Common Social Media Faux Pas And How To Avoid Them In Your Online Marketing Strategy

We’ve all seen it before – the girl who posted a less-than-flattering photo of herself on Facebook or the guy who offended every race under the sun with a simple Tweet. Now that social media has wormed its way into the online marketing strategies of many businesses, these faux pas are even being committed by companies the world thought new better. This article aims to outline the common mistakes and how to avoid them:

1. Automated Greetings
Though these automated tools can be convenient for businesses that do not have the time to individually personalize a greeting message to new fans or followers, people can spot them a mile away. These sorts of greetings are seen as spammy.
How to avoid? Connect with your audience as personally as possible and turn the automatic greeting robot off. You don’t need to greet all of your new fans or followers individually.

2. Self Promotion
Whilst there is nothing wrong with promoting yourself on social media, it is very easy for businesses to embarrass themselves with an online marketing strategy that only plugs their own products and services. This shows your followers that you have nothing else to say.
How to avoid? Build up your brand subtly by sharing interesting trivia, news and so on that relates to your industry and will interest your followers.

3. Online Fighting
Anyone who has been involved in one of these brawls will tell you that it is much easier to engage in an online fight than it is to engage in a face-to-face one. Your online marketing strategy could quickly go down the gurgler if your followers see you engaging in this behaviour.
How to avoid? Settle any disputes that are brought up on your social media profiles professionally and privately – the world doesn’t need to see your problems.

4. Account Mix Up
This happens more often than you would like to admit – the person in charge of the business Facebook account forgets to log out and posts something personal for all the world to see. This can be highly damaging to any online marketing campaign.
How to avoid? Keep your business and personal lives separate – don’t log into your business account from home or your personal one at work to ensure these mishaps don’t occur.

Making any of the above social media faux pas could spell the end for the online marketing campaign that you have spent months lovingly crafting from the ground up. By following the above tips for all your social media accounts, you can ensure that you don’t make any of these mistakes and that your business is saved from the ridicule and stigma that is so often attached to them.