Five common social media mistakes to avoid

Social media can help an ecommerce site to win new customers, but it’s important to lay down the ground rules. Here are five mistakes to avoid when using social media.

1. Always talking shop

A common mistake that many brands make on social networks is to always talk about business. But by always talking shop, you just come across as a salesman, and consumers will get turned off by it.

Never forget that social network users are first and foremost people – they don’t use social media to read about brands’ marketing and sales activities.

Social media is about compelling and engaging content. Ensure you start real conversations with your followers and do not always try to sell to them.

2. Being defensive

Not every comment on Facebook, Twitter or other social networks will be positive about your business. When negative comments come in, remain calm and do not take it personally.

Do react to the comment, but offer help or offer to take the conversation offline – offer to call or email them to find out why they’re unhappy. Absolutely do not start a war of words.

3. Trying to be on all social networks

Sometimes brands try sign up to every single social media networking sites. But often they do not have the resources to be active on all of them. A rarely-used social network profile does not reflect well on a business.

It is much better for you to focus on just three or four social networks that you believe will help your ecommerce business and engage with users properly. Do not spread yourself too thin!

4. Not having a personality

Business is about people – yes, you have a brand, but ultimately consumers want to see the human side of the business. While on websites it’s fine to remain formal, on social networks it’s better to be human than a corporate giant.

When using the social networks, show that you’re a person and show what the culture is like in the business. Personality is an advantage in social media. Don’t be a robot.

5. Using poor grammar and spelling

Unfortunately, this is still a problem for some brands. Poor grammar and spelling reflects terribly on a company – avoid mixing up “its” with “it’s”, “their” with “there” and “they’re”, “your” and “you’re”.

It can also look unprofessional to engage in text speak. Yes, there is a 140-character limit, but cutting down “you” to “u” and “before” to “b4” just looks silly for a professional business. Leave the text speak to the teenagers and stay on top of the grammar.