Ban these social media bad habits! We’re begging you! Oftentimes, we don’t even realize what we’re doing (or not doing) is detrimental to the progress of our brand.
However, we see these social media bad habits all too often! These are pet peeves of ours and we want to put an end to them.
Read on for quick fixes.
The WORST Of All Social Media Bad Habits: Snubbing Your Followers
Out of all of the social media bad habits people adopt, this is by far the worst!
Not acknowledging your negative comments is a big mistake (HUGE!) according to the B2 Crew. There is nothing worse than seeing unanswered negative comments on a company’s social content. The silence speaks volumes as to how they value their customers’ opinions. Spoiler alert – they don’t.
A perfect example comes from the haircare brand Drybar. One scan through their social profiles will show they acknowledge both negative and positive engagements.
[Image: Drybar]
Deleting negative comments is worse than ignoring them. If a user has not broken Facebook’s house rules or crossed into troll territory, then their comment should be addressed.
Check out our post from 2017, Here’s The Skinny On Deleting Negative Reviews, it will give you some insight into what the B2 Crew thinks. Trust me – it holds true in 2020!
Ignoring Mentions
Social media bad habits come in all forms. Another one to ban is not acknowledging positive mentions. If you aren’t going to acknowledge these engagements, why are you on social media?
The act of acknowledging the good is equally as important as addressing the bad. As Brooke Sellas, Founder/CEO of B Squared Media says, “It’s simple Social 101!”
Additionally, you probably want to check into social listening to make sure you’re capturing all mentions of your brand. An article from MarketingLand points out that less than 30% of social media mentions of brands include their handle. If you are not using a social listening tool, you are sorely missing out on engagement opportunities.
The B2 Crew recommends Sprout Social for social listening and our clients have been very happy with the results. They know that using a tool to help them go above and beyond ensures they’re staying far away from social media bad habits that are easy to adopt.
[Image: SproutSocial]
Relentlessly Pushing Product
We get it, you want to sell your product or your brand. But that doesn’t mean exhausting your audience with ads. People following you don’t want to keep seeing the same things they may have already purchased. Remember, not everyone is in buying mode all the time! Having a variety on your feed shows personality.
Mix it up, and add in some fun memes or gifs to lighten the mood. Why not throw in some behind-the-scenes content too?
Followers enjoy light behind-the-scenes footage and as a result, they feel connected to your brand. Take these wise words from Marketing guru Mark Schaefer, “The most human company wins.”
The takeaway here? Yes, sell away, but not to the point of exhausting your audience.
Platforms Are Not Equal
In that same arena of thought, if you’re posting the same content across all platforms – STOP. There are vastly different audiences for each platform.
Mix things up and even schedule posts at different times of the day. If your audience is following you on Facebook, then zhoosh up the wording for Instagram and Twitter. Consider this a friendly warning to stay in your (social media platform) lane.
Before we let these bad social media habits sleep, let’s add one more tip! Scheduling the same repetitive content is also a pattern to ditch ASAP. Keep it fresh and avoid being repetitive at all costs.
Neglecting Tags
Neglecting to tag items in posts is a social media habit that irritates community managers AND your audience. When you are posting on Instagram, you MUST tag everything. You will get questions about it all, trust us!
Are you selling a new sweater that you have on? Tag it and make it a shoppable post. It is a simple thing to do, yet you’d be surprised how many companies don’t.
For example, if your post is focused on a water bottle, tag the bracelet you’re wearing if you sell that as well. If you are able to credit another brand within your post, that creates a sharable post for that brand as well.
Tagging everything will subtly build up your brand. The public will demand to know more, so give them the information upfront!
Ban These Social Media Bad Habits, PU-LEEZE!
Breaking bad social media habits is tough, but not impossible.
We get caught up in the daily hustle on social media, and as a result, we may not realize our bad habits when we’re in the thick of it. This is a fast-paced digital marketing world. Sometimes it pays to stop and rethink the pattern we have been caught up in and ask ourselves if it’s working for us.
What bad social media habits do you come across that weren’t listed above? Let us know in the comments below!
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