Many of us have our pet peeves, like someone repeatedly clicking a pen, tapping their foot, or chewing gum like a cow. Those little things that seem insignificant end up getting under your skin and distracting you from everything else that’s going on at that moment.
And pet peeves aren’t limited to just real life – they seem to be propagating on social media, too. I’ve seen individuals and brands do some little things that grind people’s gears. Your social media engagement will plummet if you continue to do the little things that irritate and distract your audience. I’m going to list 5 things to watch out for that continually annoy users online.
Automated Direct Messages On Twitter
Twitter is an awesome place to actively engage with prospects as a brand. It’s easy to jump into conversations or just monitor topics that matter to your industry. It’s also easy to fall flat on your face in the eyes of your prospects. Automated messages are one of the most widespread no-nos on Twitter. There’s nothing less personal and uninviting than receiving a sales pitch in your inbox after you follow a brand or individual.
Below is an example of a cringe-worthy direct message from My Translation. It’s an automated message with a typo and it’s coming from a third party app. Don’t automate your direct messages on Twitter. If you want to thank people for following you, simply send out a Tweet thanking them specifically. It’s more personal and it’ll help you stand out.
Leaving Links In Facebook/LinkedIn Posts
I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been guilty of leaving links in my Facebook and LinkedIn posts. It’s a hard habit to break, but it can look careless. Facebook and LinkedIn generally do a nice job of generating link previews for you once you’ve pasted in a website link as an update. Both networks try to pull images from the page and some page copy or the meta description. Once the page information is pulled you should delete the URL that’s in your post. Your posts will look more professional to your audience.
Liking Your Own Posts On Facebook
This happens far too often on Facebook pages for brands. I think it’s often accidental if the page manager is mistakenly logged in as the company but that makes it even more annoying. A brand ends up looking desperate or far too self promotional when they like their own posts. If you don’t get any engagement from a post, liking it yourself won’t help you – in fact, it actually turns people away. A “like” is a vote of confidence for a brand, similar to a super mini review. How awful would it look if a brand were to write its own review?
Poor Quality Images
It’s 2013 and high-definition everything is widespread. I’ve even seen ads for HD vision glasses, wow! The internet is full of high-quality images for almost everything and HD cameras are almost a dime a dozen these days. Stop posting low-resolution images on social media – there are better alternatives out there. It’s far too common a practice, especially with B2Bs and manufacturing companies. Posting low-quality images is a poor representation of your brand. Don’t sell your cutting edge processes and equipment short by using photos from 2001. Below is an image that we used on our Facebook just to get a few jeers, but too many companies are okay with this level of quality. Facepalm.
Tweeting More Than One Link At A Time
Twitter is best utilized when a single message is sent out per tweet. You’re limited to 140 characters, making it difficult and impractical to get out more than one message. People and businesses still try to do it, though, with poor results. Twitter automatically shortens links but that doesn’t mean you should try and stuff them into your tweets. Multiple links confuse people and make your message appear spammy or self-promotional, depending on where the links lead. If you must direct your audience to different places, do it in multiple related tweets like the example below. One of the links is to a blog describing the wine and the other was to an online store where the wine can be purchased. The picture that flows between the pictures is brilliant as well.
Everything Will Be Okay
Don’t fret if you’ve seen one or more of your social media habits listed in this post. You’re going to be okay and your social media will only get better once you start correcting a few things. Just like in real life, small annoyances can distract people from the overall message you’re trying to deliver. Now get out there and start generating some engagement!
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