Four Things You Shouldn't Ever Do On Social Media
It's easy to be overwhelmed when diving into social media — whether for the first time or for a new account, business, product, or client. It's so easy to misstep and get your audience mad at you.Here are four things you should never do when using social media for your business:
1. Automate your Twitter feed.
Engage with your followers. Talk to them. Have conversations.If you went to a cocktail party and someone just started talking at you, not responding to any questions or comments you had, it would get annoying and boring, and you'd walk away to find someone more interesting to talk to.
2. Use a zillion hashtags.
It's annoying.Use three hashtags at the most. It's impossible to read a post that's chock-full of hashtags, and it's a bald attempt to just grab attention.
3. Send automated Direct Messages on Twitter. Ever.
It's spam, plain and simple. Send a personal message or don't send one at all.
4. Take any post, like this, that purports to tell you what you're doing wrong on social media as gospel.
This is the only item in the post that is actually 100 percent true. There are exceptions to every rule, and while the items stated above are generally regarded as the "wrong" things to do in social, there are times when they work.The truth is, you need to test and see what works for you, at that particular moment in time and on each social media site.So let's take these one by one:1. Automate your Twitter feed.My friend Brent Csutoras has run the @WeirdNews Twitter account for years. The account has about 100,000 followers (all gained naturally). When he has used the account to engage with them, many have gotten annoyed: "Just keep sharing weird news!" That's what they want. That's why they're following. They don't want someone "engaging" with them there; they want headlines to weird news from around the world.2. Use a zillion hashtags.On Twitter or Facebook, maybe. But on Instagram? It's de rigueur. In fact, if you want to be seen beyond your circle on Instagram, you need to use lots of hashtags. The more the merrier. Hashtags are the currency of Instagram. Find the ones that work and use them, abuse them.As long as your photo fits the hashtags.3. Send automated Direct Messages on Twitter. Ever.Virtually every single social media expert, guru, ninja, and rock star will tell you this. Except the ones who've done this and had great success.I was involved in a really interesting conversation in a Facebook group a while back when the subject came up. Everyone chimed in with "Spam!" "They don't work!" Except for the people who had used them and gotten great click-through.The point is, if you do it right, you can achieve your goals. Just don't be a jerk about it. And don't send it to me, because I hate that.4. Take any post, like this, that purports to tell you what you're doing wrong on social media as gospel.Thing is, there is no real wrong. Some people are grade-A jerks, and it works for them. It doesn't work for most, but there's an exception to every rule.For every best practice, there's an exception. Maybe even a few. It all depends on your audience.It's a good idea, however, not to share porn.Unless you're an adult film star or adult entertainment company. Then that makes sense.See?Photo by Gratisography.A version of this post originally appeared in Inc.