Social Media Mistakes

In past blogs we’ve talked about how to implement and use social media effectively for your small business. Now we’re going to approach the subject from a different angle.

There are millions (if not billions) of accounts populating various social media platforms. Some are personal accounts and some are professional.

Most of us can use them without causing too much trouble. There have been instances where businesses have managed offend swathes of people with a single tweet, usually by accident!

Let’s take a look at our top tips for maintaining a healthy social media presence.

Avoid linking your professional account to your personal account

This is one of the best pieces of advice we can offer you. For ease of access it might seem necessary to link up both accounts on your smartphone.

Just be aware that many business owners have made terrible mistakes by posting on the wrong account.

If you can trust yourself to differentiate between the two then go ahead and link them up, but if you’re not sure then keep them separate. It’s better to be safe than sorry!

Think before you tweet

Again, this seems relatively simple. You’d be surprised how many users will fire off tweets without thinking – it’s even more surprising how many of these people run a business.

Be aware of what’s happening around you; ill-timed tweets can kill a business’s engagement and popularity.

Keep your cool

Do not argue over social media. It doesn’t matter what the subject is or who the recipient might be. It’s not worth it.

It makes you look foolish and childish, but it’s absolutely no way to resolve a dispute or complaint from a customer.

Mix it up

You wouldn’t want to read the same news story over and over again, so why would your followers? Sharing a blog or an update is fine, it can even be fine if you post that piece of information a handful of times over the space of a few weeks.

Avoid consistently sharing the same article over and over again, you’ll lose followers quickly. You’re also not likely to gain followers; they’ll take one look at your profile, see the repetition and instantly be put off.

Remember who your audience is

This is vital. You need to post relevant content in order to engage with your audience and win more followers and likes.

Use it or you’ll lose it

It’s great to build up engagement with your followers, but you must keep it up to maintain interest. Don’t take a couple of months off work and leave your social media accounts unattended. Pass the torch onto someone else to hold and check up on them every now and then.

Stay on brand

If you’ve worked hard to establish a new brand or image then use social media to promote it. You’re re-brand will make a bigger impact overall if you use Twitter or Facebook to show it off.