The Ultimate Social Media Survival Guide: 3 Common Mistakes to Avoid
Whether you are posting for yourself or for a brand that you represent, it is important that you have a voice. However, what is arguably more important is how you use that voice, and if you use it in the correct ways. If you don’t keep an eye out for these common mistakes below and try to avoid them, your brand won’t be as successful.
Engaging in Online Arguments
One day, you see your phone start to beep, and you see a notification pop up. Unfortunately, it is someone being rude on your brand’s page trying to start drama, and it makes your heart race. Trust me, I’ve been there. However, it is best for you, your image, and for everyone else at their screens watching to handle it in a responsible and respectful way.
The Wired article “How to Stop Getting into Pointless Arguments Online” explains different options on how to handle this situation appropriately. It focuses on either not engaging at all, or coming from an empathetic perspective and responding without anger. One more idea that I can think of is to respond privately.
Of course, it is a great idea to see where the other person is coming from and to approach the problem with a level head. However, people on social media are brutal, and will judge the brand’s response to this person regardless of how nice you sound in the message. If possible, it is best to eliminate all other judgments and simply have a one-on-one conversation with the person through DM. Then after, if you would like, you can make a comment publicly saying the situation was handled.
Failing to Credit Others
It is incredibly important to credit others' work in any setting. Whether it is an academic paper or just simply an idea for a slogan, it is always encouraged, and sometimes essential to credit the person who made the element.
In terms of facts being presented, it is necessary to always credit where the information comes from. If information is credited, audiences can be more certain that it is not false information, and they will view the brand as more reliable.
Social media takes this one step further as images are typically included. It is important to check if an image is free to use, buy it, or credit the creator. Otherwise, you can run into some trouble.
Not only will the brand’s image be tainted by being caught copying someone else’s image, but the person responsible can also receive a fine of up to $150,000 for violating copyright law.
To prevent this issue, you must ensure that the photo you are using is registered under a Creative Commons (CC) license. Creative Commons licenses are used by creators when they want to give the public permission to use their work. It is also important to double-check what type of CC license the photo or illustration is registered as.
Here is a step-by-step process on how to check the licensing on a Google-searched image:
On Google Images, search the content you would like a photo of.
Select “Tools”
Select “Usage Rights”
Select “Creative Commons licenses”
Click on an image
Under the title of the photo, it will say where to get the image from, and there will be an option to click “Licensing Details.” Click that to view the details of the CC license.
This is going to matter when a brand is creating something that is profitable or will be advertised, as some CC licenses are only giving permission to use their photo for personal use only.
The best rule of thumb to go by is if you are not sure if you are allowed to use it, don’t. It is always best to create your own original work or find something that you know for certain is available for all kinds of use.
Over-Posting
According to Hubspot, 68% of users surveyed prefer that brands post only one or two times a day on Facebook, which means anything above that for them is considered ‘over-posting.’ When brands start to post more than this, their audience can begin to get either bored or annoyed with the content and unfollow.
Do you ever get added to an email list and then get bombarded with 10-20 emails a week promoting their sales and new products? I do! What do I do about it? Immediately unsubscribe. If you work for a brand or are trying to improve your image and sales, you don’t want that to happen to you.
Not only is overposting annoying to the audience but accounts can also sometimes be flagged as spam by the platform and can have the risk of being banned or blocked by certain users. This can negatively impact a brand if its account gets flagged because then the viewership will go down and it won’t be able to increase its audience as anticipated.
As one begins to build their audience through their brand, it is important to show them what the brand is all about. However, engaging in any of these scenarios can cause the brand to not have a good image.
