4 Social Mistakes Easily Prevented by Common Sense

Not everyone has common sense when it comes to social media. Some people are still new to the game and trying to figure out exactly how all this ‘nonsense’ works. Many of these people own businesses. I’ve found 4 horrible (yet sometimes hilarious) mistakes to bring to attention only in hopes that nobody else will make these mistakes. So, here are four social media mistakes that could’ve easily been prevented by common sense –

1. Making it all about you

A common fallacy that people really believe is that all they have to do for their brand is set up a Facebook fan page or Twitter feed and get instant success! If only it were that easy, many of us would be out of jobs. Walgreens seems to get it and has been actively posting fun links and relevant information to their Facebook page, and occasionally responding to their fans. Competing drugstore CVS takes the opposite approach – only posting advertisements and in-store specials and never responding to anyone that posts.

They don't seem to understand grammar, either.

Luckily, many brands are starting to understand that consumers no longer want an email newsletter to be the extent of communication they receive, especially local brands. Indianapolis’s own Yats (Disclaimer: a Firebelly client) has built a legacy around social media and the internet, for example. Facebook and Twitter are arguably the top ways right now to establish customer trust and loyalty.

Further reading: 5 Ideas for Building Customer Trust and Loyalty Via Facebook and Twitter via @volusion

2. Offending your fans

Nothing says "I'm hungry for donuts" like a high-profile murder trial.

What you’re saying may SEEM harmless, but not everyone agrees with you and your way of thinking. Yes, it’s okay to let your human side show even when it’s through a Facebook or Twitter account that you use for business. But if you’re going to complain, make crude jokes or just be off-color, then don’t be surprised when people get offended.

Baked goods company @Entenmanns faced backlash on Twitter a few weeks ago by capitalizing on the #notguilty hashtag made popular by the Casey Anthony trial. A Twitter uproar started, as Twitter uproars often do, and Entenmann’s was very quick to apologize, admitting they didn’t know what the hashtag referenced.

Even worse is when @KennethCole made light of the uprising then-happening in Egypt with the tweet “Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is available online…”

But even topping that is GoDaddy’s CEO @DrBobParsons’ video of hunting down an elephant (Warning: Graphic video autoplays) that he posted to his official Twitter account and Facebook page. While claiming that the elephant was harming the crops of a village, and the African villagers sport GoDaddy apparel while celebrating the dead animal, PETA wasn’t amused. They launched a campaign against the company within days.

But hey, they say no publicity is bad publicity, right?

Further reading: Managing Your Company’s Social Media Risk

3. Directing people the wrong way

Common Sense 101, right? Wrong, apparently, and the popular hangover destination Denny’s learned this the hard way. Last year on the printed menus, the restaurant directed people to tweet @Dennys about their experience. People started to realize that the poor guy on the other end, Dennys Hsieh, didn’t really care about how amazing your Grand Slam was.

That dog wants your pancakes.

Double-check your work before getting it printed, especially if your social media is outsourced and you’re not strongly familiar with how “Facespace” and “The Tweeter” work. It’s easy to direct people to the wrong place by simply putting a letter or a dash in the wrong place.

4. Failing to analyze and build upon your reach

With a little effort, you'll have an overwhelming amount of numbers & graphs all about your brand.

After a while in the social media game, you should be building a strong reputation. At least, if you’re doing things right. So how do you know if you’re doing well. Can you give someone statistics when you’re explaining to them how well social media has helped you?

Analytics can help a brand figure out what’s come right and what’s gone horribly wrong. You’ll start to realize that people like it when you post a relevant news article, but don’t really care when you brag about how great the Mojito you’re sipping on tastes. Or vice versa, depending on the audience.

Further reading: Top 10 Analytics Tools for Social Media via @imediatweet