Social Media Tips - beginner things to avoid

by Startacus Admin

Social Media Tips -  beginner things to avoid

We all get told about the best ways to use social media - but what about the things you really should be avoiding? Here's some info on how to avoid the most common pitfalls when using social media... 

Trying to use too many new ways of communicating at once

Imagine if the lightbulb, the bike, the car, the internet, the phone, and so on - had all come along at pretty much the same time. Obviously they would have all succeeded, but it might have been a pretty tough task for a first time user to pick them all up (and ride with them) all at the same time. Take that analogy and consider your social media strategy. If you try to use Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and so on all in one go and with being a beginner as well, the chances are you will make a pretty big hash of all of them - rather than a good go at just one or two. Therefore consider weaning yourself in slowly so that you pick up on one or two first and become an expert in using those social tools...

Only using Social Media Management Tools

Don’t get me wrong - here at Startacus we do use social media management tools, but we don’t rely on them as the only way of communicating with our community. Of course using management tools can be great, but no one wants to just receive automated tweets or messages and you do also need to show personality, opinion and real life conversation in your messages and posts, especially on Twitter and Facebook, especially if you want to do more than get people to just follow you or like your page. After all liking your page or following you on twitter doesn't mean that much at all in the grand scale of things. If you are however considering supporting your social media presence by using a social media management tool - this article on the top 5 social media management tools may help.

Not communicating enough

This kinda matches well with the first point. Even if you do the above and only join one or two social platforms / networks - that is not enough. From experience, if you don’t use your Facebook or Twitter account on a regular basis and don’t communicate through these channels, you cannot expect your potential customer / audience to interact or even follow you and your business through these channels. Of course you might not be able to communicate every hour, but you do need to realise that once you have joined those platforms you need to then use them and pretty often at that.

Not responding to people

Yes, we don’t always like all the feedback, comments and complaints that come our way, but isn’t that part and parcel of being in a customer service role - which is what social media is often used for? Of course, it’s also often easier to ignore negative comments and complaints when you cannot see the person face to face. However, it is a good policy in the early days not to hide behind the computer and deal with social media comments or questions as quickly and professionally as possible. Don’t be cheeky, rude or offensive and remain professional and mature though!

Just selling your stuff

Promotion, promotion, promotion of your stuff on social media just reeks of being pushy and too sales-y. Avoid just selling your wares 24/7 and instead offer measured opinion, relevant information, handy articles and links that strengthen your position as a market leader. Let your content and the conviction of your words sell your business - this is not a shopfront after all.

#over #doing #using #hashtags

Hashtags are used to highlight the keywords that represent the content and subject of the article. They are not there to be used in every word and if you do overuse hashtags expect to lose followers and frustrate your existing customer base. If you need help on using hashtags - our previous article on Facebook Hashtags might help.

If you like this post - you might also like our guest post onHow to use social media to promote your startup.

Join the Self Start society! If you like what you see here on Startacus and want to get involved yourself, why not become a member of our growing community by joining for free here!  Or... if you prefer, why not get features like this direct to your inbox by signing up to receive our bi-monthly newsletter. Simply enter your email address and we'll be in touch. 

Subscribe to our newsletter

If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.

• #social media
• #

Published on: 21st August 2013