According to a recent study conducted by a software company Pitney Bowes, 83% consumers have had a bad experience with annoying social media practices. Out of these, 65% blatantly mentioned that they would stop using the brand that pesters them all the time.
The survey also noted that 34% people feel ‘spammed’ by social media marketing.
Another study conducted by research specialists Vanson Bourne revealed that respondents do not mind receiving occasional messages from brands they follow online. However, 40% of the people said that they would be annoyed to receive messages from a business they do not know or follow.
Marketing company MediaBrix’s recent survey also suggested something similar. As per their findings, disguised content on social media is the most loathed advertising practice. In fact, 86% of the audience revealed that they have encountered such content in the form of videos. Almost all of them claimed that disguised content forms a negative perception towards the brand.
With these facts intact, it is clear that businesses must refrain from bad social media behavior. Below are the top ten very annoying practices that must be avoided:
Automated Twitter DM
Have your followers on Twitter said an okay to send them direct messages? Of course not! For you must know that Twitter is not an Email list; it’s a conversation! It is bad etiquette and very annoying if you send automated direct messages to each new follower.
And if you thought adding a personal touch to an automated message would work in your favor, think again! Most users are discerning enough to see these messages for what they are— advertisements!
Google+ Direct Posts
Google+ comes with a feature that allows sending direct posts to people. Now what you must know is: doing this once in a while is okay and sending posts directly to a select few is fine, but sending regular promotional messages to your connections is perceived as just plain offensive.
SPAM Pinterest Group Boards
Are you randomly inviting people (and even their relatives!) to contribute to your group boards? If so, stop doing it right away! You need to understand that if a user has nothing to do with your product or service, they would have no interest whatsoever in contributing to your content.
For making people a part of your community, you must take the initial step of introducing yourself and building a relationship. Also, it’s important to practice targeted marketing, and inviting the select audience that have expressed an interest in your niche through their shares, boards, and profile information.
Hashtags & Facebook
While Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ acknowledge hashtags, it does not mean every platform does. So if you are using hashtags on Facebook, it simply means you do not know what you doing! Hashtags have absolutely no functional value on Facebook.
Mass Google+ Community Invites
Of course, people don’t mind receiving invites, but telling them to join communities like paragliding, breeding horses, digging mud, or climbing a tree with a book in their hand is annoying! Okay, the last two are made-up, but you get the point, don’t you?
Sending invites is all right, but it makes sense to only approach those who have the slightest interest in the topic of your community. It is a good practice to know your target audience and initial research will go a long way in your favor.
Boasting On LinkedIn
If used the right way, LinkedIn is an amazing networking tool. However, no one likes it if you keep on ranting about yourself or your company. It’s annoying! Just like other platforms, interesting content and constant interaction will get you brownie points here.
Distorted Images
Our brain responds 60,000X times faster to visuals than text. Furthermore, visual information receives better reception by 40% people. This makes visuals a prominent part of social media marketing efforts. However, you must learn the exact dimensions each platform recommends. Uploading out of shape or distorted images will only run down your entire campaign.
Turning Mute
If you have not been responding to requests, comments or queries lately, there is only one question that arises: “What does social mean to you?” Of course, you can’t be on top of things at all times, but a long delay in accepting requests and ignoring queries must be avoided.
You have to show your followers that you care. Like their comment, re-tweet what they say, and make them feel happy. You must also know how to deal with negative feedback. Respond to them politely and reasonably and do not delete any negative feedback.
Compensating For Inactivity
While going off the social radar is a problem in itself, over-compensating for inactivity is a bigger sin! Being inert for a couple of days does not mean you choke your followers with several posts in a day. Doing so will only annoy people and force them to un-follow you.
To be successful in your social media efforts, you may find the following habits useful:
- Share your most interesting blog posts on Google+
- Pin relevant content on Pinterest no more the 25-30 times a week.
- Share images and videos on Facebook. They garner more attention.
- Don’t bombard your followers with tweets, posting 5 times a day should be enough.
It’s also a good idea to look at every post, tweet, and share from the perspective of your followers and fans. The following checklist should help you decide whether something is worth posting or not:
- Would the message annoy you?
- Would you press the delete button before even reaching the end of the message?
- Would you continue following the person who sent you that message?
As soon as you are able to taste empathy, you will have a workable marketing plan in place.
Emma-Julie Fox writes for Pitstop Media Inc, a Vancouver company that provides SEO services to businesses across North America. If you would like to invite the author to write on your blog too please contact www.pitstopmedia.com
Annoying Social Media Habits To Avoid
No comments:
Post a Comment