Smart business owners know that being active on social media is essential in today’s marketing techniques. But as social media platforms have evolved, expectations have grown. It’s no longer enough for brands to simply spurt out content on all of their social media pages; they must have a strategy and address their audience’s interests and needs.

It can be challenging to not make mistakes. This article lists some of the top social media mistakes that you could be making, and highlights how they can be avoided.

1. Thinking: me, me, me!

Social media is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your brand’s personality, expertise and share your content. However, nobody likes the person at the party who just wants to talk about himself. Make sure your brand isn’t that person on social media.

If you only ever post about your products and services, you aren’t always going to get much engagement. We like to follow the 80/20 rule – 80% of posts being valuable to your audience, and 20% being promotional. The more valuable your content is, the more likely it is that people will share it.

2. Focusing on the wrong platform

The golden rule of marketing: be where your customers are. With social media, you need to be active on the social media platforms that your target customers use. Chances are, they’re on more than one. To get an idea on what types of people are on different platforms, take a look at this article.

Try to avoid stretching yourself across every single social media platform, and focus on around three.

3. Not doing your research

Research involves understanding exactly who your target audience is. By knowing who they are in detail, you can get an understanding of the types of posts they would like to see from you, which can still be relevant to your industry. Not doing this research means you could end up spending valuable time, resources and money on social media marketing that doesn’t give you results.

4. Being “too corporate”

People like people, and social media is all about connecting people. Add a little bit of human touch when posting on your platforms. When responding to comments, personally address the person in question and don’t give a “stock” corporate response.

5. Not measuring your results

Without measurement, how can you know what is and isn’t working on social media? Measure the popularity of your posts to improve your social media marketing efforts. You can use software for detailed results, but most social media platforms provide basic analytics which can be enough to see what’s working well.

(MORE: How to create super-effective social media reports)

6. Putting the wrong person in charge

Handing over the keys to your social media management to inexperienced staff members can cause big problems. Hire a social media manager who is qualified to handle your accounts for you. You’ll have peace of mind knowing your profiles will be handled professionally and you won’t need to worry as much about oversight.