You sit down to write a social media post. Twenty minutes later, you've rewritten the first sentence six times, checked what three competitors are posting, watched a few reels for "inspiration," and somehow ended up wondering whether your business needs to be on TikTok. And the post still isn't finished.
For all the talk about algorithms, reach and engagement, it's easy to forget what social media is supposed to be about in the first place: people connecting with other people.
We see the value of that kind of connection every day at Burbity Workspaces. Our Spokane coworking spaces allow entrepreneurs, remote workers, and small-business owners not only to rub elbows but to engage in meaningful conversations. Someone asks a question. Someone else has been through the same thing. A casual introduction turns into a referral, a collaboration, or simply a useful idea.
Social media can work much the same way. The businesses that use it well aren't necessarily the ones posting the most or jumping on every trend, but rather the ones who remember there's a real person on the other side of the screen.
Many of the most common social media mistakes happen when we lose sight of that. We start posting for the algorithm rather than the customer, measuring success by likes rather than relationships, or trying so hard to keep up that social media becomes burdensome instead of a way to stay connected.
Here are a few habits worth reconsidering.
Mistake #1: Trying to Be Everywhere
The platforms keep expanding: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest. And apparently you should be creating short-form videos now, too. For a small business owner with limited time, trying to maintain an active presence on every platform can quickly turn into a second full-time job. Nobody needs that. Creating boundaries helps.
Think about where your customers spend their time and where your business makes sense. A consultant who primarily works with other businesses may get far more value from LinkedIn than from TikTok. A local bakery or boutique may find Instagram much more useful. It's better to show up consistently in one or two places than maintain five accounts you secretly resent.
Mistake #2: Posting Only When You Have Something to Sell
We've all seen the business account that only comes to life when there's a promotion.
Sale starts Friday!
Book now!
Only three spots left!
Then silence.
There's nothing wrong with promoting your business on social media. That's why you're there. But people need other reasons to follow along. Show them what's happening behind the scenes. Answer a question customers ask all the time. Introducing an employee. Share something you learned this week. Celebrate another local business. Social media becomes much easier when you stop thinking of every post as an advertisement and work instead on building a loyal audience.
Mistake #3: Forgetting There's a Person on the Other Side
One of the easiest social media mistakes to make is writing every post in "business voice." You know the one.
"We are pleased to announce..."
"Our dedicated team is committed to..."
Nobody talks like that over coffee. Try reading a post out loud before publishing it. If you wouldn't say those words to a customer standing in front of you, they probably don't belong in the caption.
“Professional” doesn't equal formal. Some of the most engaging small-business accounts work because you get a sense of the actual people behind them. They use “small” to their advantage, and they tell stories about people – customers, employees, owners, even their families.
Mistake #4: Comparing Your Business to Someone Five Years Ahead of You
You find another company in your industry with 48,000 followers. Their videos are perfectly edited, their photography gorgeous, and they're posting every day. Sometimes multiple times a day.
Meanwhile, you're balancing customer calls, payroll, invoices, and a half-eaten sandwich while trying to figure out why your Reel has 137 views. That's not a particularly useful comparison.
You don't know how long they've been building that audience, how many people work on their marketing, or how much they're spending to produce the content. Pay attention to what other businesses do well, but permit yourself to build at your own pace.
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Mistake #5: Chasing Every Trend
Trends can be useful. They can also make a perfectly respectable business owner dance in front of a camera when they would really rather not. You don't have to do that.
Before jumping on a trending sound, meme, or video format, ask a simple question: Does this make sense for our business and the people we serve? If it does, have fun with it. If it doesn't, keep scrolling. A smaller audience that understands what you do is more valuable than thousands of views from people who will never become customers.
Mistake #6: Treating Every Post Like a Performance Evaluation
You spend an hour creating something you really like. You post it. Then you check your phone. Seven likes. It's hard not to feel disappointed. But individual posts aren't particularly good report cards. Some will take off for reasons you can't explain. Others will quietly reach exactly the right person. Look at patterns over time instead.
Which topics start conversations? What do people save or share? Which questions generate responses? What brings someone to your website or prompts a customer to mention, "I saw your post about that"? Those signals can tell you much more than whether Tuesday's post received 14 or 140 likes.
Mistake #7: Forgetting the "Social" Part
Social media works better when there's some actual socializing involved. Respond to comments. Answer messages. Congratulate another business on its anniversary. Leave a thoughtful comment when someone in your community shares good news.
For local small businesses, those connections can be especially valuable. The person you're chatting with today may become a customer six months from now. They might refer someone to you. Or you may end up collaborating on something neither of you has thought of yet. Business relationships have always grown through conversations. Some of those conversations happen online now.
Mistake #8: Letting Social Media Replace Real Community
Online connections matter, but there's still something different about sitting across the table from another business owner. You can talk about the client who keeps changing the project. Compare bookkeeping software. Ask who's found a good graphic designer. Admit you're struggling to keep up with Instagram. Those conversations are part of what makes a small-business community valuable.
At Burbity Workspaces, we see those connections happen naturally among coworking entrepreneurs, remote teams, and small-business owners who share the same space. Sometimes the best idea for your next social media post doesn't come from spending another hour on social media. It comes from talking to another person who's figuring out many of the same things you are.
Find a Rhythm You Can Actually Maintain
You don't need to become a content creator to use social media well. You need a reasonable plan.
Maybe that's two posts a week. Maybe you spend an hour every Monday preparing a few ideas instead of staring at your phone every afternoon wondering what to say. Maybe you choose one platform to focus on for the next three months and permit yourself to ignore the others.
Avoiding social media mistakes isn't about finding the perfect strategy. It's about finding a way to show up that still leaves you enough time and energy to run the business you're posting about. And if you occasionally disappear for a few days because business got busy? Your followers will probably forgive you.
