Social media should be fun, even when you’re using it as part of a B2B marketing campaign. Unfortunately though, there’s a growing number of companies who are misusing social media for business. This is a particular shame as, we believe that, for B2B marketing the future is very much social. We’ve pulled together a few of what we see as the most fatal mistakes you can make when using social for business.
Buying followers
In the same way that you can’t buy friends, you can’t buy business relationships either. Social media success relies upon having a following. But it’s not just about quantity of followers, it’s very much more about the quality of followers, how relevant they are to your business and how you engage them. Attracting the right kind of followers should be carefully considered and then a strategy put in place to keep those followers engaged in the long term. Ultimately don’t be tempted to buy followers off the shelf.
Non-personalisation of messages
Social media can turn connections into fans and then into advocates. If you don’t, for example, personalise a connection request on LinkedIn then you have missed a great opportunity and, in our view, made the most fatal of social media mistakes. Building your connections list for the sake of it is not the objective with LinkedIn and, as with all other social channels, you should be aiming to build two-way, real-time conversations.
A connection request is the beginning of an online relationship and the opening of an online conversation. It often follows on from an offline meeting so not personalising that request is a wasted opportunity. If you think of it in terms of being the beginning of a business relationship then you need to use a chat-up line in order to get the date!
Trendjacking
The hashtags that are popular on the day of your communication are popular because they relate to hot topics of conversation at that time. So you could see these as a source of content inspiration but where you have to be careful is when you are considering using them alongside your own messages. Out of context, those very hashtags could put you in the wrong place at the wrong time and doing that is a perfect example of social media misuse.
These mistakes could be considered PR genius or otherwise a huge fail. Looking ahead to potential bad PR for your brand is a good idea and then make absolutely certain that the hashtag you propose to use doesn’t say the wrong thing about you before you use it.
Social misuse - #FAIL
Hashtags can be the really useful for highlighting the content of a message, for putting your message into a community of interested parties and for getting into conversations but they are also liable to backfire if you don’t consider what you’re using as your hashtag.
For example, Susan Boyle’s promotional team’s embarrassing hashtag double entendre for new album launch #susanalbumparty
A few years ago Blackberry maker RIM released a tweet on their account seeking for new staff with the hashtag #Rimjobs
Other shocking examples include:
Who Review: #whoreview; Pen Island #penisland; Experts Exchange #expertsexchange; Therapist Finder #therapistfinder and Children’s Laughter House #childrenslaughterhouse.
In conclusion, social media isn’t just about the latest gimmicks or shouting the loudest. It’s about the being ‘social’ and using ‘media’. Together they’re powerful, but need to be used in the right way and that takes careful planning and execution.
By Nicola Ray, Managing Director of Modern.
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