We’re all guilty of some social media faux pas from time to time. But there are some bad social media habits that can seriously damage how your company is seen online! Here are 5 of the worst offenders!
5 of the worst bad social media habits
One: Using too many hashtags in your Instagram captions
Having a ton of hashtags in your post’s caption has been connected with spam. If you have all the hashtags within your post, it’s just going to look messy and unprofessional. This can undermine your client’s confidence in your expertise, which can be a big problem.
How to break this bad social media habit
Keep to a few key visible hashtags! Make sure that those visible hashtags are relevant to your brand and campaign. Then, take the rest of the hashtags you want to include and place them in a separate grouping under your caption or in a comment. This will allow you to enjoy the benefits of this hashtags without your followers having to wade through them.
Two: Too much self-promotion
Social media followers don’t want to feel like they are just being marketed to. If they do, they’ll probably leave your profile. Yet most businesses spend most of their social posts marketing to their followers. Well, now, it’s time to cut that out!
How to break this bad social media habit
Keep your social media social and valuable. Talk about topics related to your business, share your expertise, and engage! This way, you can connect with followers who have interests that overlap with your company. If you are including valuable posts and engaging with your followers, then you can complement these posts with some direct marketing posts that speak to your products or services. Just remember that it’s all about balance!
Three: Oversharing
You don’t want to follow a company only to find personal information about the owners, complaints, or other oversharing. Not only is this going to lose you followers, but it can also damage the confidence your clients have in your company.
How to break this bad social media habit
Repeat after us… “my company’s social media is not my personal profile”! You shouldn’t be sharing personal information on your company’s profiles. If you want to speak personally, create another set of accounts. On your company account, keep things business appropriate and on-brand. This generally means opting for informational posts and positive viewpoints over complaints and gossip. That doesn’t mean being fake though! You can still show behind the scenes videos and share your point-of-view… on relevant topics, in a professional way.
Four: Canned responses
You don’t want your company’s social media to feel fake or stiff. If it does, people can’t connect with your vibe! When they don’t connect with your vibe, they don’t invest in your company. That makes them less likely to engage with your social media, as well as with your products and services.
How to break this bad social media habit
Be authentic! Share you point-of-view and draw your followers into your world. That said, remember to be on brand and on topic. The best way to do that is to use your brand guidelines to direct your content and responses. Don’t forget that different social media platforms have different audiences – speak to the audience on each platform!
Five: Posting on every social media platform
Some people think more is more, especially when it comes to social media. Not all platforms are appropriate for your business though! You only want to be in the spaces where you can connect with the potential audiences for your products and services.
How to break this bad social media habit
Instead of overwhelming yourself by getting on every social media platform, focus on the platforms that are right for your business. Research where you desired audiences hang out and go there!
These are bad social media habits, but there are also some true social media sins. Make sure that you know these sins and ALWAYS avoid them!
