You can find information everywhere about what you’re supposed to do on social media, but what about the things that you really shouldn’t do? I see people committing these horrible crimes on all social media platforms a lot and it’s quite painful to see…
Anyway, here’s what you should definitely NOT be doing on social media.
1. Click bait headlines
Click bait headlines are when an article is posted with a title that sensationalises the content. For example, a link to a video or article that says, ‘OMG you won’t believe what she does next!,’ or ‘You’ll never guess what happens after this!’ Although some people definitely fall for these traps and go ahead and click on these links, for most of us, it’s just annoying.
Don’t post links to articles without really saying what it is. I’m not going to share this blog on social and just put, ‘don’t do THIS’ I’ll elaborate. The more people click on articles not really knowing what to expect, the more likely they are to reach the page and click straight off it, meaning your bounce rate is very high (which is a massive no!).
2. Loads of hashtags
This one is mainly aimed at Twitter, although now Facebook’s hashtags are starting to work a bit more, it probably won’t be long before people start committing this crime there too! Having a load of hashtags in an update is messy, hard to read and annoying. Be careful with your updates, any more than 3 hashtags is TOO MUCH.
3. Buying followers
Don’t be tempted to buy followers or likes. Most of these pages are fake and if any of them are real, they probably couldn’t give a flying Frisbee about your business. It’s better to have a smaller amount of followers or ‘likers’ who engage with you than millions that just ignore your updates.
4. Spamming
We’ve all been there when we log onto Facebook or Twitter and see a page or person that has posted so many updates consecutively that we end up hiding their updates, or even unfollowing them.
There’s a definite limit on how much you can post on social media, and every platform and company is different. What works for you might not work for someone else, so be very careful not to deter people!
5. Auto response
Social media is meant to be social. Don’t use the Twitter (or any other) auto response to thank people for following you. There’s nothing more discouraging than receiving a DM from a company you’ve just followed that says, ‘Thanks, like us on Facebook!’ It’s obvious that they’ve set it up and takes away the whole ‘personal’ feel of social.
What other no-nos have you encountered on social media? What really puts you off? Give us a tweet and let us know
