Two Dangers of Social Media

Good day! Let's go dark and stormy today by talking about two dangers of social media, shall we?

I see two types when I'm teaching students or advising clients:

• Posting items that have NOTHING to do with your business offerings, and can actually negatively impact your branding
• Not responding to follower's comments about your offerings, or responding inappropriately

Now let's go over each one in a little more detail...

Posting Irrelevant Items In Your Social Media Stream

I have run across very successful business owners who can build million dollar companies, but when it comes to social media, so help me cat, they take the attitude of "someone in her 20's knows how to do this...I'll hand it off to the intern!"

And that's pure disaster. If your business is providing consulting services across multiple industries to the U.S. Federal government, why oh why oh why would you post on your social media accounts inspirational quotes from long-dead famous people and still-living New Age gurus? What does that mess have to do with what you offer? (This is a true story. When I saw it, I had a fit and fell in it. Then I shrieked to my point of contact to yank that child's login creds NOW).

Social media is for building your expertise and credibility as the go-go person in your industry. What you post needs to match what you offer. That's not to say that you can't post cheerful, bright and gay holiday messages, for example. But for the most part, stay on message about your company. Humor is fine, as long as your prospects will understand it and not take offense.

Poor Response To Comments In Your Social Media Stream

It's going to happen that sooner or later someone is going to be an internet troll in one of your social media streams. You just never know what's going to set people off. So if you get a flaming comment or rant, how are you going to respond?

Well, taking the strategy of "not at all, nuh uh, no way!" is really bad. Silence implies consent or looks like guilt, take your pick. It could also look like you just don't give a rat's furry behind. Most of us hate confrontation and think this is an easy way out, but it's not. Which leads me to the next point, those who do love confrontation...

Getting back into the person's grill is also really, really, really bad. You look unprofessional, you've stooped to their level, you're not taking the high road. What's even worse, is that in this day and age, there will be many watchers on the sideline who will gladly pour gasoline on the fire that's raging by re-posting, sharing or forwarding the pissing contest you're involved in.

If colorful language, memorable descriptions and epic and legendary threats are being thrown about, you can be sure that your social media stream will travel far and wide in ways you do not want. There are lots of horror stories; I'm not going to link to any of them to perpetuate the damage, but you probably are familiar with some yourself.

So, the moral of the story is, don't create one of those stories yourself. Used wisely, social media can boost your SEO efforts, but please, I beg you, please...take charge of your social media program and control your message!

Learn more about optimizing social media, video and other content in one of Invenio SEO's classes.

You can also get your SEO training online if you'd rather learn at your own pace, when it suits your schedule.

Until next time...stay safely between the ditches!

All the very best to you,

Nancy McDonald

Image courtesy of wikipedia