Social Media Mistakes to Avoid

Social Media Mistakes to Avoid – Despite its youth, social media has quickly become a powerful force in marketing.  Sharing opinions, services, products, and announcements via social media gives you the opportunity to reach a large audience with relative ease.  Yet, there are certainly major pitfalls to putting social media to work – and without careful planning, social media can ultimately be more of a threat than a benefit to your business.  So, when it comes to your social media activities, let’s take a look at some of the more serious social media mistakes to avoid.

Offensive or Obscene Content

Since social media messages tend to be short and they are distributed quickly, many companies make the mistake of not carefully crafting that message.  Social media is fast and cheap, but it can still have a major impact.  When you think about the time and energy you devote to developing traditional forms of media such as print or video, you probably think about the cost of the media and the ultimate value it may bring.  When it comes to social media, one huge mistake is to post or share a message without considering its impact.  It’s even more important to know your audience with social media because of the possibility that an offensive or obscene message can go viral.  Remember, your message is likely to be shared outside your target market, and this can both negatively and positively affect your business.

Giving Advice

Social media is interactive – your employees can use social media to communicate with your clients in real time which is one of the most powerful and influential aspects of this new form of outreach.  However, because social media can be delivered in real time, your control over the message is diluted.  It is never advisable to allow your staff to give customers advice over social media – questions about your product or service should be directed to an appropriate representative.  This will allow you to maintain a consistent marketing message without contributing to false or inaccurate information about your business.  After all, in an online world, these messages can be almost impossible to reverse.

Responding to Criticism

Not all customers are going to be happy. Even your competitors may take to criticizing you online.  While it’s appropriate to respond to criticism via social media, you want to be measured in your response.  If you employ a staff to manage your social media presence, make sure that they know they should never respond to criticisms or negative comments on official social media pages for your business.  Instead, employ a social media manager to professionally and appropriately deal with criticisms so that you can maintain a consistent message and so that accurate information is shared online.

DISCLAIMER: The content of this article, and this website generally, is not intended as legal advice and cannot be relied upon as legal advice.  To provide legal advice on your problem, a lawyer must first understand your specific situation.

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