Advisors need to have a well thought out approach and clear goals to make sure their social media campaigns are an asset rather than a liability. With that in mind, here’s how advisors can avoid common social media mistakes.

Blunder #1: Winging It

Perhaps the most common mistake is to fail to make a substantial commitment to maintaining a social media presence. Before rushing into setting up a Facebook or Twitter account, for example, advisors should assess the amount of resources they are willing to commit to their social media marketing.

Advisors should evaluate if they have staffing capacity for keeping content fresh, responding to posts on their Facebook wall and following up with sales leads. On a broader scale, advisors should assess their current communications and if the content they produce is sufficient to warrant pursuing a social media presence.

Blunder #2: Failure to Commit

In a similar manner, another common mistake is failing to keep content current. Stale content can cause friends, followers, and other users of social media content to quickly lose interest in an advisor’s online offerings.

There are no hard and fast rules regarding the appropriate frequency of updating social media sites, but some things are obvious. Quarterly market commentaries that haven’t been updated in six months, for example, can quickly turnoff readers.

Advisors with clients that follow markets closely may want to produce daily updates that express their own unique perspectives on market performance. The frequency of adding content also depends, in part, on the social media sites being used. Generally speaking, advisors may want to update Facebook sites two or three times a week unless significant events—either with the advisor’s firm or with external developments—occur that justify more frequent postings.

Blunder #3: Too Much, Too Soon

Another common blunder is operating too many different social media sites, which can cause an advisor’s market resources to be stretched too thin and result in neglecting to keep sites up to date. To avoid that problem, advisors should assess which social media sites are appropriate for their firm and choose an appropriate number of social media sites to use based on their firm’s capabilities.

Blunder #4: Forgetting Business Goals

Having a social media presence is all well and good, but it’s important to incorporate your business goals into your social media strategy. Advisors should ensure that their websites are set up to generate sales leads and that they have resources to follow up on prospects culled from the Internet.

With that in mind, it’s important to add features that allow friends, followers, and other users to register by providing their contact information and financial planning topics of special interest.

Blunder #5: Lack of Promotion

While social media can help promote and advisor’s services, it’s up to the advisor to promote his or her social media websites, which is something that many investment professionals overlook. Promoting social media sites doesn’t have to be expensive or elaborate.

Rather, advisors can simply include the URLs for their social media pages on their business cards, emails, and stationery. Advisors main websites should also include links to their social media pages.