We have been firmly lodged in the social media age for many years now, and many brands are flourishing on the wide range of platforms. There are still many people making killer mistakes though, damaging their brand through bad social media manners.
Differing platforms such as Facebook, Vine and Linkedin attract very different clientele, and so have their own rules of etiquette. Some behaviour crosses the boundaries though, and is almost universally annoying.
Asking For Likes Or Follows
Asking for likes, follows or anything that can be used to measure success just looks immature, like a child looking for attention. Many social networks are still plagued with posts beginning with ‘like if you’ or ‘can I get a retweet for?’
Provide your readers with something that they will genuinely like, that they value and feel is worth retweeting etc. This will be far more deep and engaging than just asking, or manipulating your readers into performing an easy shallow action.
Taking Advantage of Bad News
It’s always good to comment on news stories, offering your opinion gives insight into your company values and helps build your brand. Don’t try to make light of a tragedy though, American Apparel faced a fierce backlash during hurricane Sandy following their insensitive ‘in case you are bored, 20% off everything during the storm’ tweet. In a disaster which claimed the lives of nearly 150 people, the public anger was justified.
If you must comment on bad news, show some compassion and offer help. A meaningless ‘thoughts and prayers go out to’ message will not suffice, instead post links to donation pages or other resources. There is a fine balancing act here though, if in doubt, it’s best to say nothing.
Unrelated Posting
Joining groups or posting on message boards that have nothing to do with your business is spam, simple as. The same applies to stuffing tweets with irrelevant hashtags or trending phrases, just stop it!
Engagement on social media is all about quality not quantity, there is no point in having a large audience if 90% of them don’t care.
Hiding From Problems
Every company receives bad publicity sooner or later, and social media is a fantastic, transparent PR tool, yet many companies come over all shy when a crisis emerges. In the face of bad news, many brands stop any social media activity, effectively burying their head in the sand.
You should not stutter out your defence in a hurry, this will only back you into a corner. A simple acknowledgement of the issue though, will show that you care and are making an effort.
Joe Errington
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