6 Ways You May Be Harming Your Brand via Social Media

Updated May 20, 2021

Social media is a potential minefield for your online reputation. The slightest snag can bring a swift end to your social media credibility, and this guide is going to show you some of the main snags that you have to be aware of.

1.      Not Act Like a Human Being

It doesn’t matter what platform you are using because all of them demand the same attitude. The psychology of social media is the same. Don’t adopt a standard corporate persona that nobody can identify with. You need to make sure that you are acting like a human being with a real voice.

Throwing Off the Company Voice

The easiest way to throw off the horrible company voice is to speak casually. Tell the person responding to customers that they should adopt a tone that’s similar to them speaking to a friend. Try to stay away from encouraging people to match each other’s tone. It’s good to be different.

2.      Dealing with Negative Feedback in the Wrong Way

It’s easy to gain negative feedback and then choose to dodge it, react to it, or completely ignore it. This just demonstrates that you are not a listening company taking into account the needs of customers. If you are unable to communicate, it means that problems are never going to be resolved.

Word Gets Around

Don’t think that by ignoring one customer word isn’t going to get around. People are going to realize that you don’t respond to customers you don’t like, and that’s going to cripple your image. The power of word of mouth marketing shouldn’t be underestimated.

It Can Be a Good Thing

Negative feedback doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. These customers are showing you how you can improve and what you can do better. By taking valid criticism to heart, you can improve what your business is offering.

3.      Avoiding Two-Way Conversation

Social media is not about self-interest. It’s about publishing regular useful content, but if you are not publishing anything that invites engagement you are having a relationship with nobody. You are talking and expecting someone else to listen.

The Core of Social Media

When you are thinking about the content you are going to share, don’t just focus on what someone may like. Concentrate on whether it’s going to encourage people to talk to you. Leave a call to action at the bottom that asks people to comment.

It’s the whole point of social media.

4.      Personal on the Business Profile

Your business profile should have a warm and friendly tone about it. Becoming casual is a good way of encouraging people to engage with you. But this doesn’t mean that you should start posting personal things on your business page. Keep things professional and slightly distant. You’re not trying to become best friends.

Avoiding the Controversial

Personal social media profiles tend to be for people to air their grievances regarding politics, life, and work. In other words, they act as an outlet. Things like this can cause a lot of offense, or at the very least irritation, when posted on a business page.

Stay on the topic of your business.

See Also: Which Social Media Platforms Should You Use for Business

5.      Not Staying On Top of Things

Social media is time-consuming and it’s easy to forget about it for a day or two. But leaving your platform unattended means that customers are going unanswered. Direct your time and effort towards the platforms you can keep up with regularly.

This is why you should be operating on no more than two or three platforms at once unless you happen to be a huge business with a dedicated team.

How Often Should You Post?

You should always be posting at least once per day. It doesn’t have to be a brand new piece of content. You can repost older content, or simply throw up an engaging image. Try to switch things up so you can stop your feeds from growing stale.

6.      Automating Everything

It’s painfully obvious when someone is automating everything. If you are automating your content through a separate program, this can work, but only to an extent. If you are posting the same content to every platform, customers are going to realize that you’re not actually monitoring your social media.

Discussion and Relevant Content

By automating everything, you are missing out on organic discussion and content that’s relevant to the here and now. Automate some of your content, but also take some time to post things that you’ve just come across.

This will stop people from thinking that this is a captain without a ship.

Conclusion

These six parts of social media are essential for maintaining customer’s trust. If you fall short on any one of them, people are less likely to engage with you. Do keep in mind that this is all about the relationship not just selling to people.

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