Content Marketing London social tips: 5 cardinal social media sins and how to avoid them

We like to think we’re a generous bunch here at Word Wide, and not your usual content marketing agency. So to help you out with your branded content plans, we have decided to compile a list of the top five social media sins that can catch businesses out. Warning: the below countdown may cause some toe-curling:

1. Misplaced user-generated content

We are all for a bit of audience anticipation, but before you invite your audience to interact with you, it’s sensible to do a quick common sense check before posting. You only have to google #ImaMetsFanBecause or #AskBoris to see why. If you think a hashtag can be hijacked, don’t use it.

2. Buying your audience

Do not even contemplate doing this. It may seem a tempting quick fix to building engagement, but it will do you more damage in the long run. Most people can smell an account that buys likes or followers a mile off. It’s not a credible audience and everyone will know it.

3. Over-enthusiast posting

We’ve all encountered business accounts like this, and it’s fair to say they usually last a day before we hit UNFOLLOW in a rage. Posting regularly is important, but spamming your customer base with constant updates and excessive branded content is not going to make you very popular.

4. Never posting at all

On the opposite end of the scale, it can be just as bad to let your accounts lie dormant. If you haven’t got time for regular updates, make sure that you schedule in some posts to go out over the next few days when you do log on.

5. Don’t feed the trolls!

Business social media accounts will more often than not be treated as an outlet for any disgruntled customers. If this does happen, try and direct the conversation away from the public arena by asking for their email address and reassuring them that their problem will be dealt with. Some companies run an extra social account to ask as a kind of “helpdesk”. This is a smart move if you get a lot of customer queries, as it ensures any negativity is kept away from your main account.

Happy guilt-free social media-ing!

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