4 Social Media Fails You Can Learn From

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article for LinkedIn that taught me a lesson and became the inspiration for this week's article (more on that later). What the lesson taught me was that while there have indeed been some mistakes (both tactical and strategic) that I have made on my social media journey, I have fortunately learned from each of them and am better for it as a result. Here are 4 fails I've made on social media you can learn from...

Fail # 1: Showing Up In The Wrong Room

For anyone who has ever aspired to be an entrepreneur, one thing you have to know going into it is that you will have to wear every hat. In the beginning, you are literally the janitor, the CFO, and the social media marketer. For me, the idea of having my hands in everything is thrilling, but for any areas where one doesn't already have a defined skill set, it can be an adventure.

One of the first "big" marketing campaigns we ran for Vizoodeo (which was just a few months ago) was a giveaway designed to attract prospective customers to Like us on Facebook. If they liked our Facebook page before X date, then they would be entered into a drawing to win a nice prize (the first prize was a 2 night stay at a luxurious lodge/hotel in Colorado Springs).

I decided that the drawing would be more exciting if we did it live on video using Facebook Live. So, I sent multiple correspondences to the people who were eligible for the drawing, reminding them to tune in for the Facebook Live drawing. We had everything prepped and ready to go, and then it was finally time to turn on the camera and start broadcasting the live drawing to the world.

The broadcast went great! I finished up by thanking everyone for following us and then I signed off with a sigh of relief since we seemingly avoided any major snafus (as this was my first ever time using Facebook Live).

I then went to review the recording and share it on my business page's timeline and realized that I had messed up! If you've ever created a Facebook page for your business, you know that you actually need to link the business page to your personal Facebook page. In my first Facebook Live broadcast for Vizoodeo, I realized I had accidentally broadcast from my personal Facebook page instead of my business page, which explains why my mom and my Aunt Edna were cheering me along during the live broadcast (that's not completely true, I don't really have an Aunt Edna).

The lesson I learned is that when you are trying out something new on social media, especially something using live video, you should test it backwards and forwards first to make sure you have it dialed in and ready to go. The impact to my business was very minimal for this mistake (as I don't think anyone tried to show up for the live drawing anyway), but for those businesses with a larger following and more on the line, it could sting more.

I actually just saw this happen to another business professional a week or so ago. Gary Vaynerchuk owns a media company and has developed a cult level following for the wisdom and content he shares on a daily basis to entrepreneurs and people who want to be entrepreneurs. I got an email notifying me that Gary was going live on YouTube Live (to his 500k followers) and so I tuned in to check it out. Gary was broadcasting from the airport and couldn't get his video to work. We heard his voice for a couple of minutes (along with airport loudspeaker announcements), but never got any video. In retrospect, (assuming it wasn't a YouTube glitch) I bet he wishes he would have tested it out a time or two before notifying his following (although in this case, his brand is so strong that it likely only humanized him more with his followers).

Fail # 2: You Don't Own That!

The second fail I'll share that you can learn from is actually from the second time I used Facebook Live, which was just a few weeks later...go figure. This time we had all of the logistics nailed down (including broadcasting from the correct account), but we still ran into a snafu. Like the first time, everything seemingly went great during the live broadcast, but when I went to post the video (so people could watch the recording), it wasn't there!

I scurried around on Facebook a bit frantically, until I discovered the problem. Facebook had notified me they couldn't publish the video because it contained copyrighted materials! At first I had no idea what they were referring to, as I'm always very careful to only use materials I own or have permission to use...I didn't have any unauthorized copyrighted materials! Then I recalled that in the opening of the Facebook Live video, while we were waiting for people to join, we had played some Frank Sinatra holiday music in the background via a portable speaker. Whoops!

I owned up to my honest mistake and did a re-enactment of the original live drawing again (sans Frank). Lesson learned, make sure you own or are licensed for the content (even background music that's playing while you are talking) before you put it out there for your business!

Fail # 3: LinkedIn A Couple Of Weeks Ago

My goal has been to get into the cadence of posting some original content to LinkedIn every week or so. I've been trying to share thoughts and ideas that are important to me and I believe others may find valuable. In addition, I have been experimenting with what types of content people tend to respond to the most (for my own benefit and for the benefit of sharing my experiences with my customers).

One of the questions I've had in the back of my mind relates to what makes one piece of content more interesting than another. I had a belief that one of the big factors that contributes to whether content gets read had to do with the headline of the article and the image that supports it. Would an article with a headline and an image that you just couldn't turn away from have a significant impact on the readership of an article? So, to test my hypothesis I created a shock and awe headline accompanied by a doomsday image that seemed too intriguing not to click.

The experiment didn't run long until I got my first piece of feedback. The feedback I got was that the shock and awe headline and image, followed by the article that asked..."hey, did the headline and the image make you click on this article?" ...felt like click-bait (something designed to draw attention to myself). While it was 100% not the intention of what I was trying to do with the article, I could definitely reason how someone could get that impression and so I immediately changed the headline to be something that couldn't be construed as a negative form of social media use.

The lesson I learned is that if you are going to share something on social media that may be pushing limits a little, run it by someone else first to get a second opinion. I think it's OK to be bold on social media, but you don't want to come across as someone who looks like they are trying to trick someone into a click.

Fail # 4: When A Leader Doesn't Lead

Prior to my leap into the entrepreneur pool, I led a global team of sales professionals selling sophisticated solutions to sophisticated customers. One of the goals I had for my team was to become much more adept at using social media to engage our customers and prospective customers.

To encourage participation, I rewarded my team members for their actions on social media each week. They got bonus points for liking and commenting on the material the company put out and for posting new content. Looking back on it, even though my intentions were good, there are some things I would definitely do differently today...

1. Since I now wear the social media marketing hat for my startup, and have no one else to point fingers at, I've learned that the real value in social media is in creating original content and interacting with original content. Looking back, I let the team I led get away with being active on social media, but not really being accountable for being a true contributor on social media. I've since been able to internalize that contribution is where the real value is when it comes to engaging customers...and I've also learned it really isn't that hard to do.
2. As the leader of the team, the second thing I would do differently is definitely take on more of a role in creating and contributing to original content myself. Looking back, I let all of the other stuff I had on my plate take priority over something that I believe today to be a vitally important aspect to running a business, a team, or a sales territory. Plus, me asking the team to do something that I wasn't doing well myself already, is not a good way to lead.
3. The third thing I would do differently as it pertains to social media in my previous career is to get active sooner. Over the years I read plenty of articles on LinkedIn and other sites from people who were successful with communicating via social media, encouraging people like I was to get off the sidelines. Looking back, I wish I would have acted sooner.

I hope you've been able to learn something from the tactical and strategic mistakes I have made with social media and apply it to your business or your own social media journey. Good luck out there!

Jeff Hatten is the Founder & CEO of Vizoodeo, a firm that provides amazingly affordable video marketing solutions so small businesses can stand out and sell more!