I’m a sucker for blogs that give me the bleeding-edge, up-to-date social media trends and updates (you should check out Buffer Blog for some really comprehensive stuff), but just like every other niche and platform, there’s going to be someone out there who –not purposely– publishes some really bad advice. And we mean baaaaaad.
Think you’ve heard the worst, actually plausible, well intentioned social media advice for your business? Here are four you might actually follow yourself.
“Use Every Platform”
Probably the most common of these poor pieces of advice. Many without corporate or enterprise social media experience are likely to tell you you’ve got no choice but to use Facebook for any campaign you’re hoping to augment your digital marketing strategy. The reality is, as per one of my most recent posts, you need to be where your audience is. You’re wasting time, money and resources if you’re attempting to find leads, build relationships and grow your business everywhere. Do your research and keep your social media presence across networks lean and mean until you can really devote resources across the digital space.
“Like and Share Your Own Posts”
Although many might not know this, sharing or ‘Liking’ (called different things across different platforms; promotion, in the end) doesn’t increase your reach and impressions on just about every network out there. Promoting and sharing your content with the account that’s publishing the content doesn’t leverage a wider audience or tap into another user’s network. We still believe it’s a stigma in many situations and might make you look…well, what do you think it makes you look like? Heavily promotional, perhaps? Unsure of how to actually use social media? Yup.
“Post as Much as Possible”
Keeping it short and sweet, people on social networks like Facebook will likely run for the hills if you post 5-10 posts a day to a single platform, be it relevant content or self-promotional fluff. We know being active is awesome, but instead of scheduling posts and appearing as if you’re active, engaging with audiences is actually an extremely beneficial practice to turn to habit. In truth, your engagement is what will likely take your campaign to a completely different level, granting business, new partnerships or general brand awareness. Don’t pester people with an avalanche of content; post meaning, useful and valuable content and you’ll never go wrong.
“Have HR Handle Social Media”
As social media and community managers, we take our jobs rather seriously; we’re not just playing on YouTube and Twitter all day (we’re not, we swear!). We’re executing social media strategy to better help your business, getting it in front of eyes that you’d otherwise not the get the chance to through traditional digital marketing methods such as advertisements or email campaigns. Your internal team has their own set of responsibilities; does pushing for a less than adequate social media presence, which may compromise someone’s efficacy in their core role, make the most out of someone’s skills, time and resources? Not really. It’s our job as social media managers to ensure you establish a digital footprint and grow your foundation on our time, not yours.
