Social Media

Don't focus all your time and energy on followers/friends. Those numbers aren't as important as people seem to think. They will go up in time. You want legit people who are following your business, not bots.

This is a major mistake – keeping an active page with lot of information however no genuine followers. This implies you don’t generally have virtual support and weakens the basis of your social presence. To avoid this, it’s essential to build a slow and steady network of genuine people.

Buying Likes And Followers is a big mistake. These followers don’t care about what you’re saying or what you’re doing. The quality of your audience diminishes, as does the real impact of your social media posts.
Also don't post too much. It's so important to define how many posts per day are convenient for your type of audience.

Don't buy fake followers! It's the most horrible mistake!

Avoid wrong techniques of gaining likes and followers on Twitter and Facebook.

Don't buy fake followers/like for fanpage and tool

Buying Followers on Facebook is a bad idea because of Facebooks engagement algorithm.

It is a Good idea to buy Website and Post Likes because it shows Social Proof

I agree with a lot of people on this thread. Watch out for fake followers. Work on building genuine followers/likes to increase organic reach. Never buy page likes through a third party.

Buying followers/likers. Post content that are not engaging. False advertising.

Thank you all for your suggestions

Except the basic "Don't buy fake followers / Spam" mistakes, i think these 6 mistakes are pretty common for small businesses that are just starting out on social media:

1) Your expectations are too high - Your sales are going to be low when you are starting out, most people think they have the best product ever and end up quitting because no one is buying (yet.)

2) You don’t have a marketing strategy.

3) You are not adjusting your message on different platforms - You can't post the same content on Facebook,Pinterest,Instagram & Twitter. Find out what works on each platform and optimize your content for the best results.

4) You are not tracking and analyzing statistics - Google "[Social Media Platform] + Statistics to analyze yours.

5) You are not active - Not sharing content as much as you should do.

6) Your response time is too slow - If a potential customer is interested in your product/service, make sure you answer them asap.

First thing that you have to do (before anything else) is to make sure that you picked the right social network. Some of them are good for certain businesses, while others excel for some other professions. By making the right choice, you are saving a lot of money and time.

Those like for likes or anything tools that are automated.
Having a number of followers can be good front for a business page but I guess engagement is more attractive.

Choose the right social network to promote your business. For a small busienss or startup Linekdin is the best place to start with. You can utilize LinkedIn tools like groups and Linekdin company pages to leverage LinkedIn for business.

I also just want to add; Do not promote too much to people on Social Media. Make sure to be social and keep customers engaged. They will like and comment on your posts more. If you promote your products/services too much it will turn people off and they will start to ignore you.

You should know what you audience likes. Looking like very professional or being very amateur can both affect returns in a negative way.

Do not always add promotional content on social media. This will not catch your audience interest as they might find it promotional and boring like any normal thing shared over social media. Try to add interesting content if you are new to grab audience attention, also not miss adding related hashtags.
Do not send Auto DMs on social media, it might irritates audience.
Do not mention any person again and again on Tweets just to gather attention.

Biggest mistake would be to just start promoting. Bring fresh and quality content to the table where your fans can engage in discussions and share with their friends. Using other Social Media such as Pinterest or Instagram can also help you achieve results as long as your content is oriented towards people. Engage with them and they will follow, as simple as it gets.

Any small or medium business can benefit from Social Media as long as you keep them engaged with real life problems and solutions, ie tips and tricks they can use and share amongst their friends.
And don't be scared of paying for promoting your business, just choose right filters so that you can target people that would be interested in what you are offering. Also put your focus on Social Media such as LinkedIn where business professionals hang around and want to know more about specific area you are in.

And forget about buying fake fans since it will only hurt your business in the long run.

Filip

Firstly, Forget irregular posts. Make a commitment to post regularly so you avoid irregular audience or bots. Regular and fresh content is the king anytime. You need to be an active member.

Secondly, forget quick sales. Don't start it just as a business in the social media. Ensure your product has a purpose for all and that will fetch you a strong social customer base.

Thirdly, don't worry when the reach is slow. Slow but a steady reach is better than a quick rise and fall.

For me the biggest mistake a lot of businesses do on social media is TOO MUCH self-promotion. People don't really care what you are, they are more concerned about what you can do for them.

some brands think they need to shove their business down peoples throat. That will drain your page and create less value. If youre a wedding gown business post great content around places that would be great for a wedding, foods on a budget for a wedding, honeymoon destinations, etc. then post about the dress. Think of it as a tv show, it provides content then a commercial comes on.