Social media is everywhere nowadays, and a great deal of people have a fairly good idea of how to use it to help their brand or business. The problem is, it’s easy to get carried away with social media and fall into the trap of using it in a way that can actually be damaging to your brand or business. Say or do the wrong thing, and all the hard work you have put into growing your followers can be undone. Below you will find a few key things not to do when trying to grow and enrich your social media position.
Too Much Promotion
Naturally, you’re using social media sites to promote your business or brand, but going overboard on this can seriously damage your social media health. After all, it’s a social thing, and harping on about your ‘great product’, can become almost antisocial if you just won’t shut up about it! People want to connect to you and your brand, and they won’t be able to do that if they feel that you are pushing your products or ideas down their throats. Stick to social, and throw something in only when it really helps people or feels appropriate.
Hashtag Heaven and Hashtag Hell!
Hashtags are great, in the right quantity, and the right places, but again, going overboard can only hurt you. We know that hashtagged posts tend to gain more exposure, but it is dangerous to attach too many to a post. You might think your post relates to several different things, but if you have five hashtags attached to your post, you are devaluing and diluting your message, and actually run the risk of losing the message in the sea of hashtags you have created! Try to stick to no more than two hashtags per post, and keep them strictly relevant to the post.
Failing To Respond To Comments
You’re busy. You don’t just spend all day responding to people on social media right? We all have genuine work to do away from the computer, but you have to commit to a social media campaign. If someone posts a comment, and you fail to respond, it’s akin to ignoring someone who is at your till, asking in which aisle the paint tins can be found! Try to treat comments like genuine enquiries within your shop or office, and you’ll soon find yourself responding to each and every one. And guess what? This keeps your customers happy!
Are You There, Or Not There?
No one likes an automated response, and anyone seeing random posts from a business at five to three, half past five, and quarter to eight at night every single day of the week will soon feel like they are following a business and not a person. However, go too far the other way, by dipping into your social media accounts several times one day and then nothing for the next five is bad news. People expect a fairly regular level of updates from your social channels, so make sure you are posting regularly, without being too regular!
Avoid these five pitfalls really will help you to continue gaining new followers, but perhaps more importantly, should help you to retain the ones you already have. Be sensible about the way you use social media, and just try to consider what you would expect if you were following a company. If you find all of this just too much of a headache, you can always talk to us here at Ink Elves – that’s what we’re here for!