Social media is an essential aspect of every business's marketing strategy. It provides a great opportunity to connect with your customers, promote your products and services, and build your brand.
However, managing your business's social media pages can be tricky with serious consequences for making mistakes including a negative impact on brand reputation, loss of customers, and even legal issues.
In this article, we'll discuss some of the things you must not do when managing your business's social media pages to ensure that your social media presence is positive, engaging, effective, and aligned with your business goals.
Don't use social media as a platform to engage in arguments or negative interactions with customers
Using social media as a platform to engage in arguments or negative interactions with customers can be extremely detrimental to your business's reputation. It's important to remember that social media is a public platform, and your response to one customer can be seen by many others.
Engaging in online arguments or negative interactions with customers can make your brand appear unprofessional, petty and uncaring. A better approach is to respond to negative feedback or reviews in a calm and respectful manner, addressing the issue and offering a solution if possible. Take the high road even if you believe the customer is wrong. By handling negative interactions with empathy and professionalism, you can turn an unhappy customer into a satisfied one, and demonstrate to others that you care about your customers and take their concerns seriously. Always try and take the interaction with a dissatisfied customer to a private space, so ask them to direct message you with their contact details so you can resolve the issue without the public seeing the details.
For example, imagine that a customer posts a comment on your business's social media page complaining about a delayed shipment. Rather than responding with defensiveness, you could reply with a message such as "We're sorry to hear that you experienced a delay with your shipment. Please send us a direct message with your order number, and we'll investigate the issue and do our best to resolve it as quickly as possible." This type of response acknowledges the customer's concern, offers a solution, and demonstrates that your business values customer satisfaction.
Don't delete or ignore negative comments or reviews without addressing them appropriately
It's natural to feel defensive or upset when you receive negative comments or reviews on your business's social media pages. However, it's important to resist the urge to delete or ignore negative feedback. Deleting negative comments can make your business appear untrustworthy or unresponsive while ignoring negative comments can make your business appear uncaring and even deceptive. Instead, it's important to respond to negative comments or reviews in a respectful and empathetic manner, addressing the issue and offering a solution if possible. By responding to negative comments or reviews in a professional and respectful manner, you can demonstrate to your customers that you value their feedback and are committed to improving their experience.
For example, imagine that a customer posts a negative comment on your business's social media page complaining about poor customer service. Instead of ignoring or deleting the comment, you could reply with a message such as "We're sorry to hear that you had a negative experience with our customer service team. We take your feedback seriously and will do our best to improve our service in the future. Please send us a direct message with more details about your experience, and we'll do our best to make it right." This type of response acknowledges the customer's concern, offers a solution, and demonstrates that your business values customer feedback and is committed to improving.
Don't share irrelevant or unrelated content that doesn't align with your brand or target audience
Sharing irrelevant or unrelated content on your business's social media pages can confuse your audience and dilute your brand's message. It's important to stay focused on your brand's message and ensure that the content you share is relevant and interesting to your target audience. Content should do one of three things:
Entertain
Engage
Inform
For example, suppose you manage social media for a fitness apparel brand. Sharing posts about healthy recipes, workout tips, and inspirational stories related to fitness and active lifestyles would be relevant and engaging for your target audience. On the other hand, sharing random content unrelated to fitness, such as funny cat videos or political debates, would not resonate with your audience and could lead to confusion, disinterest, and even repel your followers.
Don't use social media solely as a sales platform without providing value to your audience
Social media is a powerful tool for driving sales and generating revenue, but it's important not to use it solely as a sales platform. Constantly bombarding your followers with promotional content can be off-putting and make them feel like they're being sold to rather than engaged with. Instead, it's important to provide value to your audience by sharing content that educates, entertains, and informs them.
The ideal ratio of sales posts to other content when posting on social media for your business is generally around 1:4, meaning that for every one sales post, you should aim to share four other types of content such as educational, entertaining, or informative posts. This approach helps to maintain a balance between promotional messages and valuable content for your followers, keeping them engaged and interested in your brand.
For example, suppose you manage social media for a home goods store. Rather than constantly sharing posts promoting your products and sales, you could share home decor tips, DIY projects, and inspirational home design ideas that align with your brand and are of interest to your target audience. By providing valuable content that educates and inspires your followers, you can establish yourself as a trusted source of information and build a loyal following that is more likely to make purchases from your store.
Don't forget to proofread your content before posting to avoid typos and grammatical errors
Having attention to detail is crucial when managing your business's social media pages. Not proofreading your content before posting can lead to embarrassing typos and grammatical errors that can undermine your credibility and brand image making your business look sloppy and uneducated. Taking the time to review your content and ensure its accuracy not only helps you maintain a polished and professional appearance but also shows your followers that you value quality and strive for excellence.
For example, imagine you're promoting a new product launch on your business's social media page. Before posting, it's essential to proofread the accompanying caption and any graphics or visuals to ensure there are no typos or grammatical errors. Mistakes like misspelling the product name or using incorrect grammar can create a negative impression and diminish the impact of your promotion. Your customers will be wondering what other mistakes you make with your business and question your attention to the details. Have someone else proof your content or use a free tool like Grammarly to do the checks for you.
Don't neglect to monitor social media mentions or fail to respond promptly to customer inquiries
One of the biggest benefits of social media for businesses is the ability to directly engage with customers and use it as another channel to provide excellent customer service. Neglecting to monitor social media mentions or failing to respond promptly to customer inquiries can create a negative impression and damage your brand reputation. By actively monitoring your social media pages and responding promptly to customer inquiries, you demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction and build trust and loyalty with your followers. Additionally, by promptly addressing any issues or concerns raised by customers on social media, you can prevent them from escalating into larger problems that could harm your business.
For example, imagine you're managing social media for a clothing retailer. A customer reaches out on social media, asking about the availability of a particular item. Failing to respond promptly to this inquiry could result in the customer becoming frustrated and looking elsewhere for their clothing needs. On the other hand, promptly responding to the customer's inquiry, providing helpful information about the item's availability, and perhaps even suggesting other items they might be interested in can build a positive relationship and increase the likelihood of the customer making a purchase. By monitoring social media mentions and responding promptly to customer inquiries, you can improve your brand image and foster customer loyalty.
Note: Due to the instantaneous nature of social media, the expectations around response times are a lot shorter than other channels. Ensure you or your team monitors and responds to mentions and inquiries as quickly as possible.
Don't buy followers or engage in any unethical tactics to grow your social media following
Buying followers or engaging in unethical tactics to grow your social media following might seem like a quick and easy way to boost your online presence, but it can actually harm your brand in the long run.
First, purchased followers are typically bots or fake accounts that won't engage with your content or purchase your products. This means that your engagement metrics, such as likes, comments, and shares, will be artificially inflated, making it difficult to accurately gauge the success of your social media efforts.
Second, if you're caught engaging in unethical tactics, such as buying followers, your brand reputation can suffer significant damage, which can be difficult to repair. Ultimately, it's important to focus on organic growth and building a genuine following by creating high-quality content, engaging with your audience, and running targeted advertising campaigns.
For example, let's say you're managing social media for a restaurant and you decide to buy followers to increase your social media following. While your follower count might increase, you'll likely see little to no engagement on your posts since these followers are not real people. Additionally, if a potential customer discovers that you've engaged in unethical tactics, such as purchasing followers, they might be less likely to trust your brand and choose to dine at your restaurant.
Wrapping up
Managing your business's social media pages can be a challenging task, but avoiding these common mistakes can help you maintain a positive online presence and build a loyal following.
By following these guidelines, you can ensure that your social media efforts are effective, ethical, and aligned with your business goals. To reap the benefits of social media for your business, effective management of your pages is crucial. Engage, entertain, and inform your followers.