Social Media Pet Peeves: What Not To Do

As I review social media on behalf of my clients and for me, I am often surprised at what people do. From spelling and grammatical errors to inconsistent posting, I have developed a list of social media pet peeves. Consider these rules of thumb for social media no matter if you’re using Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or any of the other platforms. 

Here are some tips for what not to do on social media: 

Speak TO your audience, not at them. Show them why they want to do business with you, don’t tell them. Describe how your product or service will help them, don’t just tell them how. This can be done with product demos or customer testimonials. 

Be engaging and you will get engagement. Asking questions to get to know your audience better. Don’t forget to like posts and comment on posts or tweets by others in a conversational manner. People appreciate that you are the one listening and responding, especially on social media account for businesses. 

Know your audience so you can craft relevant messages. If your audience is business owners then you don’t want to post job seeker news, for example. 

Don’t post the same thing on personal and business pages. The message to your clients and prospects is different than to your friends and family. While the call to action may be the same, how you say it is different. 

Check your spelling and grammar before posting or edit when you catch the error. I can’t tell you the number of times a day I see “it’s” and “its” used incorrectly in posts. If you’re not sure, hire a writer or editor to proof your work. 

Inconsistent posting is a sure way for people to not follow you or your business. While the specifics are different for each social media platform, the general rule is to post consistent messages over consistent time – post something every business day, for example. If you’re inconsistent with messaging, your followers will inconsistently follow you. 

If you have questions about this and other social media topics, please contact us! 

Cynthia Cavoto is the Founder of Firebrand Social Media bringing social media solutions to businesses. She and her team ignite the online fire for businesses to establish and build an online audience on a variety of social media platforms. She can be reached at cynthia@firebrandsocialmedia.com.