BY WAYNE R. KARLINS, PRESIDENT and Founder of REED SOCIAL MEDIA
On June 15, 2019, we posted about what you SHOULD do: “Here are our top ten things we recommend you do and understand about your social media pages!”
Today’s blog is about what you should not do or stop doing now (if you are doing any of this).
1. Oversharing:
Most of us are not a Fortune 500 company that can post as often as they want without anyone complaining. Many of us are small to mid-size companies. Even if this is a personal page, too much information can do damage to you and your social media page. Many people see oversharing as a problem and stop following personal, fan, and business pages as soon as you start populating their pages with too much posting.
Find out what your followers want from you and start slow. Do this once or twice a week for 2 to 5 months, then if you have success with this (i.e., receiving more likes and comments as a result) increase the frequency with which you do this by a day. Try different subjects and if this is a personal page, stay away from too many personal grievances, keeping up with the kids and grandkids, and every detail about your life. Mix it up when posting to keep your followers interested. Of course, you can mix in information about you and your family. Just do not make it like reading your personal diary. If this is a business page, post what your company values are along with the content of interest to your fans and followers.
Another additional important note to mention about oversharing involves posting too many times in the same day. We have all seen this. You open your page and the first six posts are from one person or company, and it annoys you. If you are posting multiple times a day, there should be at least three hours between each of your posts, at least for the first 6 months (or until you have more followers and likes). Most of us aren’t Pepsi or Nike, therefore, we can’t and shouldn’t be posting 5 or more times daily.
2. Connection With Anyone and Everyone:
Most social media sites have a limit on how many people you can ask to connect with. They also have rules about connecting. To find this out, read the policies of that social media page. Here are some things to consider.
One of the primary goals of social media is to “connect” with others you know in your field, power partners, other professionals in fields you are trying to do business in, people who can refer you to other people and companies, other thought leaders, as well as trusted advisors and influencers.
That said, there are things you should look for before accepting or inviting people to your personal page or company page. Do you know them personally, through a business, a networking group you are a part of or are they clients of yours?
Do they have a picture of themselves? Have you looked at their profile? When was the last time they posted? If it was July of 2019, you may want to take a pass. If they are inviting you and nothing seems to fit, ask them how they know you. If you are the one inviting them, make it personal. There is no real reason to connect with everyone just to build your numbers on a personal page. For a company page, numbers are more important. However, you should still look out for trolls and people who are only looking to disrupt your posting and company. Most people will not believe you are friends with all 7,000 followers, so you should be more particular about who you are connecting with.
3. Photos:
The tiny profile picture on your LinkedIn is your one shot at leaving a visual good impression, so make it a good one. Use a professional photographer if needed. Yes, phones take good pictures, but a good photographer will help you with a guide to posing and lighting you cannot get from your phone. I have a great photographer or two if you do not have one.
Do not include other people in this picture, keep it professional (keep cleavage and shirtless pictures for other sites). Also, this is not a dating site, keep your picture current.
4. Trading Recommendations:
This might sound good but, beware of your profile not looking sincere. If all your recommendations come from people who you’ve also recommended, recruiters may believe you and your friends are simply swapping praises. Don’t be afraid to reach out to former employees via LinkedIn and Facebook to request a recommendation that counts.
5. Neglecting Your Profile and Updates:
An update and a well-crafted profile are key when trying to appeal to recruiters, clients, and new followers. Not only should your previous work experience be listed in an organized manner (do not go further back than 10-12 years), your current position should also be listed first. Companies don’t want to guess where you work, clients want a good history of where you worked. Additionally, new clients like to see your history of how you got to where you are now. So don’t leave them wondering. Listing volunteer work, college education, and accomplishments are all great ways to stay relevant. Have multiple social media platforms? Keep all profiles similar, if not the same on each site.
6. Shunning Groups and Fan pages:
LinkedIn and Facebook Groups, as well as Facebook Fan pages, were created to benefit the users, so stay social and participate in applicable forums. Search for groups and fan pages where you would find the clients and people you are searching for. You may want to select a select few groups and fan pages in your field of work and in your general location for the most targeted results. Beware of recruiters that may reach out to specific forums and partake in the general group discussions, unless your purpose is looking for a new job. If you’re not looking for a job, there are only a few you should be connected to.
7. Harassing Other Users:
Especially during an election year, it is easy to stir up anger and disagreement on all social media platforms. Take a step back and make sure your facts are correct. There are reliable sites like “Snope.com” and others, to confirm fake news or good news.
Play nice no matter what the subject is. No matter what you post, you can and will run into someone who will not like or agree with the subject you posted. If you live in a town with 2 baseball teams, like Chicago, New York, and others, you could get in trouble supporting your Cubs or Sox in a post.
Be polite when posting and responding to other comments and likes. You will always do better managing your comments and messages with grace than engaging in a fight.
8. When Posting, Remember to Edit Before Sharing:
Here is where I have my biggest problem. Being in a rush, I often forget to edit as well as check my spelling and word choice. Thank goodness, in most cases you can go back and edit later, but by then a thousand people have already seen your mistake, and this misinformation or misspelled word change affects how your followers, clients, and friends view you and your brand.
Of course, for many of us, we read so fast, we too do not see the mistakes. In fact, for many of us, we can read jumbled up misspelled words perfectly. If the first and last letter are correct, many of us can read it perfectly. Still, this is not the best impression for your followers and clients.
9. Not Responding to Reviews and Recommendations:
LinkedIn has recommendations people can give each other and Facebook has added reviews to business and fan pages over the years. Whether you get a great or a bad recommendation or review, respond to it. It is easy to respond to a good review. It is harder to respond to a bad review. In my experience, I find taking some time to think before responding to a bad review is a big help. Be polite and get to the issue at hand from the review. If they are saying the soup was cold, they are not attacking the whole restaurant. If they are saying one of your employees was not helpful, again they are not attacking the entire business.
Apologize, for whatever the issue is. Thank them for bringing it to your attention. Let them know you will be addressing this issue in your next meeting with the entire company or with the person involved. You may want to give them an email or phone number for a follow up with you. If you’re a restaurant, invite them in to see you, see how the soup is cooked, and then try the soup again when you are there. All this could lead to an upgraded (and better) review.
10. Starting on Too Many Platforms at Once:
We have talked about this before in past blogs. Look at the platforms you are thinking about. Look to see where most of your clients and followers come from. Pay attention to the kind of information they like, comment on, and share. If they are picture driven, Pinterest and Instagram would be one of your best places to start. If it has videos, of course, there is YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. If they are looking for helpful hints and stories, there is Facebook. If you are looking to be a trusted advisor and a leader in your community, LinkedIn could be your best choice.
It takes time to become trusted, liked, and followed. To do this you must be engaging and make sure you are giving back as much or more than you offer out. People like stories, content, and advice. Become a leader and a problem solver and you will see, on most platforms, you will become more easily found, better known, and you might even find clients who want to do business with you. You may even find they want more from you than you had imagined. We believe in an 80/20 mix of information, good content, helpful hints, and 20% (or less) should be marketing.
Do you need help choosing a platform or content for your posts? Contact us for a free 45-minute consultation to go over what you are looking for and what you will be offering, and we will help you find the right platform and create the best content for you.
If you have more questions on this subject, please email me or respond to the social media page this was posted on in the comment section.
Check out our website to learn more about how we can help you manage your pages. www.reedsocialmedia.com
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Do you have questions or comments for me? Feel free to email me at info@reedsocialmedia.com for questions or advice on social media or leave us a message and a like on our website under this blog.
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