There’s no doubt social media has changed the world significantly. According to the most recent reports, there are about 3 billion active social media users worldwide and we can only expect this number to grow in the future. With so many social media out there, platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have become one of the best places for communicating with consumers and promoting products or services. The only problem is, when not used properly, social media can have a negative impact on your business. In case you’re wondering how, make sure you read on.
Being too pushy when promoting your business
We already mentioned that social media is a great place for promoting your business. However, it’s important to bear in mind that social media is NOT just a marketing medium. No matter how good your product or service is, if you’re being too pushy when promoting it, nobody is going to take you for seriously. After all, who among us wouldn’t be annoyed by a company that does nothing else but try to make sales? So, once you get on social media, you need to make sure you steer clear of such practice in order to avoid having people unfollow your pages. Instead, what you need to do is come up with something that will make people check out your pages even when they don’t want to buy something from you.
Sharing your content too often
One of the best things about social media is that it gives you a chance to show off your expertise by creating content and sharing it with your followers. While this can do wonders for your sales it can also have a negative impact on your operations. This can happen if you start posting too often. Just imagine having to follow a Facebook page that shares 10 articles on a daily basis. Not only would you be unable to read everything they post but you’d probably also avoid engaging in their content you’d otherwise find interesting. That being said, if you want your social media presence to help your business, you need to ensure you don’t post too often. There are different unwritten rules for every platform and being aware of them should help you avoid getting labelled as a “spammer.”
Not being active enough
Posting too often on social media can have a negative impact on your business but the same goes failing to be active. In fact, one of the worse things you can do on social media is create pages for your business and fail to produce any further input. Not only that social media users don’t want to follow pages that aren’t active but such pages also project the image that you don’t care about communicating with your customers. If you’re thinking about embracing social media or you already have your pages all set up, you need to make sure you’re as active as possible. If you’re not sharing content on a daily basis, you should at least try to find popular hashtags and join the conversation with other social media users.
Wasting valuable time
Everyone in the business world knows just how important time is. You and your employees need to focus on your core operations which doesn’t leave you enough time for social media. And if you want to tackle it the right way, social media requires time. This is exactly why you should ensure you don’t use social media platforms that don’t attract as many followers you want. Not to mention that checking your competitors’ social media pages and figuring out what they’re doing right can take hours and hours. With that in mind, turning to experts in social media monitoring is a smart thing to do. They’ll be able to provide you with all the info about your and your competitors’ social media efforts, while allowing you and your team to focus on your company’s core operations.
Offering lousy customer service
There’s no need to say that customer service is a huge part of running a business. If you want your customers to trust you more than they trust your competitors, offering top-notch customer service is a must. Studies have shown that 89% of businesses out there compete through the level of customer service they offer. And social media is one of the best places for providing brilliant customer service. However, if your customer service team fails to respond to a question or answer in a rude way, it can seriously hurt your company’s image. If you plan to offer customer service through social media, you need to bear in mind that it takes one viral screenshot or negative review to disrupt your entire organization.
Not double-checking before you post
When posting on social media, you need to be extremely careful about your spelling and grammar. Making too many grammatical errors shows that you’re not professional. Think of it this way – if you didn’t take time to proof your content, why should your audience take time to engage in it. Not to mention that sometimes, grammatical mistakes can change the message you want your post to send. Therefore, double-checking all the content you share on social media is a good idea. This also allows you to make changes to your post if you notice you seem to be abandoning courtesy or making offensive statements. Fail to be smart about what you post on social media and you might just end up having to apologize to other social media users every day.
With a good social media strategy, popular platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram can do wonders for your business. On the other hand, if you don’t put enough effort into it, you could easily end up making a mistake that can hurt your company in many different ways. Make sure you do everything you can to avoid such mistakes and you’ll see more customers engaging in your content and sharing recommending your brand to their friends and family. It’s up to you to choose the path your business will take on social media.
