Top 10 Business Social Media Mistakes

Social media strategy can seem overwhelming to businesses as they are just starting out on social networks. And every day hundreds of businesses launch a social presence. Why not learn from the mistakes others?

Here is a Top 10 Basic Business Social Media Mistakes presented David Letterman style:

10. Leaving your profile incomplete: It looks unprofessional or, worse, looks like you might be a spammer. Say something interesting about your business and the people running the account and, if there’s room, make it fun.

9. The URL link on the profile doesn’t point to your business: On most social presences you have the opportunity to share a link or three. Make them point to relevant business pages.

8. Poor choice of avatar image: Depending on your business’ personality you may want to use a company logo. But generally the face of the person running the account will both look better and leave a better, more human, impression.

7. Inappropriate mixing of personal and business lives: Depending on your social approach some mixing may be appropriate (if you run a winery account and you sometimes talk about wine you like or winery tours you take, for example). Generally, though, keeping things professional, human and sometimes fun will work so much better.

6. Using social profiles only for promotional purposes: If all you do is talk about yourself and your products and services who is going to take the time to listen (follow, friend or fan)?

5. Not listening to customers: If they find you on a social network and they care they will talk to you. Be ready to respond to the good, the bad and sometimes, the ugly.

4. Not greeting new followers and friends: Would you ignore a new customer coming through your door? So why is it acceptable to not greet each new person you meet on social networks?

3. Erratic updating or completely stop updating: Once you start posting (presumably based on a well-thought-out strategy) don’t stop and start or stop completely. This can send several messages … none of them good.

2. Deleting a post you regretted: It is far better to follow up a regrettable post with an explanation of what you meant. This shows the world you’re human.

And, drum roll please, the No. 1 mistake is …

1. A serious underestimation of the time and energy social networks take: Yes, many of the tools are free, but using social networks to help you understand your customers, develop new relationships and even meet new customer needs all takes time and energy. If this scares you start small (one or two networks).

Bonus: And please don’t advertise your foray into social in your print and broadcast advertising with the Twitter and Facebook icons and the words “Follow us on Twitter” or “Find us on Facebook.” That is the equivalent of using a telephone icon and saying “Find us in the phonebook.” Have your Twitter and Facebook account names right there. Make it easy for people to connect. Really!

So, is this list a good start or way off the mark? Will it help your social media strategy? Please let me know.

Possibly related posts:
10 Ideas to Help Business Navigate Social Media
5 Really Useful Sites for Social Media Newbies
10 Commandments for Social Media

5 Signs Your Business Needs Help With A Social Media Strategy

What is your business’ social media strategy? You do have a strategy don’t you?

Sadly many businesses are in social media, but are not IN social media – if you can see the difference. Let's see if this blog post can help.

You may need outside help on your social media strategy and tactics if you:

1. Don’t have a clear social media strategy: Why be in social media if it doesn’t support your business goals? Investing time in social media simply because it’s popular or because you heard it can be an effective marketing tool doesn’t earn you a single dollar. Your social media strategy doesn’t need to be elaborate, but you need one. The consultant can thoroughly assess your goals and needs and help frame a plan that will help your business.

2. Have too many different social media platforms: Or worse, have too many platforms without clear goals for each. If social media is to be an effective marketing tool for your business you need to focus your efforts for each platform and regularly audit the number of those platforms you’re on. An outsider can offer you a dispassionate assessment of how many (or how few) platforms you should really be on and what value they bring you.

3. Don’t aggressively manage your community: If you aren’t evaluating the quality of your network how do you know whether you’re wasting your time or not? Do you know who among your followers, fans and friends are likely customers, business partners or collaborators? The consultant can help you decide which community members are helpful and what is being said about you and your business.

4. Don’t measure your results from social media: Yes, there is something to be said for not measuring social media success by traditional metrics and demographics. But the bottom line is the bottom line: If you’re spending time and money on social media and not measuring whether it’s working you’re likely wasting both time and money. An outsider can help you focus on what will help the business.

5. Don't have search engine optimization (SEO) as part of your strategy: Rising in natural search is the big bonus in social media. If you plan your social media carefully, your efforts will help all of your web presences rise in search engine rankings. Again, an outsider can quickly identify the steps you’ll need to take to get there.

So how did you do? If you saw yourself or your company’s social media strategy approach in any of the points above it may be time to ask for outside help.

Possibly related posts:How to Sniff Out Social Media Snake Oil
10 Tips for Better Business Tweeting

A Shorty Awards How To

The third annual Shorty Awards are under way and as has happened in the first two years of the awards there is some confusion about how you nominate someone (or support an existing nomination). More on that in a moment …

The Shorty Awards honor the best people and organizations on Twitter and social media and are presented in early March by the Real-Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences – made up of such luminaries as Alyssa Milano, actress and philanthropist (@Alyssa_Milano), David Pogue (@Pogue), New York Times columnist and author of The World According to Twitter and Alberto Ibargüen (@ibarguen), President and CEO of the Knight Foundation (@knightfdn), one of the awards’ sponsors.

Nominations are now being taken in dozens of official categories may be made through Twitter or the official Shorty Awards website. There are also thousands of crowd-sourced categories. For the first time this year, the Shorty Awards will also honor the industry's best agencies and social media professionals

And, although the awards site insists you can nominate someone simply by tweeting out a nomination, it seems some or many of these do not get caught by the awards site. Therefore to be sure you successfully nominate your favorites on Twitter and in social media, you should follow these steps:

1.Go to the official Shorty Awards website and locate the turquoise “Shorty Voting” bar mid-page.

2.Enter your nominee’s Twitter name and pick the appropriate category.

3. Complete the sentence “I nominate @TwitterUser for a Shorty Award in #category because....”

4. Click the “Tweet Your Vote” button (where you will be asked go through a Twitter authorization page).

If you don’t follow the protocol for the tweet your vote will not be recorded.

And you need to do this soon because in February, the nominees will be narrowed down to six finalists in each category. Winners will then be determined by a round of public voting and by the members of the Real-Time Academy.

So, what are you waiting for? Get nominating and contribute tom this great social media event.

Big Changes Coming in Social Media in 2011

In 2011 there will be monumental changes in social media. And by monumental I don’t mean anything that has to do with new platforms or new tools. No, I mean there will be monumental changes in the way people use them.

Here then are my 5 Big Changes in Social Media for 2011

1. People will want more real experiences: It will no longer be acceptable to interrupt real, in-person conversation to check-in, tweet or update your status. Those of us who have had it up to here with this kind of rudeness will start calling people on it. We’ll all be looking to take social and other web experiences and find some real aspect to them.

The opportunity: Real Foursquare badges anyone? Any marketer who can take an online experience and add entertainment or some other real-world value will reap big rewards.

2. Social networks + email = marketer’s dream: Email is newly resurgent as a marketing tool. Combine this with the ability of social networks to help identify groups of interested customers and you have a winning combination.

The opportunity: Marketers will use email to encourage the sharing of content on social networks and use social networks to encourage engagement via email – a win-win for both email and social marketing.

3. Social network growth will slow: Facebook will continue its inexorable march to get everyone (and their pets) signed up and Twitter will continue to explode as a newsfeed. However, everyone will become a lot more selective about who they follow, friend, fan and like. This will mean a slowing in the growth of social networks.

The opportunity: The percentage of active participants on networks will rise meaning those you engage with are more likely to respond.

4. We’ll all watch the clock: How much time we are willing to spend on a given social platform will become an issue. So many people signed up on Facebook in the past 12 to 24 months, for example, that the newness of the network kept a lot of them on it for hours at a time. That, will change rapidly in 2011 as the newness wears off and we reconsider the utility of two or three hours per day spent on a social network.

The opportunity: Anyone who operates online and can simplify processes (from the sign-in to the check-in to the posting of a comment) will win big.

5. We’ll reach a saturation point: “Social media saturation” will become a catchphrase and as a result we'll all start trimming if not wholesale chopping down the number of social sites we visit to only those most-relevant to us.

The opportunity: With the crowds starting to form around fewer networks it will become increasingly easy to figure out which platforms and social network members are truly influential.

So, what do you think? Can any or all of this come to pass in social media in 2011?

5 Foursquare apps you may not know

Foursquare is one of social media’s fastest growing tools. Here are five web-based apps to help you get more out of your time on Foursquare:

checkinmania.com This is an app that tracks who is checking in at various locations around you using Foursquare. And although it also offers data on check-ins on Gowalla, Brightkite and Twitter, its data is most comprehensive for Foursquare. It uses Google Maps-like functionality to show where you are in relation to various locations. In Venue mode it lists those nearby locations already identified on Foursquare. In Tips mode you can read what others have said about a particular location.

foursquarebrands.com This site allows users to manage the brands they're following and not following. And, as of this writing, there were 343 brands on Foursquare – many of them offering rewards for being followed.

ubermayor.com If you are anxious to become the mayor of more Foursquare venues or looking to get a SuperMayor badge this is the web app to use. It makes it easy to find out how many more check-ins it will take to become the mayor of a venue and is also a good tool for visualizing your Foursquare history.

fourcourt.com This app has the slogan “See who’s playing” and answers the question: If you’re in front of a computer and want to know where your friends are before heading out what can you do? Sign into Fourcourt with Foursquare sign in and see where everybody you know is (or has been recently).

4squareoffers.com A site that says it has more than 20,000 offers from around 79 countries. It allows search by name of a business, tags, category and location (within 25 miles). Note: Outside major metropolitan areas there may be a limited number of offers.

Know of other useful Foursquare web-based apps? Please help others in social media get more from Foursquare by adding them in the comments area below.