One of the greatest marketing lies of all time is the idea that there is no such thing as bad publicity. In fact, the present-day landscape of social networks is sometimes so hostile, that it seems that there is no action you can take that doesn’t have at least some potential way of backfiring. Luckily, not all of these mistakes are as serious and there are some that can endanger your brand further down the line, even damage it for years to come. With this in mind, here are the top five social media marketing mistakes that you should avoid like the plague.
Some things are written in stone
One of the first things you may notice in the current media world is that as soon as someone lands in the middle of a controversy, there’s a bunch of self-appointed detectives to dig out their tweets from 2014 or a Facebook post from 2009, where the party in question contradicted themselves. Sure, these things can get deleted; however, they are usually so far back, that the chances of you remembering them are highly unlikely. Even if you did remember to delete them, there’s no guarantee that there is not a person out there with a screenshot.
In order to avoid this, you need to avoid going onto your social media profile while you’re still agitated. Even if an issue has stirred up a controversy you feel like you must get on top of, ask yourself one question: “Is there any way for this to come around and haunt me in the future?” While this may sound a bit abstract, you would be surprised just how easily these situations can be spotted.
A grammar mistake can be egregious
The next thing you need to keep in mind is that the number of grammar freaks out there tends to be quite staggering. Even the greatest joke or the most incredible limited-time offer ever can stay in the shadow of a minor spelling mistake. Luckily, social media posts are never that long, which means that proofreading them isn’t very effort intensive after all. In order to avoid some of the most common mistakes, it might, however, be best to have someone else in your company take a glance before you hit the post. Moreover, not every spelling mistake is equally grievous and there are some that are simply unforgivable.
Trying to just wing it
There is a massive discrepancy between the way in which an individual manages their social media accounts and the way in which a business does it. In one of the previous sections, we mentioned the fact that some businesses make a mistake that comes back to haunt them several years in the future. For individuals, this is a much more common occurrence. You see, as a person, you are in your full right to change your mind day in and day out; however, as a business, you need some consistency. For this reason alone, it might be best to start out with some professional social media analytics and create a network-specific strategy with your brand in mind.
Avoid public arguments
Sometimes, people can be abusive towards your brand for no real reason; still, even in these situations, it is often best to stay levelheaded and avoid any kind of public argument. First of all, everyone’s already dug in their heels and you’re not going to change anyone’s mind by publicly humiliating them or displaying your superior rhetorical skills. In fact, even your loyal audience isn’t going to be impressed by this display. Instead, you should either ignore or delete these kinds of comments.
In a lot of cases, you can achieve something even greater by being extra polite and assertive towards these people, seeing as how there is always a nice, subtle way to disarm every single one of their arguments. Sure, there are instances where this kind of argument turned out to be more profitable for the brand in the long run; nevertheless, this is not a gamble that most brands would be smart to take.
Spreading negativity
When writing a title for a blog post, the use of negative adjectives is often an effective method of attracting attention. On the other hand, using a negative adjective and spreading negativity are not one and the same. Sure, sparking outrage is much easier than inspiring positive emotions, but you need to understand that people will subconsciously tie your brand image to these sensations. Even though it is true that someone has to be the bearer of bad news, your brand definitely shouldn’t assume that role. After all, people come to social media channels to learn something new or be entertained. Negativity, even if it evokes the feeling of schadenfreude, is not a great branding tool.
Potential customers, people who never came in contact with your business, and mere observers will form an opinion based on various factors, one of them being your social media activity. For this reason, you need to be extra careful when it comes to your social media management. This is the reason why so many companies decide to outsource their own social media marketing and entrust this task to professionals.
