Four Mistakes to Avoid in Social Media Marketing

Sometimes I see a company-sponsored tweet so bad that I think, “Please hire someone younger to run your social media accounts.” We’ve all seen the kind: a joke that falls flat, their brand mention shoehorned in, or just a complete misunderstanding of a current trend. I see these attempts at connecting with their consumers and cringe.  

Probably not the response companies are aiming for.  

Avoiding these issues is super easy, I promise. All it takes is one word: engagement. Staying engaged with your audience and the internet is the easiest way to utilize social media successfully. I can’t promise all your jokes will be winners (and that’s on you, buddy), but I can guarantee that avoiding these common mistakes made by other brands will help you have relatively smooth sailing on the internet.

1. Superficial questions

This one is huge on Instagram and YouTube. Content creators will ask a question and ask viewers to respond in the comments. And then they just don’t respond. Ever. It’s a very obvious ploy to spike viewer engagement without offering anything in return. If you ask your audience a question, be sure to acknowledge the trend (ex. Most of you voted for this type of video, so…), or respond to a few people. Show your audience you’re engaged. Otherwise they’re going to get bored and start looking elsewhere.

2. Using memes

If you’re using a meme, there’s a high chance the meme is already dead. Sorry. That’s just how the internet works. Trends work at light speed. If you want to use a trend, make sure it’s brand new. Less than a few hours old at most. Otherwise you run the risk of looking very How do you do, fellow kids?   

*Even referencing this meme is hotly debated. I’m using it because I like it. I am also not a company brand trying to pass myself off as hip and cool.  

3. Auto-tweeting

No matter how much time you save yourself up front, you’re going to be spending a ton of time cleaning up this mess later. Auto-tweeting never works. People on the internet are gremlins who will always try to cross boundaries simply because they can. For the thousands of good-natured internet users, there will always be one person who ruins the party. See the New England Patriot’s racist auto-tweeting scandal. Or the Montreal Canadiens’ racist auto-tweeting scandal. Basically, there’s a lot of racism on the internet. Watch out for it.

4. Jumping on trends/trending topics

This goes hand in hand with both memes and auto-tweeting. First, if you’re referencing a trend, it’s probably old news. Second, make sure you’re on top of the situation. Monitor the trend and really understand it before you try to utilize it for your brand. Take DiGorno for example. They saw the hastag “#WhyIStayed” was trending and jumped in on the action, responding with, “You had pizza.” Well, that hashtag was actually being used to bring light to domestic abuse survivors. Kind of a tone-deaf reaction from the pizza company. Not a good look. 

There is a very clear trend here. Engaging with followers shows you’re invested in them, which shows they should be invested in you. Engaging with the internet as a whole lets you see memes and trends – what’s in and what’s really not – and make an educated decision about whether or not utilizing that trend will benefit your brand. Finally, don’t use an automated system to tweet for you. Just don’t. It shows you’re disengaged and will absolutely lead to time spent apologizing and rebuilding credibility in the future.