How Social Media Can Affect Your Business - If Not Done Correctly!
/Why Is Social Media Important?
It’s 2017; we’re living in an age where social media is integral to the lives of everyone. This also applies to businesses. If your company has little or no online presence, the chances are that most people will never have heard of you and will have next to no idea what you do or what you offer. Get it right and your brand can be seen by thousands daily. Get it wrong and reputations can be at stake.
Social Media Best Practice
Social media has many advantages. You can (gently) stalk your favourite celebrities on Twitter, you can look at your friend’s pictures on Instagram and you can narrowly avoid your family on Facebook. It is also hugely useful for businesses too. It can be used for PR and advertising, lead generation, customer service, and recruitment. However, with its positives, naturally comes its negatives and we’ve identified a few problems that businesses may experience with social media.
What Not To Do on Social Media
While social media succeeds in building business credibility, it can also achieve the complete opposite. One false word on your Tweet can affect your business in a huge way. We all know that social media is a place for anybody and everybody to speak their mind, which we have all been guilty of at one time or another. Not everybody will agree with what you post online, and according to the Telegraph, bad reviews and online trolls cost businesses up to £30,000 a year. This has the power to destroy your business. Try to be careful with your content, if it has the potential to offend someone, then don’t post it!
Did anybody see what Marriott Hotels accidentally posted on Twitter over the summer? If not, here’s what you missed out on.
This tweet was met with retweets, likes and responses questioning what the tweet meant. Here’s a selection of our favourites:
And of course there were the inevitable responses when the tweet was eventually removed…
We’re sure the Marriott employee who tweeted this had some issues following this, although we’re sure it improved the company’s publicity, some even arguing that this was a sneaky marketing ploy. Whatever happened – it drove the internet mad, and sometimes content that goes viral may not always end up working for the better.
Another issue is the problem of an over excited employee, who may tweet something about a future project that may not have been confirmed yet. Any premature release of company news could be a breach of confidentiality. It could also build up the expectations of followers, when there is potentially nothing to get excited about.
Keep Your Accounts Secure
Social media is a breeding ground for hackers and identity thieves. Nowadays, too many people are using basic passwords for their important accounts; ‘password123’… we’ve all been guilty of it. But these predictable passwords are essentially an open gate to important data and sometimes confidential information. Always try to use strong, complex passwords that sometimes even you struggle to remember, and try and keep strictly confidential information somewhere a lot safer.
Social Media Strategy
Social media output should be in line with all other in-house marketing efforts. Consider why you are using each channel. Is it to increase sales or to build relationships with investors? Do you want to inform your target audience of your industry knowledge or show how cool the brand is?
By setting these clear goals you can ensure that your output on social media is strategic and adding value to your brand. No one likes repetitive sales messaging. For more ways to entertain, engage, and educate your target audience read more about The Beginners Guide to Social Media (Parts 1 and 2): http://www.yellowspidermedia.com/blog/ or contact us for a free consultation.