Up your social media game by avoiding these five common mistakes
Chryssie Swarbrick, co-owner of Two Franks cafe, shares the top five mistakes small business owners make when posting content on social media and how to avoid them.
It’s a tough time being a small business owner. Not only do you have to work the floor, do the rosters, approve timesheets, order, invoice and run payroll, but all the social media and marketing can fall on your shoulders, too.
While I’m a big believer in outsourcing your weaknesses where you can, social media is the task I see most small business owners trying to give a red-hot go all on their own.
For those who haven’t grown up terminally online, the world of content creation can be daunting.
With the rise of TikTok and Instagram reels, video content is trumping photography, and I’ve had success with viral videos for Two Franks, the cafe I run with my sister.
My two best-performing videos for Two Franks are this reel about why we started the business and our family’s connection to its location, and this post about our Uncle Taki.
The one about our uncle has reached over 1.3 million views and we gained more than 11,000 followers from that one piece.
So while you don’t need to be a cinematographer to make engaging content, there are some mistakes that are far too common for DIY social media managers.
Videos are too long
Some of the most successful social media videos are less than 10 seconds. Some can even manage high engagement with a three-second loop.
Audience attention spans are shorter than ever. The ideal piece of video content should be no longer than 20 seconds, but if your video has to be long-form, keep it engaging with quick cuts, different angles, and an engaging voiceover.
Delete the ‘millennial pause’
Gen Z content consumers are quick to point out the foibles of their older counterparts. One such example is the “millennial pause”, where you can tell the age of a content creator by the fact there is a slight pause at the beginning of filming before the subject starts speaking.
This is a hangover from older technologies, where there would be a slight lag before cameras would start recording and we would check to make sure it was working before starting to speak.
@loomly Are you guilty of the Millennial Pause? 👀 Pausing at the beginning of a talking video and starting with a filler phrase is the perfect recipe to make viewers scroll past your content. ❌ A great way to engage your audience is to make them feel like they’re your best friend and you’re sending a video specifically to that one person. 💚 #socialmediamanager #socialmediamarketing #tiktokmarketing #contentstrategy #contentcreation #smallbusinessmarketing #marketingtips
Don’t run the risk of losing your audience in the first millisecond. This is a quick fix – just cut/trim your video (easy to do when editing within Instagram or TikTok, or even directly in your phone’s camera roll) and make sure there’s less than a second between your video starting and the subject speaking.
Quality over quantity
It’s better to create one great piece of video content every couple of weeks than pointless content that just adds to the noise. Before posting, ask yourself, “what am I trying to achieve?” but also, “why should the audience care about this?”.
Spend some time really ideating and fleshing out your video concept, choose an appropriate time to film and edit (not when you’re feeling rushed), and concentrate on perfecting your audio to minimise the chance your content piece will be scrolled past.
Music doesn’t match the content
Some small business creators make the rookie error of adding music to their video content that cuts off before the footage ends, leaving an awkward silence. Watch and rewatch your video before posting to ensure your music choice is right for your content.
Other mistakes include songs that don’t emotionally match the content being shared (when in doubt, go for something instrumental) or the sound volume hasn’t been lowered to allow the creator’s voiceover to take centre stage, making the key messaging hard to hear.
Avoid recording audio in a location with lots of background noise, unless you’re using a microphone. Instead, create a voiceover for your content later, in a quiet space, to keep your visuals intact and keep your audio audible.
Not using subtitles or closed captions
Not only is adding subtitles/captions to your video content important for accessibility, but a lot of video content in general is consumed with the sound off. Often this is due to being in a public place, and not having captions added will make your audience need to scroll past your content, even if it seems interesting.
Both Instagram reels and TikTok have the ability to transcribe your added audio into captions automatically with the press of a button. Once that’s done, be careful with where you place the captions within the video itself to ensure it’s not being obscured by your video’s description or side buttons when posted.
Even if you’re outsourcing your content to a creative professional, they can’t always be in your business as you are, and the best storytelling comes from day-to-day experiences.
You want to feel empowered to help shape the story of your small business and effectively capture existing and prospective customers – watch out for these pitfalls and you’ll be well on your way to better content creation.
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