There are a lot of so-called “social media experts” out there. Dishing out advice, sometimes based on limited experiences, and sometimes based on nothing at all. Even the true social media experts sometimes share some misguided advice based on their beliefs and experiences. So with all this bad advice floating around the web, how do you distinguish between what you should -- and shouldn't -- believe?
Have no fear! We’re here to share some of the worst pieces of social media advice we've seen to debunk all those misguided "best practices" and steer you in the right direction toward social media marketing truth and justice.
30 Terrible Pieces of Social Media Advice to Ignore
1) You need to be on every single social network.
Especially if you have limited time and resources, don’t spread yourself too thin by trying to maintain an active presence on every single social media site. Research and learn about the makeup of the audience that populates each social network so you can figure out where you should focus. If your audience isn't there, don't waste your time. And as new social networks pop up (as they do all the time), feel free to experiment with them, but be ready to let them go if they don’t work for you, and let your analytics be your guide. At HubSpot, we’ve tried pretty much every social network that’s popped up, but some have fallen by the wayside, and we’ve focused our efforts on the networks that continue to generate results for our marketing. Not sure where to start? LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are safe bets. They have huge audiences that span many demographics and industries.
2) Focus on Facebook ...
... or LinkedIn ... or Twitter ... or social network XYZ. Yes, you should want to focus your social media marketing efforts, but at the same time, no single social media site is the Holy Grail. Experiment with a few sites, determine where your audience hangs out, and focus on the few that are the best fit for your company.
3) You don’t need email.
The day Oprah signed up for Twitter and user registration skyrocketed, we didn’t all cancel our email accounts. I’ve been using Twitter for 5 years, Facebook and LinkedIn for even longer, and I live in my email. Social media didn't make email marketing extinct; it just added another integrated channel to make email even stronger. Remember: One of the first steps in signing up for a social media account is usually to provide your email address. And communicating via social media, in some cases, is the same as communicating via email. For example, a LinkedIn Group message gets emailed to the group members via LinkedIn. On top of that, many people still prefer email for communications, or prefer different types of content via email vs. social posts.
4) Social media is the new SEO.
If we’re talking buzz words, then yes, social media is the new SEO. But social media, in terms of function and strategy, does not replace SEO. In fact, it's just another case of two marketing strategies working better when they're together. Social media posts now show in search results, social media engagement influences search rankings, and SEO can drive more people to your social profiles and posts. Once again, social media is an additional channel -- not one that replaces existing efforts like SEO. Billions of searches are conducted every single day, and you don’t want to miss out on that traffic.
5) You can automate all of your updates.
Social media can be time consuming, so the automation of your updates is, of course, appealing. But the tough reality of social media is that it's all about people talking with people, and people can easily see through crap. Especially automated crap. Automating all your updates (and believe me, people can tell) screams "I don’t care about actually being here. Just come read my content." While it's okay to automate some content publishing (for example, your latest blog articles), you still need to support that with real conversations and interactions with your network.
6) Send an auto DM to all your new followers.
Whether you want to thank them, tell them to visit your website, or anything else, please please please don’t send an auto direct message (DM) to every new follower you get. Auto DMs are incredibly impersonal and perceived as spam by most. Sending auto DMs not only seems inconsiderate, but it also makes you look like a complete newbie who doesn’t understand social media etiquette.
7) Include popular hashtags in your tweets to get more exposure.
There was a time when hashtags were used as a great way to organize tweets. In fact, it’s still great for specific campaigns or events so a group of attendees or participants can share and monitor content related to that campaign/event. But when it comes to topic-related hashtags (e.g. #marketing #boston), people don’t really monitor those hashtags, so your organized content is not reaching a new audience. Using such general hashtags makes you look, once again, like a Twitter newbie who's trying to game the system. It's also commonly referred to as "hashtag hijacking." Today, hashtags have also become a way to make a comment about the rest of the tweet. For example: "Had to wait for AN HOUR to get my iPhone 5 today. #1stworldproblems"
8) Your prospects aren’t using social media, so you don’t need to be there.
First of all, your prospects are using social media. According to Pew Research Center, 69% of adults use social media. Do you think none of your prospects are included in that majority? If the stats aren't enough to convince you, try out any social network's advertising targeting platforms (you can often go through the targeting process without launching an ad and spending money) to see how many people on each site actually fit into your target market. On top of that, there are reasons to get involved in social media aside from communicating with potential or current customers or expanding the reach of your content. For example, you can connect with influencers and reporters who may be looking for an expert in your industry to interview for an upcoming story.
9) The more you publish, and the more sites you’re on, the better.
Simply having a presence on multiple sites and spraying your content as much as possible won't work. Yes, more content is better because it gives you more valuable social media fodder, but you need to make sure all that content is high quality; otherwise, people will see straight through the crap. Unfortunately, people are getting overwhelmed with more and more content. This means the bar for remarkable content is starting to rise, and to be successful, you need to make sure your content reaches that high bar.
10) Use a tool that autopublishes your posts to all social networks at once ... to save time.
We've talked about how automating all your social media updates is never a good idea, but we also said it's okay to automate some of your content sharing. But there's an exception to that rule, because you should never publish one message and send it out to all your different social networks at once. Yes, it will save you some time, but it’s also a terrible practice. Not only does this look automated, but you should also consider that different social media sites favor different types and frequencies of content. For example, images do fantastically well on Facebook. And you can post much more frequently to Twitter than to Facebook than to LinkedIn. Furthermore, you likely have people who are following you in all three of these networks. How obvious will it look that you're automating your efforts if they see the same message posted to all three social networks at exactly the same time? With these key differences, you simply can’t autopublish the same post to all sites at the same time and remain effective.
11) You can outsource your social media.
Social media is a way for you to communicate with your audience, which means it not only needs to be your voice, but the content of the conversations you’re having need to also be based on your expertise in the industry. Not just anyone can talk about the challenges and trends your customers face, especially if you’re in a niche industry. In fact, we've seen instances of social media outsourcing (combined with automation, not less!) go terribly wrong for some businesses. If you're considering outsourcing your social media marketing, check out this post first.
12) An intern can manage it all for you.
Who’s even less qualified to talk about your industry than an outsourced social media consultant? A college student with no real-world work experience. Now, that’s not to say that all interns are unqualified for such a job. In fact, our internship program at HubSpot has found and nurtured some amazing talent that we’ve brought on to the team full time to manage our social media presence. The point we're trying to make here is that social media is not just some throw-away marketing strategy; it’s a public face of the company. Would you let that same intern do an interview on behalf of your company for a TV spot?
13) Don’t get personal.
Social media gives you the opportunity to share a bit more personality than your website may allow. In fact, personality is often what gets you noticed in social media. After all, “People don’t fall in love with hex colors and logos -- they fall in love with people,” as branding strategist Erika Napoletano (@RedHeadWriting) shared. Show the personality behind your brand and people to make your social media marketing more lovable so people naturally want to connect and engage with you.
14) Don’t let your employees use social media.
First of all, it’s useless to try to keep your employees from using social media. Even if you block social media sites on their computers, they’ve got their smartphones. Move your office to a dungeon with terrible cell reception, and your employees can still go home and get on those sites in their spare time. Forbid any use of your company name in social media, and they’ll just create fake profiles that don’t mention you. All that does is hurt your relationship with your employees -- it shows you don’t trust them -- and you actually give up a great asset. Your employees are your company, and they each have their own personal networks of friends and followers that can expand the reach of your content, messaging, and business in general. So instead of trying to crack down on social media use, give your employees guidelines for smart use. At HubSpot, our simple policy is “use good judgment.”
15) Don’t respond to negative comments to protect your brand.
If someone has said something negative about your brand, it’s out there -- visible to that person’s network or anyone searching for information about your company. And by not responding to negative comments, a small comment can spiral out of control for lack of attention. Admit mistakes when you need to, and share how you’re going to address any issues. A simple response can actually turn an angry detractor into an appreciative promoter of your business. For more on how to approach negativity in social media, check out our article, "How to Deal With Negative Nancy's Comments in Social Media."
16) Respond to every negative comment.
Appropriately, the last piece of advice in the article we referenced above is to "pick your battles." Beware of negative comments that are simply meant to get a rise out of you. Beware of people simply trying to capitalize on your visibility by getting you to respond to their comment, or trolls who just want to cause trouble. Know when it's appropriate to step back instead of adding fuel to the fire.
17) Disable comments altogether to avoid negative comments ... or delete negative comments.
Disabling comments is both anti-social and unwise. People will say what they’re going to say, whether you let them do it on your Facebook Page or they have to use their own Facebook Timeline as their platform. And by allowing people to comment on your own turf, you can manage the conversation, monitor comments, and respond to people appropriately. In fact, responding can help change people’s minds and opinions about your company. Beware of deleting negative comments, too. Doing so can bring on a slew of many more negative comments about the original issue ... and the fact that you deleted their comment. It will also make you look like you're not transparent (a characteristic central to social media success), and it may even cause people to hate your marketing.
18) If you make a mistake, you can delete the post to fix the problem.
Once again, once a comment is out there, it’s out there -- whether it's your prospect's, your customer’s, or your own. There's no stopping people from taking screenshots and sharing them with their connections even if you delete the comment later. So think about what you say before you say it. And admit to any mistakes you make.
19) You need to have a social media policy.
Social media policies waste time policing what is okay or not okay to publish in a single channel. But it’s impossible to anticipate every single scenario in social media, and on top of that, you don’t want to end up slowing down your publishing frequency, since speed counts on social media more than in other channel. So instead of a full-fledged social media policy, put together some guidelines that are easy for your employees to remember and keep in mind as they make their own decisions about what to publish in social media. As we mentioned in number 14, at HubSpot, our policy is simply to “use good judgment.”
20) Social media is completely free.
While, yes, there is usually no cost to sign up for a social network, you can’t stop there if you want to achieve true social media marketing success. You need to actually use the site, publish content, and engage with your followers. All of that takes people’s time, which isn't free. So to be effective in social media, you'll need to invest in human resources. Furthermore, the businesses that are truly effective in social media are also paying for marketing analytics software so they can measure the ROI of their social media marketing and improve upon their strategies and tactics. To be effective in social media, you will need to invest in people resources.
21) All you need is social media.
Social media does not replace other marketing strategies. Rather, social media is a new channel for your marketing efforts and works best in conjunction with other channels. (Remember when we talked about it in relation to email marketing in number 3?) You can’t attract followers in social media without content, say, from your blog. You can’t convert followers into leads without landing pages and compelling offers. And those are just a couple pieces of the marketing mix -- check out some more critical marketing pairings here.
22) You can’t measure social media.
When you approach social media -- just as when you approach any channel or tactic -- you should know what your goal is. Is it new leads? Is it to increase the reach of your content? Is it to reduce customer support calls? Whatever your goal, measure the progress toward that goal. Measure how many leads came from social media. Measure how many visits to your blog came from social media. Measure the number of customer support phone calls against your social media activity. Figure out your metrics, and track them. Still struggling? This article should help.
23) Fan/follower growth is the most important metric.
Sure, fans and followers are nice, but they don’t actually pay you money or keep you in business. Instead, think about what matters most to your business -- leads, customers, etc. -- and focus on that as your top priority metric. Not to say that fans and followers aren’t important. They may be a piece in the puzzle that gets you to where you want to be. Just make sure you're focusing on the end goal.
24) Engagement is the most important metric.
Same as above. Engagement is not only a non-paying metric, it’s also a fuzzy metric that can be interpreted in many different ways. Yes, engagement is important as it relates to understanding what content resonates with your audience, or what attracts more people to your website. But like fan/follower count, engagement is just a piece in the puzzle that leads to an actual business metric like revenue.
25) You should only publish messages about your company.
Here's the thing: If you’re only publishing messages about your company -- your recent awards, upcoming events, latest product releases -- I really don’t care to listen to you. What I do care about are my problems, my challenges, and my interests, so that’s what you should write about. Think how you can be valuable to give people a reason to follow and engage with you.
26) You should post X updates per day.
This unfortunately comes from a misinterpretation of HubSpot's own data. HubSpot Social Media Scientist Dan Zarrella published data around the optimum frequency and number of posts for each social media site, and some readers took that to mean they had to publish 22 tweets per day. But this data shows results in aggregate, based on frequency and timing of posts from a large number of accounts. So test the timing and frequency of your social media updates with your own audience, because that’s what you should care about -- the results with your specific audience.
27) Once you get your Facebook/Twitter/Blog account set up, social media is super easy!
Setting up an account is like buying the ticket to a networking event. You still have to go and talk to people to get any value out of it. You'll never get results from social media marketing if you won't put in the time and effort needed to make it successful.
28) You don’t need a strategy for social media.
While you do need to be an agile social media marketer to be prepared for the unexpected, it's also important to go in with a strategy. More specifically, you should know your goals in regard to your social media efforts -- and how you’re going to work to achieve them. Do you have the content you need to support publishing? Do you know who you want to engage with and how? Have a plan in mind, identify what supporting materials you need, and know how you’re going to measure it on a regular basis.
29) You should have separate social media accounts for every division of your company.
I’m not sure where people are getting this idea -- it must be from huge brands that have multiple Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. (Did you know that, according to Altimeter, the average large company has 178 corporate-owned social media accounts? Crazy, right?) But when I get this question (if a company should have separate accounts for each of its divisions), it’s always coming from a marketer at a small business with a couple target markets and currently no social media presence. In this situation, you really don’t want to split your efforts (and your social reach!), especially if you have limited resources and are just getting started with social media. Instead, focus your efforts on building up a single account on each chosen social network so you get closer to seeing results faster. When it comes to addressing multiple divisions or target markets, include a mix of content -- perhaps have each division contribute that content -- to attract all relevant audiences.
30) You can’t simply ask people to comment, follow, or retweet you.
It may seem too forward to come out and ask someone to take an action in social media, but it actually works. And you don’t get a terrible reaction because what you’re doing is taking someone who already is reading your content, tweets, blog articles, etc. and saying, "Hey, if you like this, why not share it with someone else?" A simple call-to-action like “please retweet” can go a long way to generate more social activity. In fact, our research has shown that including "please retweet" actually leads to 4x more retweets!
Have you heard any other terrible social media advice? Share it in the comments as fair warning to your fellow social media marketers!
To learn more about the right ways to use social media for marketing, register for our free, virtual workshop -- which comes with a free, 30-day trial of the HubSpot software! Click here to register for the workshop.
Inbound Marketing Blog Feed
Heidi Strom Moon/CDG Interactive 2:13 PM on February 15, 2013
#1 is spot on -- we've written recently about Tumblr and Pinterest and how to evaluate whether these platforms make sense for a business's social media strategy. Avoiding Shiny New Thing Syndrome is always a challenge, and social media has more SNTs than most. :)
Charles Rein 2:18 PM on February 15, 2013
Great Post, we are all buried in our Social Media Realms and learn things by experience that we can't nor should we be "All Things". When communicating go back to basics and if you want to communicate with your children, "Text Them" as you find out they do respond, and probably laugh at you on Facebook
Susan 2:27 PM on February 15, 2013
Lots of great points here. I hear quite a bit of overwhelm from people who have been told they have to master every social media site, and I agree, it's just not necessary.
Also, when it comes to automation, a certain amount can be really helpful, I believe. It helps you keep your message on point - especially important if you work with a team. Automation NEVER works by itself though, and is a total waste of time if you don't intend to get to know the people who follow you. I don't think automation works well with Facebook, either.
It's better to spend the time to listen to what people are saying and get involved in the conversation, but you'd better put it on your schedule or you'll get lost! Just my 2 cents, thanks for your comprehensive list:)
~ Susan
Rick De Lima 2:34 PM on February 15, 2013
I think you have provided fodder for some serious thinking about social media.
Most businesses seem to think they can just open a social media account with one of the big 3 and just like magic, tens of thousands of followers will flock to their business with open wallets.
The reality of it as you stated is it's social. You have to work at it to build confidence in you as a real person and credibility and trust that your business is not just another "Me To" outfit posing as their friend.
Thank you for these solid tips.
Take care
Rick
Jason Klass 2:35 PM on February 15, 2013
Great read and great advice! To add to #9 I think it's also important to point out that the quality of the sites that link back to you matters more than the number of sites that link back to you. It's better to have fewer inbound links from authoritative sites than more from low quality or scraper sites.
Michael 2:35 PM on February 15, 2013
Hi Ellie - Great tips, especially #6 about auto DM's. I just had a client ask me about theirs today!
Robbin Block 2:39 PM on February 15, 2013
Nice repackaging of what's been said before over and over and over again. I hate when I get sucked into articles like this.
Paul 2:58 PM on February 15, 2013
There's a lot of "don't do this, unless you should do this." And while I get the point in most, I'm not sure I get why not to use #hashtags. I do track specific hashtags like #vegan #sustainaility, and others because it helps me identify others that I want to follow. I can see why a company shouldn't hijack a hashtag, or create a self-serving one, but I'm not sure I agree that hashtags aren't valuable for weeding through the garbage and tracking only those people who have something I consider relevant to say.
Ellie Mirman 3:08 PM on February 15, 2013
@Robbin - Sorry this overlaps with previous content! These are real comments I hear over and over again and hopefully these provide explanations of why not to follow this advice and how to go about things the right way.
@Paul - I think general hashtags (e.g. #marketing) are used a lot less today, though as you note, some people are still using them to curate content on Twitter. What I see, though, are tweets where half the tweet is hashtags and it looks like that person cares more about overoptimizing every comment rather than sharing interesting content that will get responses. As with SEO, you need to optimize for humans reading your content in addition to optimizing for showing up in searches.
Joan Muschamp 3:13 PM on February 15, 2013
I feel as if I were listening to me talking with some of my clients. #20 is the biggest one I have to disabuse them over, and actually #12 would be a step up--many believe the 16 year old next door is a good choice!
Jim 3:37 PM on February 15, 2013
How about you don't need a website when you have (insert social media network here).
Marshall Bishop 3:42 PM on February 15, 2013
I run into people all the time who don't even know why they have a company page on facebook. There's no plan, no goals, and no conversions. What's a good way to convince clients they need that plan and goal?
Ellie Mirman 3:47 PM on February 15, 2013
@Jim - AMAZING suggestion, can't believe I forgot that one. Your social media profile/page is an *extension* of your site that is plugged into a particular community. You still need a site that hosts your company information, blog, calls to action and landing pages. On top of that, you don't want to host all of your content on a platform you can't control. What if Facebook suddenly disappears tomorrow? Or makes some drastic change that disrupts what you've been doing? You need to have a site that you own and control.
Kathy 4:28 PM on February 15, 2013
I want to turn comments on in my blog - but there are so many robot/spam messages! How do you handle that?
Crowfunding 2013 5:34 PM on February 15, 2013
another great post guys. I agree with most of these. Social media is still pretty new and be tricky for some people who are new to it. and then there's the learning curve for all the new networks that will pop in the future. thanks
Christine 7:16 PM on February 15, 2013
Working on a Social Media Presentation and the advice they received is that it's better to stay away from Social Media Marketing altogether, it only causes problems in the long run because people can say whatever they want and the company does not have any control. They also think Social Media is going to go away in the next year... Thanks for the post, very insightful!
Niene 8:48 PM on February 15, 2013
Quite funny, talking like you know all, and then talking about stuff eveybody knows.
Jeanne 9:16 PM on February 15, 2013
I'm a little surprised by #11 and #12 (Who’s even less qualified to talk about your industry than an outsourced social media consultant?...ouch!) I'm sure there are plenty of horror stories about businesses that outsource their social media, but there are many businesses that prefer to hire a consultant for the benefit of their focused expertise. Not all have the resources or the knowledge to do this in-house. I know because many of my clients fall into this category. I think the real point should be that they are careful to hire the right consultant. In my small business, I take the time to learn as much about my client's business and the industry as possible. Beyond that, communication with the client on a regular basis is the answer to doing this successfully. In some ways my initial learning curve is a benefit as I can help them approach their social media from the perspective of someone who may not know all of the technical aspects of their business.
Kathie Aldum 10:12 PM on February 15, 2013
Excellent article thanks - you have hit the nail on the head!
Hemanth Malli 1:19 AM on February 16, 2013
There are lot many interesting points spotted here and great advice. Thanks for the share. I enjoyed reading it.. Useful social media do and don't suggestions !!
Krishna De 2:15 AM on February 16, 2013
Ellie - thank you for such a comprehensive post with lost of areas for business to consider.
I don't however agree with your comment #19 where you are suggesting you do not need to have a social media policy.
I think it is essential to have social media guidelines (whether or not you call them policies) to protect your brand and your people.
This is especially important for organisations in regulated industries.
In the event that you decide to dismiss someone from your organisation for their inappropriate use of social media (there have been a number of reported cases) then it is incumbent on the employer to have communicated the policy/guidelines unless you want to find yourself in a situation of being accused of unfair dismissal.
Jason Lavis 2:40 AM on February 16, 2013
A very thorough article. I have started to realize that all of the best practices in internet marketing can be boiled down to following the Golden rule, I we think "how would I feel if I read this?" Or similar, then we will do better
Colin Robbins 4:18 AM on February 16, 2013
Some great tips. There are a few changes to my social media practice I'll be trialing as a result.
Thank you.
Cat 4:31 AM on February 16, 2013
Nice article Ellie. Some sensible advice, and nice to see all these tips and ideas in one place.
I think I agree with Jeanne's point - I have client's that are small business owners and don't have the skill, time or inclination to update their social media, but they realise it is important. I take on that role if necessary but encourage them to get more involved at least with writing the odd blog post, and sharing things as they become more comfortable. Its better than having a facebook page that sits there with nothing happening on it for weeks at a time.
@Kathy - most blogging platforms have an option that allows you to set that all comments must be authorised before they are posted - so you are notified when you get a new comment and can check it before it goes live. Combine that with a plugin like Akismet (on Wordpress anyway) and you won't even see the spam comments - they will be held in a separate queue until you delete them or mark any false positives as "not spam". You can also edit links out of the comment if you want to keep some of what is said. Works pretty well.
Douglas 4:41 AM on February 16, 2013
Except Twitter and Facebook many other social networking like pinterest etc The social media marketing gives the instant traffic so many peoples take benefits from it but do common mistakes.your post is work like guidance for these.
Siedah Mitchum 9:17 AM on February 16, 2013
I HAD to highlight a few of these terrible pieces. However, some I was surprised made the list. Really got me thinking about "social media etiquette". There are so many dos and donts out there when it comes to social media. My philosophy: "Try it and it if works for you great! If not move on." =)
Vktor Nagornyy 12:38 PM on February 16, 2013
It's a good list to follow, but what's interesting is #17 - disabling comments. I'm curious if Ellie was referring to social media commenting only or if it includes blog posts. Because I regularly see Hubspot posts with commenting closed.
Harold Gardner 5:21 PM on February 16, 2013
I am not sure I agree completely with #19. Have a complicated, overly controlling SM policy isn't smart, but some general guidelines that everyone is reminded about can help you avoid trouble.
Dimitris 6:08 PM on February 16, 2013
Automated posted kill interaction. Its a recipe for a boring fanpage...
Ram 3:13 PM on February 17, 2013
Hey, Your first line " There are a lot of so-called “social media experts” out there. " really hurts me. I too call me as a social media expert and learns from mistakes. We may follow all this instructions but it really makes difficult to follow all..
By the way excellent post and keeping it my doc for future read.
Alicia Olsen 9:25 PM on February 17, 2013
A lot of excellent points in this article - and I agree with most of them. But I have to disagree about the hashtag point - I think they do still have use for people to find tweets/posts by topic. My advice is this list isn't hard & fast, but definitely some great advice on here.
Jane 1:04 AM on February 18, 2013
I think one of the things this article highlights very well is that broadcasting any single solution or piece of advice for all entities on social media is just poor practice.
Chris Mayhew 4:38 AM on February 18, 2013
Some great tips on what not to do. It's great to see so many people realising the power of social media but there's still so many out there not going about it the right way. Perhaps this will put them straight.
The Young Bigmouth 6:16 AM on February 18, 2013
Great list..tells us in detail what not to do. I will make a checklist out of it. Thanks.
Holly 8:47 AM on February 18, 2013
So much great info! We deal with the restaurant industry and they have so much to gain (or lose) from their social media techniques.
Amir 9:26 AM on February 18, 2013
Wao you discuss a nice points here. But i am little confused about the point #25 where you ask that you have to publish only those which is related to your company. Means we can't publish those post which are not related to our company .?
Nicolas Nieto 9:29 AM on February 18, 2013
... according to your suggestions .. we should ignore half of what you advice here!
Ellie Mirman 9:50 AM on February 18, 2013
@Vktor - In regards to disabling comments, I meant on blog articles or social media accounts. The articles you've seen on HubSpot with comments disabled are older posts (that already have comments) where comments were closed after a certain amount of time to prevent spam.
@Amir - publishing some content about your company is ok, but the mix of valuable/educational vs. company-focused content should skew in favor of non-promotional, educational content.
Lindsey Weintraub 11:07 AM on February 18, 2013
For the most part, this article is chock full of sound advice. However, I have to respectfully disagree with #19, that you don't need a social media policy. This is highly dependent on what industry you are in. In most industries the stakes aren't that high, but if you are doing social media for a highly regulated industry, particularly in healthcare, I think you do need a policy. I still agree that every scenario can't be predicted, however, for companies under that much scrutiny, a response matrix that helps guides employees to make quicker decisions about whether or not a comment must legally be removed for liability reasons (i.e. off-label use), is the proactive approach to making social media work smoothly without leaving a company vulnerable to legal issues.
Ken Clench 12:53 PM on February 18, 2013
Absolutely brilliant! I wrote a blog post about this recently "There is no Wise Old Man" but not with this level of detail and advice. Well done!
Dave Lucas 2:11 PM on February 18, 2013
About time someone came out with the truth!
Johnny 2:36 PM on February 18, 2013
I am on the board for a local non-profit organization. One of the points of discussions was making a greater effort of using social media. During the conversation we also talked about a social media policy.
But after reading “#19. You need to have a social media policy”, it sounds like we just need some basic guidelines and a little bit of common sense.
Thanks for sharing this article.
claire axelrad 8:20 PM on February 18, 2013
Best post I've read in a coon's age. Every single item is spot on. I wish I'd written this! Thanks so much. I'm going to hang on to this one so folks don't just think it's ME saying all this stuff. ;-)
Kyle Else 9:29 PM on February 18, 2013
Your hashtag highjacking #7 is reverse of my effort to provide content of value to users using city hashtags for discovery of local offers, events, jobs, etc.
Winestains 2:34 AM on February 19, 2013
Great list - at least the first 29! We part company at #30. I think asking for RTs/shares is sad, and amateurish. If your content deserves it, the RTs/shares will come. Suggesting that I RT is like saying that I don't have enough of a brain to decide for myself. (Exceptions are some charitable/community messages.)
kcclaveria 11:25 AM on February 19, 2013
Great post.
It bugs me when "gurus" suggest a specific best day and time to post. What works for company A may not work for company B -- companies are better off looking at their own analytics to figure out when their audience is online.
It is also a misconception that the "kids" are on Facebook. In fact, many of them are turning to Tumblr and other niche sites while Facebook's demo has been creeping up.
Thanks again for the great post!
Megan Keane 1:27 PM on February 19, 2013
Good tips here! I get the question, "How often should I post?", all the time. It boils down to the fact that social media is not just a cut & dry automated process--it needs to be tailored to the needs of the community. This is what makes it useful as a community building tool instead of just a megaphone.
Meg McAllister 9:00 AM on February 20, 2013
Very good piece with some solid tips to follow. I do disagree with number seven however. In certain industries, such as PR and publishing, the hashtag is commonly used and very helpful for spotting topic relevant posts in a twitter feed. Also, hashtag hijacking is not simply the overuse of the practice. It's specifically using a #hashtag to achieve a negative stream of comments that are the exact opposite of original user's intention.
Charles 5:22 PM on February 20, 2013
3)Heh...I remember when RSS was going to kill email too.
@amaaanda 7:30 PM on February 20, 2013
Funny list, hard to believe anyone with half a brain would make most of these suggestions anytime after 2009.
#23 - Totally agree. It's an awful metric to weigh yourself against competition too because everyone's buying fake followers these days. I prefer to measure interactions.. the true measure of influence.
I disagree with a few, like #29 because I work with magazine publishers, and the niche accounts ALWAYS outperform the brand.
#19 - Most companies do need a policy of some sort, especially if you have multiple employees managing accounts, or a high turnover rate, like in small businesses. Ideally less rules and more guidelines on tone/voice.
#11 I obviously have to disagree with, (outsourcing social media) because that's what I do, but it's about who you choose. In my business, there is one person assigned to one client, they act as a member of the team and often co-work inhouse. It's all about finding the right match and not cheaping out.
Anyway, great read, thank-ya!
Nina 11:09 PM on February 20, 2013
This is a very good and detailed information on use of social media
kelly cameron 1:04 AM on February 21, 2013
i have read a few of your pieces before and im on twylah this one was the best so far im still laughing becauce i use to say i was a social media guru untill i repeatedly got kicked off facebook and twitter i switched to being a guru of selfies but the reson i was laughing the loadest was i have done almost the whole list in the past at one time or today. thanks it was a trip down memoery lane.
Mari 2:16 AM on February 21, 2013
Fantastic piece -- wowee, I agree with 100% of these.... and I didn't think I would. I kept reading down the list trying to find one I might dispute. teehee!
Emma 9:44 AM on February 21, 2013
A few more:
- Don't do anything to your intra, because Yammer is coming
- With social media, you can manage your reputation
- You automatically own the rights to all material submitted to your social media platform. It's crowd sourcing!
Shane Gibson 2:26 PM on February 21, 2013
I was loving this article until I got to "Social media policies waste time" and you don't need policies only guidelines. My agency works with public companies (traded on stock exchange), government agencies, and even charities that work with sick kids (underage people). Posting the wrong piece of information as a company director can be seen as stock manipulation and can mean severe fines or jail. Government agencies and staff are under many constraints and regulations and need more than just guidelines - these apply to independent contractors and suppliers. In the instance of sick kids whom we love to help raise money for we have to be very sensitive and have very clear policies and procedures before publishing anything related to these fantastic kids. Lastly if you fire someone for doing something wrong on social media and they are not made aware of the policy and have read and understood it the court has sided with the employee in many cases and awarded damages to them for unlawful dismissal. The policy protects the brand, the employee and the public/investor. One tip you could add don't apply generic advice to specific industries - does that expert understand your business and the risks/benefits of using social media.
Love the article. Awesome points... but I completely disagree with the fact that social media policies waste time. They save time, money and legal issues.
Joanna Ciolek 4:48 PM on February 21, 2013
Deleting comments customers left on your company FB page etc. can bring on disastrous results. We've seen many examples when big brands tried denial as their tactic and it only worked against them. Respond, not avoid.
Sergio 8:42 PM on February 21, 2013
Engagement is vital, you lose that and then you have nothing. Be original and you cannot lose.. Content is King.. thats the rule...
jim jacques 1:47 AM on February 22, 2013
The only problem is not everyone will find themselves in the same sets of circumstances. So if you’re following the popular social networking advice and wondering why it isn’t working, it could be just because that advice doesn’t suit your set of circumstances.
Cas 6:35 AM on February 22, 2013
I agree with all of these. The only one I wasn't aware of was the use of topic-based hashtags. Thanks for the heads up.
Reagan 1:35 PM on February 22, 2013
I disagree with #7. I follow all kinds of topic-related hashtags and benefit from all of them. For example: #blues, #funk, #jazz, etc introduce me to new music.
DK 4:01 PM on February 22, 2013
While no 'guide' can cover everything and all circumstances, this one comes pretty close. Great insights for everyone to consider incorporating into our daily social media communications.