Top 10 Things That Annoy Us about Social Media

Many businesses believe that a strong social media presence can help them attract a larger audience and build their brand name—and they’re right. Unfortunately, many businesses also believe that just being on social media is good enough and that they don’t actually need a well-crafted plan. They couldn’t be more wrong about that. Becoming an inadvertently annoying social media presence can do serious damage to your company’s reputation and turn away not just potential customers, but also current ones.

Here are 10 of the cardinal sins that businesses make when using social media. If you recognize any of the things on the list as something that your company is doing, it’s time to make a change.

annoying social media traits

Posting Too Often

Nobody wants their Newsfeed to be bogged down with the content of one individual or company. Posting updates every few hours—or minutes—is a sure way to lose both followers and credibility.

Posting Too Infrequently

On the other hand, you can’t just be a ghost on social media. If you never share content, what’s the point of being on social media in the first place?

Going Hashtag Crazy

You don’t need to put a hashtag in front of #every #single #word on Twitter. You especially don’t need to use hashtags on social media platforms that aren’t Twitter. Misusing hashtags will make you look out-of-touch with social media trends.

Going Meme Crazy

Every now and then, a well-placed meme or gif is good for a laugh. But if all your company ever posts are funny pictures of cats, you’ll quickly turn away all your followers who actually want to see content relative to your industry (and who don’t want to see memes that are months or years out of date).

Using Auto-DM on Twitter

Automatically messaging all your followers on Twitter is impersonal and spammy. It’s also probably one of the quickest ways to get unfollowed.

Responding Inappropriately to a Tragedy

If you can respond to current events appropriately on social media, you can establish yourself as a member of the community who shares experiences with other social media users. However, if you post an insensitive remark about a sensitive topic, like war, natural disasters, or a mass shooting, you’ll face immediate backlash and likely convince some customers never to do business with you again.

Failing to Engage with Other Social Media Users

Social media sites aren’t just meant to be your personal megaphones. The whole point is for users to share content and interact with one another, so you’d better be sure your business is doing that by responding to comments, adding your own comments when relevant, and sharing content you think followers would appreciate.

Ignoring Negative Comments

Deleting malicious spam comments are one thing, but if a follower has a legitimate criticism of your product or services, you can’t just ignore them and hope they’ll go away. Remember, this is a public forum where anyone can see your interactions, and bad customer service is a great way to anger your followers. Let your followers know you hear their criticism, and offer to respond through a private message to help resolve the issue.

Sounding like a Banner Ad

You’re never going to attract followers if all you ever post are blatant advertisements for your products. Think about it: you probably don’t like people who talk about themselves all the time, so why would it be any different when it comes to businesses? It’s okay to occasionally share news about things like a sale or new product release, but make sure you’re also sharing things like relevant news stories or helpful pieces of advice.

Trying to Be Everything to Everyone

Not every social media site is appropriate for every business. For example, a craft store might do well on a highly visual site like Pinterest, whereas a law firm probably wouldn’t fare as well with that venue. Learn what sites your target customers use and work on establishing a strong presence there, rather than spreading yourself thin on dozens of sites.

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