Things to avoid on Social Media.
It may be very important to know the kind of things you should be doing on social media to give you the best returns on your effort, but knowing what not to do will also stand you in good stead as sometimes, social media can be very unforgiving.
Social media is very much a part of life for many of us and the way we use it is being adapted to how we currently live our own lives, it is being designed to fit in with our everyday agendas. What we must remember though that unlike us being down the local bar and gossip taking place that remains within the four walls,what happens on social media doesn’t stay on social media unlike in the popular city of Las Vegas. Thinking on the business side of things, the right message can travel far and wide and increase brand awareness, but so can the wrong message and with it can come not only negative comments and a drop in following, but it can devalue your brand and even land you in legal issues.
So, what type of things should we look to steer clear of when using social media to make sure that we stay on the positive and safe road of social media. * I would add, that there are those of us that are very clever and work on the basis of using negative PR to gain the necessary brand awareness, but for the rest of us:
- Confrontational Topics. The usual suspects of religion, politics and football should be topics you may need to think through thoroughly before either starting or getting involved with on social media. Though each of the topics are freedom of speech, they usually can become heated and rarely conclude as people always have different opinions and like to express their thoughts. Nothing wrong with any of the topics above and with a thought through approach, you can make new connections and new friends, but be warned that even if you have the most sincere of opinions, it is still likely to offend someone, somewhere.
- Copyright content. With more and more people using social media, the search for unique content increases as does the temptation to use content already out there done by someone else. Make sure that when you do use the likes of images, videos or blog content, that you have either permission from the original creator or that the content is listed as free to use (you can search Google for content that has given you permission to share and for commercial re-use).
- Private conversations. Make sure that you keep personal and private conversations away from social media or at least, use direct messages instead. It may be obvious, but avoid firing people, stating people’s salaries or when they are on holiday, direct complaints or feedback to person and using bad or hard language. Remember, that what you place on social media not only can be seen by your followers, but has the potential to be seen by the followers of your followers, ie it can go viral.
- Spamming. We should all know by now that spamming in any form is not a clever way of doing marketing and should be left to the SEO companies based in India. Though many of us reject spammers, lot’s still use social media in a similar way without realising they are doing so. Avoid direct messages which as merely urging people to click links or take up offers, do not simply post updates which as sales only and try not to tempt people in to clicking on a URL with a catchy update only to direct people to a sales orientated page. Think 80/20 rule when promoting your products and services, 20% is considered a recommended amount of your overall updates to be sales focused.
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