different Posting Features

Most social media platforms now allow users to post/share content in more than one way. For example, you can now post stories on Facebook and Instagram apart from posting content on your feed. Also, there’s the option for posting short videos, as stated above.

Instagram users can also post highlights. It’s all about identifying their potential and capitalising on them. This can also help you gain more prominence and a higher engagement rate.

• Follow Your Branding Guidelines

Your social media pages should reflect your brand’s culture and voice. It’s not about the message you post but how you’re posting it. For example, select a colour scheme (ideally, it should be similar to the colours used in your logo), and make sure all your future posts have the same colours.

In case you’re already following branding guidelines on other marketing campaigns or materials, you can apply the same concepts on your social media handles. It helps with brand recognition.

• Set a Budget

It’s tough to reach a larger pool of audience if you aren’t running paid campaigns on different social media channels.

When you run a campaign, you can get more views, an increased number of followers, and a higher conversion rate. This can lead to many people overspending on social media marketing in 2023, and their marketing cost surpasses the revenue.

To ensure this doesn’t happen to you, always set a budget for social media marketing. It should be realistic and practical.

• Tell a Story

Every company, in today’s time, is leveraging social media marketing in 2023. So, what makes your band different? Why should people visit your profiles and engage with your content?

The answer lies in the quality of the content and what you share. Since stories entice many, there are higher chances of user engagement, if you are telling stories through your content. They should be short (not everyone has a lot of time to read long essays) and relatable.

You don’t have to come up with unique stories to share, that’s the job of a novelist. It can be a story about your brand, i.e. how it came into being, or some insights about the workplace. For example, a bakery can share a story about how its signature bread or cake originated. Some behind the scene content of baking its popular cake may also attract users.

• Keep the Conversation Flowing

There have been many cases of brands indulging in fun conversations or banter (with each other) on different social media channels.

A prime example of this is Wendys and MoonPies’ Twitter conversation that took place in 2017. There have been several other similar cases as well.

The crux here is that when brands talk (with each other), the audience listens, responds, and shares. This can prove to be highly effective for your brand’s social media marketing in 2023. So, when you find such an opportunity, cease it. 

• Create Regular Reports

It’s important to know whether your social media marketing efforts are reaping the desired results or not. For this, developing reports is the key. You can create weekly or monthly reports on your social media campaigns and study analytics to know how to improve the quality of content, and user engagement, and gain more followers.

• Hire Experts

Many people think that their expertise in using Facebook or Instagram makes them eligible to run ad campaigns on these platforms. This, however, is a practice we will recommend you to steer clear of. Social media marketing in 2023 requires expertise, tools, and experience, which only professionals have. So, do yourself a favour and hire expert services to optimally use these platforms.

• Use Infographics

Not many people have to read lengthy posts or watch long videos, particularly when they appear with the ‘sponsored’ tag. The idea is to grab the user’s interest instantly, and the best way to do this is to use infographics.

So, it’s recommended to hire professional designers who can come up with engaging and appealing creatives for your business’s social media platforms. Also, pair them with quality captions.

• Post Regularly

Maintain consistency for posting on social media platforms. Do not just start posting one day and then forget about it the next day. The idea is to make your business’s presence felt on social media channels. So, it’s important to create a schedule so that there’s no ‘out of sight, out of mind scenario. 

• Leverage the Ongoing Trends

Be it controversies or trends, jump on the bandwagon and leverage them to your benefit. That’s the key to social media marketing in 2023.

Create posts for your social media platforms relevant to the ongoing trends and controversies. However, maintain a level of dignity while doing this. 

• Write for Your readers

Always write for your readers, not for yourself. So, create posts that are relevant to the products and/or services you offer but provide useful information to your users as well.

Don’ts

• Don’t Over Post

Do not post a lot. Keep your users wanting for more, but do not disappear from the scene either. As stated above, you should maintain consistency.

• Don’t Use the One-size-fits-all Formula

Every social media channel has a different set of audiences. Therefore, you cannot target Facebook and Twitter in the same manner. Even Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, needs a different marketing campaign.

So, create different strategies for different platforms, based on the target audience and you will see results pouring in, provided the strategies you have employed are effective.

• Don’t Use Irrelevant Hashtags

Social media marketing in 2023 is much more about using hashtags. Of course, their correct use can benefit you but overuse is strictly prohibited.

Many people use different hashtags in their posts with the hopes of getting more clicks. This tactic can backfire as well. So, only use hashtags that are relevant to your company or the post you have shared. Simply put, the hashtag #OOTD won’t suit if your post centres around ways to become a successful businessman.

• Don’t Try to be All Over the Place

Not every social media channel is worthy of your time, effort, and money. For example, the popularity of LinkedIn has risen in previous years. However, it won’t do any good for your business if you target teenage boys and girls with your products since they aren’t available on this platform.

So, instead of being all over the place, be good at those places where your presence matters.

• Don’t Hire SMM Services Without Doing Research

There are many social media marketing companies in Dubai. But, you need to choose the best one. Only then you will be able to obtain the maximum benefits of these channels. So, do your due diligence and get social media marketing services that can help you tap the maximum potentials it has for companies.

• Don’t Buy Followers/Likes

While more likes and followers mean more credibility. But, do not be tempted by the idea of buying followers to deem credible or have a strong online presence.

Most people who buy followers do not know that these are mostly fake accounts or bots. So, they may disappear after some time. Even if they won’t, they cannot interact or engage with your posts, simply because they are bots. Therefore, your engagement rate will be on the lower side. This will actually hamper your brand’s credibility instead of elevating it.

The right approach is to create a robust, well-rounded strategy for social media marketing in 2023 with a focus on gaining organic followers. This, of course, depends majorly on the type of content you create and share.

• Don’t Share Copied Content

It’s a big NO. Copying content and sharing it on your feed can damage your brand’s reputation and credibility to a great extent. The rule of thumb is to be creative in your approach and share original content.

Having said that, in case it’s absolutely necessary, it’s best to obtain permission from the original creator before doing so. Also, give them credit for your post with a mention or tag.  

• Don’t Neglect Feedback

Getting a negative review is part and parcel of every business. You can’t satisfy every customer. But, what you can do here is to avoid neglecting the review/feedback. Reach out to the grieved customer and listen to their concerns.

If they have shared it on your page, respond to it then and there only. Leaving them unattended won’t reflect well on your brand.

• Don’t Steal Images

Not every image you find on the internet is free to be used. It is someone’s property. Ideally, you should have your own designer who can create and edit images for you. However, if you want to take images from the internet, make sure to choose royalty-free ones.

• Don’t Copy Others

It’s good to take inspiration from others, but all comes downhill when you start copying them blatantly. You need to show your audience how you are different from them and offer more value. This won’t be possible if you’re copying them.

• Don’t Spam in Groups

Facebook groups and communities have proven to be highly effective in promoting brands and broadening their reach. Many companies are part of such groups as they get to interact with their potential customers and resolve queries of existing ones.

Having said that, spamming these groups with your promotional messages can put off other members. Eventually, they will start to ignore or scroll through your posts. This is something no business wants. So, be very cautious and tactful in your approach.

• Don’t Be Overly Promotional

We understand that you want to promote your product. But, there’s a way to do it. Bombarding users with your promotional message won’t get you anywhere. The key lies in being subtle. So, instead of being overly promotional, convey your message in a subtle and smart way. This works wonders!

A Final Word

In all, it’s clear as day that social media marketing deserved a lot of importance in your marketing strategy. So, if you have not incorporated it now, you need to do it ASAP! And for this, you can rely on Zoom Digital. We can help you create robust strategies for social media marketing in 2023 that work. Reach out to us now!