deccatalkingpoints@decdesign.com
When Your Social Media Goes Awry
by Decca Design
Social media is a great platform for promoting your brand, attracting customers, and building relationships with them. But if done poorly, there can be consequences. The wrong social media strategy will drive away followers, or worse, sabotage your company’s brand.
We stumbled upon a report from Sprout Social on that details this very topic. The survey covers the most irritating things companies do on social media, like excessive posting, using awkward jargon, and disregarding customers. With that in mind, we wanted to pass along 9 practices your social media manager might want to avoid when posting.
Ditch the slang. Different audiences use their own words and phrases, but when brands try to mimic them in social media posts, it often seems a little fake.
Have a strategy. Posting content for the sake of posting something is not a good idea. Have your messaging well thought out ahead of time. Evaluate your followers. Find out how their wants and needs are related to your business.
Leave comedy to the pros. There are only a few things more irritating than a company’s failed attempts to be funny. Especially, if humor doesn’t fit their brand.
But don’t be boring. Posting unoriginal, repetitive, or boring content is the fastest way to get unfollowed.
Stay relevant. Many social media users also unfollow brands that aren’t helpful, post random material, or don’t keep on topic.
Turn down the volume. While followers may enjoy your content, too much of it—say, more than a couple of times a day—isn’t necessarily a good thing.
Tag at your own risk. Don’t tag people just to get attention or increase your post’s visibility. It’s bad social etiquette.
Stop selling. When social media feels like a sales pitch, consumer radar goes up, and conversations halt.
Don’t disappear. The point of social media is to engage your customers. Respond to their posts and answer their questions.
With high quality social media content, you can build your audience. But you can’t market to those who unfollow you. So be careful, and do your best to sidestep these social media traps other companies fall into.
