Social media is a consumer’s closest connection to a brand. There are many companies out there doing it right, but for those who are still developing their strategy and building resources – and for those who want a refresher –  here’s a look at the top five mistakes brands make.

1. The brand doesn’t understand why the audience follows or ‘Likes’ them. Is it for coupons? Customer support? Recipes or product tips? Or simply because it looks cool to publish “Veronika Harbick likes BrandX” on Facebook? Knowing why consumers choose to engage with a brand is the keystone of an effective social content strategy. And knowing that each audience segment may have different – and many – expectations will ensure that that strategy is broad, deep and healthy.
2. The brand isn’t clear about who is talking. Does the brand post from the voice of a brand ambassador, a CEO or as a personification of the brand itself? These are all fine choices, but the consumer needs to know with whom he or she is speaking. This sets up an expectation and framework that helps the consumer build a relationship with the brand or account manager.
3. The brand doesn’t invest in resources for social media management. Social Media is a brand’s front-line to the world. Using interns, and entry-level or over-loaded employees (instead of dedicated internal staff or agencies) is not conducive to handling customer relations, tracking chatter and culling analytical insights. Brands need to plan through all potential scenarios, build internal structures and processes before launching social media initiatives. In the age of recalls and internet-born fire drills, the speed at which a brand responds impacts the rate that consumer confidence is restored.
4. The brand doesn’t customize content for each platform. A brand’s audience will segment on different platforms. Many Facebook users are not on Twitter. Twitter followers behave differently than YouTube subscribers. While many assets can (and should) be cross-promoted, brands must also customize pieces of content for each platform to speak to these consumer bases on their own terms and the proper language to maintain relevance.
5. The brand doesn’t start with analytics. Unfortunately, brands new to social media often resist investing extra resources in measurement and analytics.  Not only are analytics needed to show success (and failure) in the future, they should also be employed to create the very essence of the brand’s social media practice. These analytics will answer key questions: Is your brand well liked online already? Is it frequently mentioned for bad service or poor customer satisfaction? If it’s the latter, you’ll need resources to first rebuild the brand online before focusing on increasing followers, generating re-tweets, commenting etc. This sentiment analysis ensures that the appropriate level of social media resources are committed, and provide a basic barometer for ROI.

Invest at the beginning in free and paid tools. Listen well and plan even better. Then execute consistently and quickly. Then execute again.

Veronika Harbick is Social Media and Brand Engagement Manager at Big Fuel Communications a full-service marketing and communications company that takes brands from Content To Commerce.  A unique approach that bridges "people stories" to "product stories" -- delivering guaranteed and measurable consumer engagement through branded content and social media.  For more than five years, Big Fuel has been creating social media and branded content campaigns for clients like Fisher-Price, Colgate-Palmolive, McDonald's, Budweiser, Hyundai, Fox, Yahoo!, among others.