An effective social marketing strategy is as much about what you should never do on social media as it is about what you should be doing; sometimes, the former is even more important.

There are plenty of articles, books and white papers that lay out social marketing strategies. But sometimes, the best strategy is knowing what to never do on social media. Acquiring new leads and customers is a difficult, labor-intensive task. But losing them can be as simple as not knowing what you should stay away from.

The tips below lay out 5 things that you should never do on social media as a brand.

Never Go In Without a Strategy

A strategy is going to be your best friend. Without one, it will be impossible to find success. (And when we say impossible, we mean it; even if you are successful, how will you know it?)

Before diving into the world of social media marketing, you need to have a strategy in place in order to establish a few things. First, what channels are you going to focus on? Second, how are you going to measure success and determine where your program needs modifications? Third, how do you plan on engaging with your audience on each network? And finally, what are the long term aspirations for the program? Answer these questions with a strategy, and your program will be much more successful.

Never Speak Ill of Your Social Competition

Your words are out there, and actions like this are simply in bad taste. While you might be competing for the attention of the same leads as your competition, you are much better off showcasing why you are the better choice and not why your competitor is a worse choice.

Never Focus Only on Selling

Social media is all about the conversation. If you do nothing but sell, it won’t be long before you are selling to no one. Your social channels will quickly become ghost towns if you are not making an effort to engage. Social selling is a tricky process, and one that needs to be approached carefully. If all you are using your social media program for is selling to anyone who will buy, you are better off shutting the program down completely – you’re wasting your time.

Never Ignore Your Audience

Remember when we said social media was all about the conversation? (It’s right up there!) When people comment, or ask a question or even retweet on Twitter they are reaching out to your brand and you need to be there to join in the dialogue. A one-way conversation from fans defeats the purpose of your social media program. The conversation is the beginning stages of that social selling process, and if you are not taking advantage of that, you are missing out on the benefits of social media entirely.

Never Ignore Your Analytics

Analytics are essential to the success and growth of your program. The insights you can pull and the improvements you can make with the help of analytics are going to be among the most important weapons in your arsenal. The issue is, most people never bother to look at the insights any further than the most superficial statistics. You have 1,000 likes on Facebook? Great! None of them fit your target demographic? Not great. Analytics are going to be the first step towards optimizing your program and effectively executing your social media strategy so that it builds your business, and ignoring them can irreparably hinder that success.

Keep these tips in mind when executing your social media program and it will certainly help you find success.

Can you think of any other pointers that brands should stay away from when engaging in a social media program? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!