Social Media disasters

Misspellings, missteps and missed opportunities for businesses on SoMedia

"Disaster" may seem like a strong word. But in Social Media, as in life, you only get one chance to make a good first impression.

What happens when something you’ve written strikes the wrong chord, has embarrassing errors or, worse, is just plain wrong?

Here, in no particular order, are things that can quickly take your Social Media efforts from a soaring trajectory to a downward death spiral.

Abusing – or misusing – English

Yes I am as guilty as the next when it comes to making mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar. But I do usually catch most of these mistakes.

Correct use of English in Social Media is important because your written ideas are the first place someone encounters you. If they see mistakes their opinion of you, consciously or unconsciously, goes down. In the back of their mind they will assume this is representative of carelessness by your business or brand.

If you want to be seen as an expert or leader in your field you need to put your best foot forward in your communications – especially Social Media where everything you write is sitting in plain view for the world to see.

Hiding your agenda

The Social Media world is 99.9 percent transparent. If you want to survive and thrive in it you also need to be transparent. If you don’t openly state your commercial and other ties to what you are writing about or promoting you will be found out. But in Social Media it gets worse: Your credibility will disappear instantly when a reader discovers for themselves that you are directly connected to the thing you are promoting.

But it’s not just your connections that are problematic. You also need to be open about your agenda. We all have one. It's best to spell out in the "About" area who you are and what your goals are.

All of this matters in Social Media because when “a bad egg” is discovered word spreads very quickly.

Having a thin skin

Many writings on Social Networking sites can seem to be critical. Some, in fact, are critical of you. How you respond to criticism online (as in the real world) can set you apart. If bad behavior by others elicits equally bad behavior from you who wins? No one. Of course.

The best response may be no response. Or you may want to wait an hour or two before crafting a firm and positive or at least neutral response that relies on facts and leaves out all traces of the personal.

At the very least any criticism should be private and between two people and not conducted in group emails, the comment areas of blogs or other public spaces.

Annoying (or outright offending) others

Social Media offers so many ways to be annoying. You can be “too connected” to others. You can ask them too often for stuff (and in this category I would include invitations to play Facebook games from people you barely know). You may keep mentioning your business interests over and over. Then, there are those who post offensive material. All of the above will get you un-followed, un-friended and un-connected.

Lack of focus

Many individuals and companies get into Social Media with no real goals or understanding of why they are there. This leads to Social Media platforms that leave those who join you confused: “I thought I started following this guy because he was interested in music, but now all he posts are annoying ‘feel good’ quotes.”

So work on one platform at a time and decide what you are there for. You do not have to narrowly define your purpose, but having a plan will help you get more out of your time on Social Media and will prevent you from damaging your your company’s image.

Being cliquey

If you’re spending all your time Re-Tweeting the same five people and they are Re_Tweeting you. Or you write back and forth with a dozen people on Facebook walls you’re likely not in Social Media, but rather you are in “Club Media.”

These tight groups in Social Media are terrible for your brand. To outsiders – the vast majority of the rest of your followers, fans and connections – this seems like a club they cannot get into or, worse, would not want to get into.

Practice good Social Media skills by reaching out to the many rather than the few.

Are there other "cardinal sins" I'm missing?

Further reading:
10 Commandments for Social Media
Twetiquette: 10 basics for Twitter politeness

5 Reasons Social Media Matters to Business

1. Customers are increasingly there … in huge numbers
The phenomenal growth in the numbers of people on Social Networks and consuming Social Media can no longer be ignored. The recent Nielsen report on the five fastest Social Media (Global Faces and Networked Places) portals found that:

Twitter is now the fastest growing Social Media app. It grew 1,382 percent in the past year and has more than 7 million people tweeting away.

Facebook has more than 65 million people friending away and grew 228 percent in the past year.

MySpace and its teen-friendly vibe get roughly 75 million unique visitors a month (putting it ahead of Facebook’s 57 million).

LinkedIn and its business-networking members now number more than 33 million.

Wikipedia and other wiki-like information portals now have nearly 4 million contributors signed up to add to the information pool.

If these Social Media destinations have populations rivaling good-sized countries ... countries whose populations grow several hundred percent each year ... don’t you want to do business with these new “countries”?

2. Employees are there … more than you think
These vast populations include many of the people who work for you (and those who wish they worked for you).

According to survey data from 2007 (the most recent available), more than 75 percent of employees at U.S. companies are online, but not doing company business, for part of their business day. Of these, more than a third check in on social networks.

According to a Kiplinger Report story from July 2008 a growing number of U.S. employers have realized the value of social networks and have begun setting up internal networks where employees share ideas, best practices and future plans.

If your employees (present and future) are there shouldn’t you be there?

3. Competitors are there … and talking to your customers
A quick search on Facebook for the term “IBM” finds more than 500 groups dedicated to talking about and talking for IBM. A search for “New York Times” also finds more than 500 groups.

Check Twitter and you find a similar trend: More than 90 Twitter accounts have IBM as part of their name. The New York Times’ main Twitter account touches nearly 400,000 followers and that number is growing quickly.

Try it now: Search for your competitor on Social Media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook. See what they say about themselves and see what they say about you.

4. Intelligence is there … you will gain important insights
You can simply follow the streams of conversation in Social Media or deploy Social Media monitoring tools such as the one offered by Techrigy to know what people are talking about and whether they have a positive or negative view of your company and its products.

This type of intelligence cannot be had anywhere else. It also allows insight, response and reaction in real time.

5. Money is there … for the making and for the taking
People use Social Media for all kinds of purposes, but in one way, shape or form it’s about sharing information.

This information is a currency that can, and often does, influence spending decisions.

If Social Media is become THE place to share information it is also becoming THE place to learn before buying.

In an age where traditional push media (newspapers, magazines, radio and television) are losing audience at an alarming rate, Social Media and its pull - or sharing - approach is booming as a place for people to connect and get things done. Shouldn’t you and your business be there?