I’m passionate about social media and being able to interact and engage with others. Unfortunately there are some things that bother me. (Hey, I’m only human) People pick up lazy habits, they are unprofessional or just don’t know any better.
The following are my top 4 social media pet peeves.
4. #FF – In Twitter, #FF stands for Follow Friday. On Fridays if you think someone should follow a business you tweet this #FF @socialdragon. That translates that people should start following the social dragon. It’s a great way to support other businesses. My pet peeve is when you include a business for #FF, make sure you write a quick description why I should follow this company. That would be more effective than just listing a group of businesses with no information and no reason to follow.
3. No Profile Picture – When using LinkedIn, one of the easiest ways to find someone is to do a people search. It is so frustrating when you look for someone and you are not sure if that is the correct person because there is no profile picture. Your face (and it needs to be a recent picture) should accompany your profile. Your profile is there for people to find you. Let people see your face. It is nicer learning about someone with a picture of themselves on their profile then without a picture. When the picture is included, your profile becomes more likeable, more approachable and more memorable.
2. No Cover Photo – Facebook recently introduced timeline format for business pages. There was a month notice given to change over your old format to the new timelines. There are so many great changes that have occurred with the timelines including the new cover photo. This is a large photo at the top of your page. So many companies have not taken the time or the effort to add a photo. It makes me sad the number of businesses that do not value their brand enough to even add a photo. The photo grabs people’s attention and makes them want to know more about your company. You do need to follow Facebook Guidelines for cover photos but it is a prominent way to showcase your business.
1. Misuse of Direct Message – A direct message is used on Twitter to send someone a private message. It is always nice and thoughtful when someone sends you a friendly message to say ‘thanks for following me. Tell me about your business.’ That’s a great direct message as the person is starting to engage and interact with you so they learn more about you and your business. Unfortunately, a lot of businesses use direct message to self promote. Not even a hi. Not even this is what my business is about. Instead it’s just ‘click here to buy from me now.’ Don’t do that! If you were face-to-face networking with someone you would not shake their hand and start saying they should buy your product/service from you without getting to know them first. The same etiquette for meeting someone face-to-face applies to social media too. Networking is about building a community, being social. Social media is building a community and all about being social.
Do agree or disagree with me? I would love for you to share your social media pet peeves with me.
