10 Guaranteed Ways To Fail On Social Media

There are literally hundreds of articles published everyday focussed on how to get ahead on social media and its various different platforms. In fact there are so many it can be overwhelming and mind boggling. But what about the times when you just need a quick checklist of what doesn’t work? Here’s 10 social media crimes you don’t want to be guilty of:

1. Tagging people in photos, videos or posts they don’t actually appear in. Sam Burgess calls this ‘spam tagging’ and it’s often used in an attempt to ‘game’ the algorithm but all it actually does is annoy people. Tag only those who are actually in the image or who the image is related to in some way or you know won’t mind being tagged.
2. Jumping on trending topics or hashtags that don’t relate to your brand or business. This looks desperate and lacks a sense of purpose.
3. Playing the follow/unfollow game on Instagram and Twitter. A desperate attempt to gain a large amount of followers at the expense of relevant followers. Social media is always about quality NOT quantity.
4. Just promoting yourself. In the real world chances are you’d be classed as arrogant and self centred and it’s no different on social media.
5. Over automating. Automation has its place but it MUST be accompanied with a regular presence. NEVER be tempted by those flashy tools that promise you automated engagement and followers, nothing can replace you, your personality and a genuine conversation.
6. Not engaging. It’s called social for a reason, engagement trumps content and if you’re not even answering queries that come in to your accounts why are you even bothering?
7. Linking accounts. Could you imagine if you switched on the TV and all the available channels were broadcasting the same content at the same time. Cross promote rather than cross post wherever possible, each platform works differently.
8. Going straight for the sale. Unlikely to work in real life and definitely not the way to get ahead on social media where relationships and social proof are paramount and remember no one logs into their social media to be sold to.
9. Using clickbait. Don’t make people click on your link by misleading them, no one likes to be lied to especially when our time these days is precious.
10. Oversharing on a business account. Be mindful that not everyone shares your sense of humour, your opinion or your outlook on life and sometimes oversharing can cost you business.

If you’re guilty of one or more if these don’t despair, this article is actually list of ways to succeed on social too!

Thanks to Zala Bricelj, Alex McCann, Ruth Buckingham, Irene Beattie, otherwise known as ‘Irish Irene’, Claire Jessiman, Sam Burgess, Tim Elliott, Gareth Hancock, Ed Goodman, Social Brighton and Helen Patterson for a great twitter conversation about the most annoying things on social media back in October 2018 and consequently unknowingly contributing to this blog post!