Common Mistake #1 Posting commercials on the pages.
The most common mistake I see is business owners posting commercials on their face book pages. This is also a common problem in other social media sites like Twitter and LinkedIn. This ranks high on my mistake list because it violates one of my cardinal rules of social media marketing. The rule I'm referring to is "give people what they want". I don't know anyone who signed up for Face Book, Twitter or LinkedIn to be bombarded by your infomercials.
Social media is about being social not selling. The best way to sell on social site is not to sell. Social media is best used it to build your credibility, understand your customers and to connect with them. Do a good job for your customers. Get them to follow, friend, or connect with you and have them promote your business, product or service for you. This is usually done by asking them to provide you with written recommends or testimonials. When you say something about your business, product or service it a commercial and most people are jaded by all the hype they're exposed to each day. When a friend, customer or follower says something good about your business, product, or service, it's viewed as true. Don't hesitate to ask for endorsements. Make sure your don't ask publicly on your social media pages. Write your customers and follower directly. If they feel you have done a good job they will respond in kind.
The best place to post a commercial about your business is in the detail section of your profile. Many social media site also offer the option of setting up separate business pages. Put your infomercials on these pages instead of posting them to your wall.
Common Mistake #2 Posting too often.
Another big mistake I see is when a business post too often to their site. This is usually easy to spot. You will see two, three even four of their post before seeing one of their followers posts. Make sure your posts are spread out. If you do all your social media posting at a specific time of the day, use an aggregators program to schedule your post to show up at different times.
Two of the top aggregators programs are Hoot Suite and Tweet Deck. These programs will allow you to spread out your posting by scheduling them at different times. I usually keep at least an hour between my scheduled post, just encase traffic is light that day. Remember the last thing you want to see on your wall is all of your post. Leave room for your followers and they will like your site even more.
Common Mistake #3 Posting inappropriate material.
The last item I will mention in this article is posting the wrong kinds of material. I know what your thinking. Who died and made me the content czar. I may not be the content czar but I am a prudent businessman. I am smart enough to always be respectful of my customers feelings and ideas. I am willing to post links to controversial articles in areas that I am passionate about, but I do set very specific limits on what I feel is appropriate. I make sure anything I post is on worse than PG. I avoid sexually oriented material. I also avoid any material that uses vulgar or racially explicated language. If kids can view my pages and post without being offended, I am happy.
Along these lines, I also monitor the followers and friends who are posting to my pages. If their posts violate my sense of what is appropriate I hide their post. In some cases, if they consistently post items that violate my sensibility I un-friend them. If they are on Twitter, posting in a negative way or being vulgar, I un-follow them. If your site is showing content that you or your customers feel is inappropriate, make sure it's gone, otherwise you are giving tacit approval to those posts and you will lose customers.
That's it, we've covered three of the top mistakes that businesses make when using social media as a marketing tool. As a summary, remember this. It's important to avoid posting commercials to your sites. Social media is not about selling. It's about fun, friendships, entertainment, connecting and useful information. Instead, take care of your customers and encourage them to be your raving fans by posting recommendations and testimonials on your pages. Post all commercial information to a dedicated business page or in your profile detail. Next, avoid posting too often. Your post should only show up interspersed between your followers posts. Use scheduling software to spread out your posts so they give your followers space. And lastly, avoid posting inappropriate material. Links to controversial articles can be OK, but stay away for sexually suggestive, negative, racially oriented or post using vulgar language. This goes for your followers as well. If they are stepping out of bounds, you need to either hide their post or un-friend/follow them.
That's my opinion, I welcome yours.
Hector Cisneros is an entrepreneur/businessman with over 25 years experience, is a 17-year veteran of BNI, and was BNI Director for 6 years. Currently he manages 3 businesses, writes and coach's business people in the art of Word of Mouth and internet marketing. He has several intl. published articles covering word of mouth marketing, social media marketing and how to improve your 60-second presentations. His new book "60 Seconds to Success" is aimed at helping business people make great first impressions and make more money through referral and word of mouth marketing. To learn more about Social Media, Internet Marketing d Word of Mouth Marketing visit the Networkers Apprentice workshop at http://networkersapprentice.com/ To contact Hector write him at hecisneros@gmail.com
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Thank you for reading my blog and for keeping the discussion going. If I can be of service let me know. Sincerely,
Hector Cisneros