Common Mistakes on Social Media Posts

In the field of public relations, we are all pretty much aware of the ever-growing social media world. News breaks through social media, companies gain information regarding their customers’ feeling toward their products, and often times you can reach someone in a company through their Twitter account instead of waiting for your customer complaint to go through. 

Most companies and organizations have caught up with the trend and realized the benefits of social media and free promotion and marketing through the various mediums. When companies use social media to promote or even just keep their brand out there, they have to follow some general guidelines of social media use for PR and marketing. 

Most of these are common mistakes that anyone in control of a organization or big name’s social media account could easily make, which in turn can result in no one wanting to follow you anymore or just create a negative image of the company you are representing. 

Chances are we’ve all made them on our own account already, but keeping these in mind can help you to give the best promotional social media campaign. 

1. Not being aware of your surroundings- We’ve all tweeted at times when we probably shouldn’t have. You never want to be the person that tweeted at a time when the content you posted would be considered inappropriate or even offensive. One example of this is when #Aurora was trending on Twitter due to the theater shooting in Aurora. Soon after, Celeboutique wasn’t aware of the shooting and sent out this tweet. 

Yikes, imagine what people were thinking when they saw this and actually were aware of the tragedy that had just occurred. Whatever you do, be aware of your surroundings and what might be happening in the world to be sure you don’t upset more than just your followers. 

2. Posting at the wrong times- Aside from inappropriate timing when it comes to posting, it is also a common mistake to post when basically no one will see it or react to it.  You are trying to promote and make people see you, so knowing the best times to post on social media will really come in handy. Here’s a tip: mid-afternoon Friday is the best time to have a tweet be seen.

3.Overloading with worthless content- Quality should be over quantity. Don’t just post on social media because you think people need to see your name or account. Post material that will actually attract your followers and fans. 

4. Blasting similar content on various mediums- We all know there are dashboards out there for managing different types of social media at one time. But using these dashboards to post the exact same thing on your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other media is a sure way to make your fans and followers see you as being lazy. You should know the different language and audience that each platform has. Be sure the content you’re posting to these are appropriate for the people that may see it. Twitter only gives you 140 characters so you should make them count. Don’t waste it by matching it to your LinkedIn audience. 

5. Automated messages- Don’t you hate when you see that organization post the same thing every morning at the same time? Seems a bit like spam, doesn’t it? No one is interested in a robot running the content on an account. It’s much more interesting and engaging when there is a real person running the account and interacting with it’s followers. Engaging in tweetchats and using hashtags is one way to get even more noticed and appreciated for not using the typical automated dashboard post. 

6. Failure to proofread- Sure, a few misspelled words or grammar mistakes happen. But when you are writing correctly to your audience, your message gets across to them much better! We don’t want the mistake of someone calling you out on your own mistake and all your followers and fan base see it. It just makes things awkward. Proofread, or you could walk into an awkward situation such as this one. 

Not gonna lie, this one made even me squirm. Both of these bands are my favorites and it broke my heart to watch a squabble happen over Twitter regarding the proper “roll call” phrase. Avoid this by proofreading and save us all the pain of witnessing it. 

7. Information overload- With the fast paced world we live in, no one wants to sit there and read the same information over and over again. Everyone has their lives to get back to, or has some other tweet or post to go read. Get to the point!

And with the last tip on the list being to hurry up and get the point across, that’s what I got for you guys tonight. Hope everyone can benefit from this little list of common errors made on social media! 

Blogs Suck: at least we think they do

Blogs Suck: at least we think they do

The mistaken stereotype of blogs and their uselessness

by Alexandra Smith

Okay, time to confess. I hate blogs with a fiery, burning passion. I read them when I want to know this or that and one pops up with advice but that’s about it. So I have to blog for my class and I’m not going to lie I have been avoiding it because I get so mad that I am shaking when I sit and try to figure out what to write about. I honestly feel like blogs are for people to sit there and either praise or complain. THEN I was looking up “why do blogs exist” out of anger, and what do you know someone had blogged about this topic… (eyes rolling).

Anyways, I have come to learn that blogs are actually useful in our current world of technology and social media. So tonight my blog is going to be about why they exist and hopefully if you’re like me you can get a better understanding of them.

First of all: Who are you thinking you have a place to be telling me anything on the internet? Are you a doctor or specialist? Are you a professional? Then what do you honestly think you are doing on the web giving advice? Here was my first mistake. I thought this at first and sometimes I still do. The truth is blogs might be more trustworthy than websites at times. Instead of getting information from someone who is trying to sell you a service or product, you are getting firsthand information from someone who really is just sharing their knowledge.

Want to get a wine stain out of carpet? If you looked it up there might be comments on different websites of what brand of cleaner to use. If you find it on a blog, someone may have a cheap and easy way to get the stain out who has shared their stain-removing concoction and instructions of how to make it. The same thing can apply for any kind of information you might be looking for online.

Another misconception of blogs is the idea that they are like a journal for the person who is the author of a blog. It isn’t a place for people to complain about their personal lives- unless it’s the blog of someone famous and people actually want to listen to it. Blogs are used most often these days for companies, products, organizations, or by people who are considered experts on topics in which people read their blogs to listen to their advice or opinion. Companies these days can send sample products to someone in charge of a blog for them to write a review of their product. Some organizations blog just to keep people updated on their latest developments or events. There is often ethical questions from having people blog about products they have received from companies and why it may be considered bribery for a good review, but it still happens.

The next wrong idea I had about blogs was that it was meant for either praise or complaints. This can be true because people can blog about whatever they want. People can even blog about how much they truly hated your product or service. When this happens, you can comment or contact the blogger to see if there is a way to fix the situation. The fact is, it can seem to be about complaining or praising but a lot of blogs are simply informational or helpful. My personal favorite for blogs is the Mockingjay.net blog which posts about any recent news regarding The Hunger Games trilogy books and movies. This is just one example of a topic that an entire blog can be about.

Last, when I was writing my blogs for my class I felt like if people saw it they would think I was just another weirdo blogger thinking they knew it all. I also thought that no one would even see my blog posts because no one would care. When I was contacted about an internship recently and the man told me he “liked the work from my blog”. I asked “really?” and then I realized people really do see the things you post on a blog. The importance of this mistake was realizing that my blog was actually another way of promoting myself and networking. Both of which are really important for an undergraduate student as well as for anyone who may be in the career world.

I’m not going to lie, I really despised blogs. But now I see that they are actually a useful tool in the public relations world. While I’m no professional on public relations or on blogs, I’m glad I got to share the common stereotype that people may have of blogs. I’ve found several other blogs similar to this one that might be more helpful to anyone still wondering “Why blogging?” make sure to visit them!
Very Official Blog- why blogs matter
Why blogs matter to small businesses