Social media can often be seen as a faceless form of communication, and hence many companies lose that personal touch to their customer service that they rely on in face to face interactions when communicating online. It is important that your do not forget that the importance you place on connecting with your customers offline should also transfer to the online world. All too often, I see some simple mistakes that can really damage your company’s reputation in the social media world. Here is a rundown of social media mistakes that are simple to rectify but can have a devastating effect on your reputation if you do not stop them now!
Lianne Froggatt is Digital Communications Manager for Ideasbynet, an online UK promotional products distributor. Interested everything marketing both online and off, find her blogging at the IdeasByNet marketing blog. She would love any feedback or comments you might have so find her at lianne.froggatt@ideasbynet.com or tweet her @LianneCai
Social media can often be seen as a faceless form of communication, and hence many companies lose that personal touch to their customer service that they rely on in face to face interactions when communicating online. It is important that your do not forget that the importance you place on connecting with your customers offline should also transfer to the online world.
All too often, I see some simple mistakes that can really damage your company’s reputation in the social media world. Here is a rundown of social media mistakes that are simple to rectify but can have a devastating effect on your reputation if you do not stop them now!
1one: Automated Tweeting
Now, this is not all bad. I do not mean when you assign some tweets to come through throughout the day to ensure your Twitter profile remains active and interesting, but when that is all you tweet this becomes a problem! Make sure you are on top of your social media profiles at all times.
Download a desktop version of Tweetdeck or Hootsuite, that will give you notifications of any @ mentions you receive so you can respond quickly without it taking up too much of your day. Check your account periodically as well, Tweetdeck allows you to set up columns following keywords that are relevant to your industry; check these and get involved in any conversations that may be of interest to your followers and customers, as well as integrating yourself in the community.
2wo: Only Tweet and Post About Your Products and Services
I know this may seem counter intuitive; why would you not want to get as much information as possible to your followers and friends about what you do? Well, you should share this information on a regular basis, but do not saturate your feeds with this information. For example, I work for a promotional gifts company, who would want to read tweet after tweet about the merits of a promotional pen?! Instead, realise your customers are not simply consumers but people, so interact with them.
Listen to what they say, interact with their conversations and share blog posts and stories that they will find interesting. An engaged and active social media profile is much more beneficial in terms of building a successful brand identity than simply a platform to bombard people with information about your products with very little engagement.
3hree: Not Integrating Your Social Media Strategy Into Your Other Marketing Strategies
Only 16% of organisations across America say that their social media efforts are fully integrated across their company according to a study by Insites Consulting. A shocking statistic when you consider that 62% of adults worldwide now use social media.
So why is it so important that your social media is integrated across your business and marketing strategy? Well other than the sheer amount of potential customers that use social media, ensuring that your strategy is fully integrated will increase interaction with customers and hence customer satisfaction, increased awareness of your brand and in the end financial returns.
Social media can reach people that ordinary marketing or sales strategies cannot. Encourage your sales staff to tweet and get involved with LinkedIn; they could make new connections and find new leads to help further your business. In terms of marketing, ensure your traditional strategies always incorporate your social media platforms and social media message. Check out this post on stages of social media integration into your business.
4our: Not Having A Social Media Strategy
This is one of the crucial mistakes that many companies make. Despite the importance of reacting to what happens on your various social media platforms, it is integral that you know what you want to achieve with your social media strategy and knowing what you want to get out of it. Whether it is increased brand awareness, targeting a particular demographic or increasing conversions, you need to know what your goals are to ensure your tweets, statuses and posts are tailored to this. Deciding upon a goal and a strategy is one of the most important things you will do when engaging in social media. This will help you to pick the right platforms, the right tone and achieve the right results.
5ive: Not Finding The Balance Between Personal And Professional
It is important that you do not make your profile to corporate and soulless, but equally you do not want to give your customers too much information. You potential clients do not need to know that you are horrifically hung over or counting down to the weekend, but they do want to know a bit about your interests and likes. A good way to give your company profile a personal feel is to tweet from the perspective of an employee and have their face and name as the profile.
Discussing your interests and likes will make your customers feel connected to you on a personal level; you may even find common ground, whilst also conveying information about your company and increasing their brand awareness and loyalty. Striking this balance can be tricky, but when you do you will find your social media presence will soar.
So as you can see, there are some fundamental mistakes that can be made when using social media within your marketing strategy. Take stock of your social media campaign and see if your are falling foul of some of these simple errors; they can be easily rectified but do it now, before they wreck your marketing campaign completely!
I agree and disagree with #5. Personalizing your brand connects you in a meaningful way as your tweets present the opportunity to share and communicate your value system, which cultivates loyalty. People increasingly NEED to know what you stand for, and being ambiguous and/or ubiquitous is a big turnoff. Scared Twitter accounts won’t attract many followers–which is why this Author who ironically serves as a ‘Digital Communications Manager’ only has 260 of them.
Great post. I think these are certainly things that companies and individuals alike should consider. I’m no expert on social media and perhaps need to follow some of these tips, especially about outlining a strategy. Thanks!
The first and fifth are the most common. Auto tweeting could really harm your accounts. You might retweet undesirable topics, so watch out.