Since their inception, social networks have changed an entire aspect of human life. From being used daily for leisure, communicating with friends and family, and all the way to the business aspect. Today, if you do not have a profile on a social network, you will not be competitive nor will you successfully develop your brand.
Social networks have become an extremely important tool for gaining new customers, as well as for promoting content that should bring you profit. That is why the creators of these networks have decided to develop a completely new business dimension that you can use in various ways today.
But mistakes do exist. Even large companies make mistakes on social media and later they need much more time to correct them. Don’t forget, once you post something it stays on the internet forever. So take a look at these 5 key rules on how to use social media for business purposes without making mistakes.
IF YOU COPY, YOU GET PUNISHED
Everyone uses the internet and social networks, so chances are that someone will see your content elsewhere. If you copy something or someone, people will recognize it and punish you with negative comments.
One of the reasons why people take someone else’s content and publish it as their own is that they have already seen the reactions of the target group to that content, and they already know what to expect – positive comments.
But it is enough for just one person to find out that it is not your content and your credibility will no longer exist.
Why take the risk?
It is a much better option to share good content and give your own, original, comment about that content. That way you will still be interesting, and your companions will appreciate you more.
DO NOT SUPPRESS YOUR FOLLOWERS WITH DAILY POSTS
Okay, you have some interesting content and want to post it right away. But you’ve already had two posts and don’t you think a third would be too much? Have measure and dynamism. Let your followers get used to posting twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. “Too many posts can lead to ‘un-likes’ and ‘un-follows,’ “reports Nicolle Hiddleston, social media manager, Saatva Luxury Mattress.
DO NOT FOLLOW AND THEN UN-FOLLOW
Nobody likes that, especially now that there are applications that show people exactly who unfollow them. Be consistent. Although you want to have more followers, it’s better to leave comments to people than to follow them and then unfollow. This way you will interest someone to follow your page on Instagram or Facebook. You can even create thank-you messages that each follower receives. This is how an army of true followers is built.
AVOID POSTING INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT
When running a business profile on social media, always pay attention to what you post. Although you have more freedom on social media than, say, on your website, avoid posting:
- Abusive Content
- “Adult” Content
- Illegal Content
- Offensive Content
- Negative opinions about your competition
- Drug-related content
BEWARE OF COMMENTS
Your presence on social media is creating impressions about your brand. When posting content, you need to be aware that people will leave both positive and negative comments. Many companies today hire bots to leave negative comments on competition posts. While other companies delete negative comments as soon as they appear. Don’t do any of that.
Always try to respond quickly and efficiently, even to negative comments. Don’t argue, but turn everything to charm or advise the dissatisfied user to contact you immediately via email to help him solve the problem. Try to be literate, witty, and polite in your answers.
Why is all this important? If you follow these rules, you will not put yourself or your brand in a negative context, nor will you let the competition take over your customers. You will build the brand on loyalty and a fair relationship while attracting new customers with original content.
Don’t forget how much power social networks have on business flows today, make the most of them, and avoid mistakes. If you do make a mistake though, fix it as soon as possible and try to learn from it.
3 social media mistakes that you can learn from
You can learn from other companies’ mistakes. Like the one that Snapchat made with their approved Ad that is asking people to slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown,which can relate to the domestic abuse case that was reported back in 2009, where Chris Brown physically assaulted Rihanna.
If you thought Snapchat had lost the trust of users and experienced negative comments, you are right. Users have already criticized this network for various changes, but this was the last blow.
To this list of the biggest failures on social networks, we can add the Dove company. This company went a step further, posting a photo on its profile where a black woman turns white after using their product.
Judge for yourself what effect this content has had on black women around the world, and how much the Dove company had to apologize after such an omission.
And the third case that we will cite as an example of what should not be done on social networks is the personal announcement of the Chrysler company on Twitter.
Sometimes your emotions will be stirred, but if there is a way to refrain from commenting on the internet at that point, it would be ideal. However, that did not work for the person who ran the official account of this company.
Conclusion
We use social media every day, we use them at home, at work, on the way to work, in the bakery while we wait our turn. They are so present and so much content is shared every second. In such a dynamic, even experienced digital marketing managers can make a mistake and publish something that is not appropriate. A private account can be confused with a business one if both are connected on the same device, as happened to an unfortunate manager from Chrysler.
That is why good planning is the key to everything. If you plan in advance the content you will post in the coming days, and allow yourself enough time to check it, you will definitely avoid embarrassing situations.
