“When scrolling through your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn—aside from unflattering selfies and right-wing memes—what are the most annoying things you see on social media?” This is what I emailed 50 of my friends, all New York professionals in their twenties and thirties.
Griselle Osses is a structural engineer for Arcadis, the sixth largest international design firm in the world. She perfectly captured what everyone is thinking when she asked, “Where is the dislike button, Mark Zuckerberg? It’s me, grammar.”
It’s true. Grammar and misspellings on social media are simply unconscionable. There’s a real difference between “their” and “there,” and it’s important to know what that is. On a personal note, I would also like to request that anyone who earnestly uses the hashtag #blessed be removed from the digital world indefinitely.
How does this relate to your company’s social media strategy? Yes, the social media strategy for your company is going to be quite different from the one for your personal Facebook account, but the things that annoy people are the same.
Time to find out if your company’s committing some serious social media no-nos.
1. Improper use of trending hashtags
Check the context on those hashtags.
In September 2014, Twitter went crazy after NFL player Ray Rice made headlines for beating his wife. Thousands of women opened up about their experiences in abusive relationships using the hashtag #WhyIStayed. In an attempt to hijack a trending hashtag they knew nothing about, DiGiorno’s pizza tweeted this: #WhyIStayed You had pizza.
This is #unpardonable.
2. Silence in the face of criticism
You can’t ignore it.
The type of negative feedback you receive—a straight problem, constructive criticism, or a form of venting and/or complaining—helps you determine how to respond, but the point is, you always respond. The only time negative feedback doesn’t require a response is when it comes from an angry troll, or someone who deliberately posts provocative messages with the intention of causing complete and utter annihilation.
On the contrary, don’t pull a 180 with your consumers and deliver a lengthy Twitter rant—like Tinder did after the Vanity Fair article “Tinder and the Dawn of the ‘Dating Apocalypse’” came out—because you’ll just have to apologize later.
And you’ll look stupid.
3. Begging for likes
This is a great way to lose followers (and credibility).
Social media is an engagement tool—not a broadcasting channel. Begging for likes or blatantly asking consumers to like, share, and comment on your content in order to increase engagement is not cool.
This goes back to strategy: Your content should help build a fan base with a genuine interest in your brand. This doesn’t mean you should stop pushing for engagement; it means you should figure out where your consumers talk and create content they want to talk about.
Feeling stuck? Take a few lessons from Pope Francis’ new social media plan to win over Millennials. It includes Popemojis.
Photo credit: Lauren Kallen