6 Common Social Media No-No’s You Should Strive to Avoid

Any successful business understands the importance of harnessing the power of social media. It can serve as an extremely effective bridge to not only your customer base, but prospective customers as well. In order to do this successfully, there are a few unwritten rules of using social media that every brand must understand. Try taking a look at 6 common social media no-no’s you should strive to avoid.

1. “Liking” Your Own Posts

When it comes to your own posts, refrain from “liking” them as the business.  Of course you like what you posted, or it would not have been posted in the first place! This one may seem obvious, but it is shocking to see businesses doing this on a regular basis. Trying to generate false traffic back to your site can be damaging to your business by making it look desperate.

2. Revealing Too Much

Social media is a great tool for letting your brand’s voice and personality shine through. However, there is a fine line between engaging with your audience and sharing far too much information. The best way to negate this social media no-no is to treat each and every post as if it were a personal message going out to your most important client. If your most valuable client will question it, it is likely you should too. In fact, any time you have a questionable post, get a second opinion. It can save you from an embarrassing conversation or two in the future.

3. Spamming

Just like email, spam exists on social media as well. However, spam on social media is a bit different than your average spam email. It comes in a few various forms. For example—posting the same updates over and over to fill feeds. That is one of social media no-no. Another form of social media spam is continually sending private messages after being asked to stop. Both of these are considered social media no-no’s. The key here is to strive for balance. Understand what types of content you are choosing to post and how frequently they are posted. Brands that manage social media well tend to do this extraordinarily well.

4. Excessive Self-Promotion

It is not uncommon for a business to engage in social media strictly with the intent to promote your business. This is 100% okay, and marketing through social media should be a part of every business plan. But, it is the excessive self-promotion that needs to stop in order to be viewed as a professional company and resource for information. Start sharing content that others would want to share, even if it does not directly relate to your company, as the caption will aid in directing those who glance at the post back to your page. Sometimes shareable posts will not be connected to your business, and that is perfectly okay!

5. Failing to Acknowledge Others

Failing to acknowledge others is a huge no-no when it comes to social media. First of all, the goal of utilizing social media as a business is to interact and understand your buyer personas. When you fail to add an on-brand comment or “thank you” in return, you are creating a missed opportunity that could have potentially been the start of a transaction-based relationship. Therefore, go the extra mile and interact with your followers. Something as simple as thanking people for retweets or Facebook likes can go a long way.

6. Inactivity

Too many companies create social accounts with great intentions, but ultimately active social media management gets put on the backburner. Many brands end up neglecting their accounts, or worse downright abandon them. This is an all too common problem and a major social media no-no. An inactive social account is just as bad as not having one, if not worse.

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