Social media is an excellent way to make valuable connections in your industry. Just about everyone who does any kind of business online is aware of the usefulness of social media sites, but that doesn’t mean they know how to use them. There are plenty of articles on how to make social media work for you, but today I’m going to look at some of the big mistakes that you could be making. These aren’t just little glitches that can be overlooked, they are mistakes that could destroy your online reputation or ruin your carefully built network.
Social Media Mistake 1
Going on a rant. When you’re using Twitter, Facebook, etc. on a daily basis, it’s easy to fall into a false sense of security. You feel that you’re among friends. And when that happens, it’s not difficult to move into other territory . . . where you start sharing personal information. This in itself isn’t bad, until something happens that makes you angry and you splash it all over the web.
Being upset about something is fine. Tweeting about how horrible your client is . . . not fine. In fact, it could lose you business. Even if your client or boss never realizes what you said, others will see it and realize that they don’t want to work with someone who blasts their personal vendettas across the social networks.
Social Media Mistake 2
Dropping off the face of the planet. Unfortunately, this happens quite often in social media because people start out with great intentions and then lose focus. When they come back a couple of months later, no one cares anymore.
You can easily avoid this problem by not overdoing things. There’s no need to post 50 times a day. A handful of posts will keep your presence up without taking too much time or energy and you won’t be overwhelmed and drop out. Social media is a very valuable method of promotion, so don’t waste it by burning out and disappearing for too long.
Social Media Mistake 3
Spamming. Most of us are aware that spamming is a bad idea . . . yet a lot of people are still flooding others with unwanted offers and ads. However, that isn’t the only way you can spam and you MIGHT be spamming without even realizing how offensive it is!
Are you signed up for one of those Twitter ad networks? If you’ve allowed them or any other site to publish auto-tweets then your followers are probably quite annoyed with the spam they get when you aren’t even online. Another way that many people spam is through auto responses to followers. When someone follows you, sending them a direct message with an ad is not a good way to make a nice first impression.
Are you making any of these mistakes? If so, you might want to reconsider how you handle your social networking before it’s too late.
