The social landscape is diverse and each platform comes with its own unique style and presentation. For instance, on Facebook, I can write a lengthy post but on Twitter, I have to restrict myself to 280 characters.

When you are planning your social strategy, the uniqueness of each platform comes into play. But, so do the similarities. While I can write a lengthy Facebook post, short form content is always preferred, something that Twitter already restricts you to do.

On social channels, engagement is a crucial metric. And this engagement can suffer because of common mistakes; mistakes which can either occur due to lack of channel’s knowledge or simply because of negligence.

Here are 6 such social media mistakes that hamper engagement:

Social media gives your users the power to demand transparency. And in the last few years, transparency has gained a major significance in establishing your online image and building trust.

In such a scenario, avoiding negative feedback from users can really backfire. If you are actively commenting on the positive inputs but the negative response remains unaddressed, it shows that you are ‘willingly’ avoiding a confrontation. And when the user demands are genuine, it can cause people to believe that you aren’t focusing on resolving grievances.

It is important to not escape bad reviews. Acknowledge the negative feedback. Show your users that you are committed to improving your product/service in a manner that benefits them. Be positive and friendly in your response. Here’s an example:


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Key Takeaway:
Accept the negative feedback, respond politely and after resolving the concern, go back and let the user know about it. Never commit the mistake of deleting a user comment.

A great hack to social media growth is “social listening”. Social listening helps you gauge your audience’s expectations on a particular platform, their reaction to your content as well as that of others. In fact, it also helps you understand their pain points for which they want a solution.


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Social listening doesn’t just involve looking out for conversations where your brand is mentioned. It goes beyond to include threads where relevant pain-points are being discussed or where competitors are being mentioned.

Through social listening, you can gain an edge over others by finding topics on which you can create content that is really useful for your audience.

Additionally, social listening goes beyond ‘listening’ to include responding. Are you actively participating in comments where your brand is being discussed? Are you providing useful information to users looking for a solution? If you aren’t doing these things, it’s a mistake.

Key Takeaway:
Use social media to gain a better understanding of your audience so you can deliver the right content and give solutions for the most relevant pain-points.