Mistakes are a healthy part of every marketing strategy, and they're certainly nothing to be ashamed of in the new(ish) world of social media. That said, being sloppy is a whole different story.
What makes the following social media mistakes particularly sloppy is that they cost little time and no money to fix, have tremendous returns, and as such are huge misses to your overall social media strategy. Stop being sloppy, and make sure you're not making any of these 10 social media mistakes (+1 for good luck).
10 Sloppy Social Media Mistakes
- Not using the social media accounts you set up. When someone sees an abandoned social media business account, it basically just looks like that company doesn't have its $%*! together. It's even more important to keep those accounts up to date if you're linking to them from your website and blog. Don't just set it and forget it. If you're going to have an account on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+, put the effort into keeping it engaging and regularly updated with content.
- Not linking back to your website in social media profiles. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Google+ all allow you to link back to your website. Not only is that five more links into your site, it's five more ways your hundreds or thousands of followers can get back to your site to find more information about your products and services.
Not claiming your accounts. Twitter handles get snatched up like wildfire, especially if your company name is somewhat common. And if you're a big brand name, you don't want to see Bank of America's Google+ snafu happen to you. If you don't claim your name on social networks, you miss out on good opportunities to rank for keywords in organic search, risk running into brand and PR issues, and end up having to compromise the name you select.- Not separating your business accounts and personal accounts. Companies that do this are not only building a disjointed brand experience, they're not making the most of their company's online presence. Public business accounts can return results in search engines and publish content tailored specifically to customers and prospects. Furthermore, they make for a clean, forward-facing and identifiable social media presence for your business.
Not explicitly asking someone to engage with your content. HubSpot Social Media Scientist Dan Zarrella has found the phrase "please retweet" to be the 11th most retweetable phrase. In addition, asking someone to 'like,' according to Momentus Media, increases interaction by 216%. (The words most successful at eliciting engagement are depicted here by Mashable.) If you want someone to like, comment, retweet, or watch, just ask.- Not including a picture. It seems basic, but when your account shows up without a photo on a social network, it looks abandoned and unofficial. Social media is designed to be personal, so including a profile picture, whether of a person or a logo, will automatically give your profile some life. And in case there's any doubt, Twitter accounts with a picture have 10 times more followers than those without one.
- Not having a blog subscription and RSS feed set up. A subscription field on your blog is an easy way to build an opt-in database for lead nurturing, and an RSS feed will get you repeat visitors to your site that will help build your blog a loyal following.
- Not having social media follow and share buttons on your website. Buttons for all the social media accounts you use regularly should be included on your homepage and next to every piece of content you write, especially your blog. For example, HubSpot customer Pharmacy Development Services includes buttons to visit their pages and profiles on the right, and offers links to +1 the blog article and share it on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn on every article it publishes.
- Not including links in your tweets. A retweet is great, but a click is better. If you don't include links in your tweets, you're not driving new traffic to your site with your social media reach. For the highest click-through rate, place your link 25% of the way into your tweet.
- Not posting updates with context. Instead of just throwing up a link to a blog post, include some commentary describing what's interesting about it. Momentus Media found that lengthy status updates show higher interaction rates than shorter ones, measuring from 1 to 450 characters and seeing higher interaction rates the higher the character count. Zarrella found similar findings on Twitter, where the most clicks were received on tweets up to 130 characters.
+1 for Good Luck: If you haven't set up a Google+ business page yet, you're missing out on great opportunity to get in on a new social network in its infancy. Unlike companies with thousands of followers on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn, most of the Google+ landscape is ripe for the picking. Be the first in your industry to stake a claim instead of playing catch up later on.
If you're making any of these social media mistakes, shhh...we won't tell anyone...as long as you promise to go fix it. These are easy mistakes to make, but luckily, they are also super easy to remedy. And whether you have a fledgling social media strategy or a robust one, fixing these social media mistakes is a guaranteed way to supplement your efforts.
What other social media mistakes have you encountered, either on your accounts or someone else's?
Image credit: xioubin low
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Jill Fratianne 2:09 PM on November 21, 2011
The Sarah Palin picture with Chewy is priceless. Thank you for yet another inspiring post.
Spark Tech Talk 2:26 PM on November 21, 2011
Great points. These are simple mistakes that can cause a loss of business and even worse.. weak connections and lost relationships
Julie walton 2:51 PM on November 21, 2011
Really useful and interesting information, thanks.
Stoney 3:24 PM on November 21, 2011
Thank you for this very interesting article. When reading this article via @zyte, I do miss the Google+ share button. When will it be added?
Clive Hill 3:34 PM on November 21, 2011
Good clear post lots of great rules to follow all helps to get your company in front. Pictures are great for our printing as we can show lots of applications
Ashley K. Edwards 4:37 PM on November 21, 2011
Some of these are such pet peeves of mine! Namely numbers one and six.
Rachel Elnar 5:25 PM on November 21, 2011
Great tips. These simple mistakes happen often!
Joe 5:33 PM on November 21, 2011
Wow great post. Currently, I am enrolled in a class that's topic is social media branding. You are 100% correct about all these things and it is important to not do any of them! From a business stand point or a personal stand point, these tips should be taken seriously if your want to succeed in using social media.
Tiffany Litherland 2:26 AM on November 22, 2011
I cannot say how often I have seen this when requested to conduct digital business audits. I have also found that no matter how or what is said many are still unwilling to hear about what is essentially the most important aspects of their social media set up. This article highlights it all and gives me somewhere even more credible to point to as the source of many of my opinions and advice. Thanks for providing the know how ;-)
Addie 9:48 AM on November 22, 2011
Really great information, thanks so much! I'm learning more every day.
Bob Garrett 10:36 AM on November 22, 2011
Just a little additional info - I registered @thisoldhouse before TOH did - I wanted to create a recycle business with the Twitter profile name. Long story short - the folks at Time - where not pleased.
badana 11:53 AM on November 22, 2011
çok teşekkür ederim thanksss
QlinArt 11:59 AM on November 22, 2011
Great tips and reminders. I see a couple of sloppy mistakes I'm making right now and am ready to fix them. I do have an important question : as a food blogger I tweet a lot about food and add my blog link to my tweets. However, I also tweet a lot about social media with social media professionals using my same food brand account. Is that a sloppy mistake And send mixed messages to followers? Or would it show how social media savvy a foodie can be? Looking forward to your feedback. Thx
Davina K. Brewer 12:16 PM on November 22, 2011
Good pointers. I'm still stunned by #8, when I get to an e-zine or blog and there aren't any share buttons, and it's impossible to find their social profiles. Not sure about #9 though. Yes links and clicks are nice, but that can't be ALL your posts, otherwise it's the 'buy from us' broadcast channel. It's part of #10 - context, offering value. FWIW.
Drew Harding 9:29 AM on November 23, 2011
A good list, thanks for sharing with us Corey. I think it's pretty vital for people to understand the things to avoid as well as understanding the things they need to do. The impact of social media can be incredible and if done wrong can seriously damage your reputation.
I have put together a blog post recent showcasing 12 Social Media Mistakes with some key examples - if you get a chance, take a look and let me know what you think: http://www.eclipse-creative.co.uk/2011/09/12-social-media-mistakes/
Regards, Drew
Danusia 6:21 AM on November 24, 2011
#6 Not including a photo has to be the easiest thing to fix in the world. I have had Linked In requests from people without photos?!?
Great list as a starter for newbies to SM and a good reminder to everyone already using SM.
Radical Uterus 7:59 PM on December 01, 2011
Thank you for this information. I have made it my recent mission to clean up my act.
Musaed Q 10:20 AM on December 02, 2011
Not separating your business accounts and personal accounts.
Should i do that even if I want both to be influential to each other.
Thanks a lot .. great post.
Corey Eridon 10:34 AM on December 02, 2011
QlinArt - it depends on what you're trying to get out of your Twitter account. If it's a personal account and you just happen to love food and social media, that's great! If it's a professional account created to bring traffic to your food blog, I'd strike a different balance. It's okay (and awesome) to show your personality on social media, but always keep your primary goal in mind.
Musaed - I think it depends on how much time you plan on dedicating to each account. If you're a consultant, for example, it makes sense either way; but only if you have the time to spend on both networks AND each has a unique purpose.
Jenny 1:15 PM on December 02, 2011
Hi Corey,
I'd be interested to hear your take on something -- I agree with both #'s 1 and 3, but they seem to be in direct opposition to each other. We have to work to protect our brand's name on social, and yet, if a profile goes dormant on our watch, we're not doing things right, either. This seems to imply that we need to have profiles established and running constantly on all social platforms, which I don't necessarily agree with (I'm more for being really good at one or two platforms, than entering all without a strategy and doing them poorly). What is the solution?
This is something I think about a lot, and still don't have an answer. I'd love to know your (and the commenters') thoughts.
Corey Eridon 2:49 PM on December 02, 2011
Jenny - easy, claim all your accounts and use them all the time and be awesome at it. But if you're NOT in an ideal world...:)
One way to mitigate this is to claim your names to prevent brand hijacking, but then don't start using them if it will be short lived. I tend to fault companies more that use an account for a couple weeks, then go dormant for months and months, far more than those who claim their accounts but don't actually DO anything. Plus if you're not publicizing the accounts on your website, it's less likely people will find them unless they typed in "x company's twitter account" into a search engine.
It's not an ideal scenario, to be sure. Would love to hear other thoughts on it!
Urban Media 7:18 AM on December 21, 2011
Great tips and advice, so many social media users fall for these mistakes. It's important to be consistent. As well as designing our clients websites, doing their SEO, we also help them with their social media as we feel the whole package is so important to success! @theurbanmetro
http://www.urbanmedia.co.uk
@theurbanmetro