The 16 Don’ts of Social Media

“Social Media is like teen sex. Everyone wants to do it.

No one knows how. When it's finally done, there is surprise it’s not better.”

-Avinash Kaushik, Google’s Analytics Evangelist

So stop screaming!

Here are 16 things you should never do…

#1: Don’t forget to tweet regularly.

Especially if you are B2B. And follow your clients and potential clients. They care.

#2: Don’t forget to maintain a Facebook page.

Especially if you are B2C. If you are selling directly to a customer, you must have a presence on the #1 social

network.

#3: Don’t ignore GooglePLUS.

It may seem just like something extra to do, but a “+1” is literally a bump in your Google ranking. It’s actually, for this

reason, the most powerful social network.

#4: Don’t social media vomit.

First, over-saturating your posts will be more likely to get unfollowed. And it’s best to scatter posts at peak times. Of course you don’t have

time to remember to post at certain hours.

Try a social media tool like HootSuite that will schedule everything at those peak times. (Except there still isn’t automation help for Pinterest.)

HootSuite organizes your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

And it even lets you keep dibs on what your competition is up to.

#5: Don’t neglect follow-up.

You probably know already that asking questions is a great way to interact with your community. But you gotta respond to those responses.

Social Media Managers like HootSuite allow you to keep your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn mentions all in one place and know exactly when

someone posts.

#6: Don’t delete negative comments.

As long as they aren’t profane, deleting a bad review or comment will:

A. Make you seem suspiciousB. Tick the hater off into just posting more.

(Plus you can’t delete someone else’s Tweet anyway. If it’s egregious, you can flag it.)

#7: Don’t ignore negative comments.

Respond to them publicly. Then, try to fix the situation. And go out of your way to contact that

individual to help fix the solution personally. Usually they’ll feel compelled to remove that

comment themselves.

#8: Don’t thank for following.

It’s a strange activity. You would never think of publicly thanking a friend on Facebook or a connection on LinkedIn

for accepting you, would you?

#9: Don’t thank for retweeting.

That makes it about you. To thank them, go ahead and RT some of their content that is relevant to your followers.

#10: Don’t auto-tweet responses.

Whether it’s direct message or tweets -- more often than not that dang thanking for following or asking for a favor -- it’s

insincere. It’s actually bordering on ruder than not interacting at all.

#11: Don’t make an ask on first connection.

Technology may make us more separated, less sincere, but there’s still a requirement to build a relationship. Like any other type of sales, don’t offer a call to action until you’ve learned more about the client and personalize it to them.

#12: Don’t copy-paste responses.

Everything you do in social media is public. Boilerplate sometimes works in private email responses, but you can’t

have a twitter stream or a newsfeed filled with the same B.S.

#13: Don’t forget to favorite.

Not really sure why, but people really like to have their stuff starred “favorite.” It’s totally OK to RT and favorite your

mentions. Just favorite other stuff too.

#14: Don’t forget to promote old content.

You work hard to create good content on your blog, to build stats about your company, to share great tips. Don’t forget to schedule to re-promote this good stuff. It gives you credibility

and boosts your SEO.

#15: Don’t take yourself so seriously!

You are more likely to gain followers by sometimes being funny. After all, it’s not just media, it’s social.

#16: Don’t make it all about you!

Yes, social media is a fast, free and easy way to market your brand, but it’s also works on reciprocation. Schedule not only old posts and new and great

news about your brand, but make sure at least half of what you post (especially on Twitter) should be by others, people interesting to your

audience and, especially, your current clients.

Show you are loyal.

These “16 Social Media Don’ts” were originally posted on

SocialMediaToday The Web’s Best Thinkers on Social Media and Web 2.0

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