Seven Biggest Social Media Mistakes Businesses Make That

Damage Their Reputation

 By Jonas Sickler, in Public Relations. Last revised on February 25, 2021

It’s easy to see why savvy business owners are so easily lured by the power of social
media marketing. It offers the possibility of big returns with almost no capital
investment and virtually anyone is able to open an account for free and begin sharing
content. Unfortunately, in the hands of an inexperienced business owner, the low startup
costs and ease of use may be a recipe for disaster.

How a Social Media Crisis Happens

Whenever you get 2.46 billion people together sharing their opinions, there’s bound to [L1] Comentário:
be some conflict and misunderstanding that causes negative ripples across your social Destined or very likely to have a specified
profiles. An angry customer could start a Twitter tirade because of an unresolved bad experience.
customer experience. Your social media manager might pull a Ted Cruz and [L2] Comentário:
accidentally “like” or share an inappropriate post on your timeline. A disgruntled
A wavelike motion; an undulation: the
employee could post something unprofessional. Even large corporate accounts have ripple of a flag.
been hacked, resulting in embarrassing, albeit sometimes funny, status updates. Just
The repercussions of an event or situation
about anything can ignite a brand bonfire on social media. experienced far beyond its immediate
location
It’s critical to understand that Vegas rules don’t apply. While the easiest course of
action would be to simply delete the offensive post, there are several reasons this [L3] Comentário:

doesn’t work and could even worsen the situation. Once a post has been published, A long angry speech, usually of a
anyone can take a screenshot of your content and share it before you’ve had a chance to censorious or denunciatory nature; a
diatribe.
correct the error. The juicier your mistake, the more likely it will be turned into a meme
and risk viral popularity. If you’ve really bungled things, the error could be picked up [L4] Comentário:

by the mainstream news and you’ll have a much more difficult time repairing your Feeling or expressing discontent or anger
reputation.
[L5] Comentário:
Deleting an unpleasant post from an upset customer is often an instinctual reaction, but Even though; although; notwithstanding:
this may escalate the situation and cause a severe backlash. The customer may begin clear albeit cold weather.
taking screenshots of their posts to prove they are being silenced and this could lead
followers to wonder how many other complaints were removed. [L6] Comentário:

The term Vegas Rules comes from the

How you prepare your team and how you handle the situation as it develops is saying "What happens in Vegas, stays in
Vegas." When used in a meeting, the rule
important, and is likely determine whether or not a social media “incident” becomes a says that whatever is said in the meeting
full-blown crisis that will cost you money. must be kept private to the people who
were in the room and should never be
repeated to others.
7 Huge Social Media Mistakes to Avoid [L7] Comentário:

To carry out badly or ruin through

#1: Putting the Wrong Person in Charge of Accounts ineptitude

Handing over the keys to your social media accounts to interns, inexperienced
employees, or simply the wrong personality types can cause big problems that cost
millions to fix. Hire a social media manager who understands risk, thinks before acting
and has public relations experience. Qualified individuals should also be able to identify
and handle a crisis. Definitely keep those who are impulsive, quick to anger, or sarcastic
away from your social media accounts.

If you don’t want to deal with your social media in-house, consider hiring a firm to
handle your accounts for you. You’ll have peace of mind knowing your profiles will be
handled professionally and you won’t need to worry as much about oversight. [L8] Comentário:

An unintentional omission or mistake.

#2: Not having a Crisis Communication Plan

One of the easiest ways to make a bad situation worse is by not being prepared for it.
While you can’t anticipate every crisis, you should at least develop a crisis
communication strategy to train your company and social media manager about how to
react during an emergency. Even calm employees can make social media mistakes when
under stress, so make sure you have a second set of eyes on every post and reply.

Your crisis plan should also clarify who is responsible for posting updates and
responding to comments and messages. It’s crucial to build redundancies into your plan [L9] Comentário:
because one person may not be able to handle the increased activity across all of your Exceeding what is necessary or natural;
social channels. Invest a few hours of your time training approved team members about superfluous.
how to handle a crisis and get them up to speed. Should a situation ever arise, that time
and money will be well spent.

#3: Failing to Monitor for Trouble

Be vigilant at all times for any mentions of your brand, or your competitors, so you can
catch potential problems as soon as they arise. Angry customers don’t always directly
complain on your social profiles or tag your business. Sometimes they post critical
statements of frustration about your brand in their own status updates. These “soft”
complaints could go unnoticed by an inexperienced social media manager who isn’t
actively using social monitoring to spot issues.

Your team won’t be able to address issues before they escalate if they aren’t aware of
these dark complaints, Letting customer experience problems fester because you aren’t
paying attention is just as bad as intentionally ignoring them, and the result is often
repeated complaints from the same customer who felt ignored, or from others
experiencing the same issues.

Fortunately, you don’t have to spend valuable time scouring the social landscape for [L10] Comentário:
mentions of your business. There are numerous social monitoring tools available to To clean, polish, or wash by scrubbing
keep you informed with little effort. So whether you’re running your own accounts or vigorously
hiring someone, you’ll be able to spot icebergs before they sink your ship.

#4: Failing to Engage with Your Audience

The purpose of social media is to engage in discussions with people, yet far too many [L11] Comentário:
businesses make the mistake of only posting promotional content. Social profiles are To attract and hold the attention of;
frequently misunderstood as being sales tools and judged by how many visitors they engross
refer to your website, but they can also be powerful customer service platforms to help [L12] Comentário:
you build brand loyalty and handle customer experience issues before they tarnish your
To bring disgrace to; sully: a scandal that
reputation. tarnished his reputation.
It’s crucial to respond quickly when your team discovers criticism about your brand.
Ignoring complaints sends a message to your followers that you don’t care enough
about them to reply, or worse, the complaint is valid and commonplace. Comments on
your social profiles are public so every one of your followers can read the thread and [L13] Comentário:
see if you respond to problems. A set of posts on a newsgroup, composed
of an initial post about a topic and all
Aside from negative comments, companies can learn a lot from their followers by responses to it.

asking questions, starting polls, and inviting feedback. Wouldn’t it be useful to ask your
followers to vote before launching a new color or product? Maybe you’re looking to
build a software tool and you want to know all of the features your customers need.
Social media is much more useful as a telephone than a megaphone.
[L14] Comentário:

#5: Responding to Criticism Unprofessionally An expression of pain, dissatisfaction, or

resentment.

The only thing worse than not responding to negative feedback on social media is [L15] Comentário:

responding inappropriately. Properly handling criticism in the public eye is essential to To engage in a bad-tempered quarrel,
converting a negative brand experience into a positive one and protecting your often in a petty manner over something
trivial; squabble. Synonym:argue.
reputation.
[L16] Comentário:

A single rude response to a genuine complaint will be magnified by the number of boil over
followers you have, and could even leak out into the mainstream news in a “social 1. To overflow while boiling.
2. To lose one's temper.
media fails” article. Bickering, deleting comments, and blocking users can cause a
heated situation to quickly boil over. When handling criticism, be professional, [L17] Comentário:
empathetic, and make an effort to understand what caused the situation.
lash out
vb (intr, adverb)
Customers typically use social media as a last resort to lash out at a business and warn 1. to burst into or resort to verbal or
other consumers of a problem when they feel their issue is unresolved. Providing your physical attack

customers with an easy way to voice frustrations on your website may prevent them
[L18] Comentário:
from airing their dirty laundry on your social channels for others to read.
to utter in words; give expression to: to
voice a complaint.
#6: Misjudging Your Audience
[L19] Comentário:

Your social media audience may be different from your general customer base. If you 1. Exposure to air for freshening or drying.
don’t take the time to understand your audience, you run the risk of unintentionally 2. Exposure to open air for exercise or the
promotion of health.
insulting them with the wrong tone, an inappropriate image, or an out-of-context 3. Exposure to public attention.
statement. This is often the case for large brands with massive follower counts that span
a wide demographic spectrum. [L20] Comentário:

To extend across in space or time: a bridge

Use social media analytics tools like Facebook Insights to learn who your followers are that spans the gorge; a career that
and what they’re talking about. Doing so can prevent questionable content from spanned 40 years.

unintentionally ruffling feathers and throwing your brand’s reputation into a tailspin. [L21] Comentário:

To disturb the smoothness or regularity of;

ripple: The wind ruffled the water.
[L22] Comentário:

tail·spin

1. The rapid descent of an aircraft in a

steep, spiral spin.
2. Informal A loss of emotional control
sometimes resulting in emotional
collapse.
#7: Not Drafting an Employee Social Media Policy [L23] Comentário:

To draw up a preliminary version of or plan

Most of your employees shouldn’t have access to your social account logins, but they for.
should have guidelines for referencing your brand in their personal posts. People
sometimes think they’re safe to vent about workplace grievances and office shenanigans [L24] Comentário:
if they aren’t connected with anyone from work on their personal social accounts. But 1. To express (one's thoughts or feelings,
that harmless post could end up tarnishing your business’s reputation if your employees for example), especially forcefully. See
are connected with your customers or members of the media. Synonym: voice.
[L25] Comentário:
Rather than scaring your employees away from talking about your company, encourage An actual or supposed circumstance
them to be vocal but give them guidance about what’s appropriate. Happy employees regarded as just cause for complaint.
are some of the best recruiting tools you can ask for, but they can also unintentionally [L26] Comentário:
harm your company’s image if they aren’t given any ground rules.
informal Secret or dishonest activity or
manoeuvring.
Don’t Fear Failure
[L27] Comentário:
With countless brand-crushing memes born from spelling errors, misunderstandings, Discoloration of the surface of a metal
and fumbled advertising attempts, smaller businesses may be terrified to even use social restoration
media. While a large corporation has deep enough pockets to weather a PR nightmare Make or become less valuable or
and absorb the resulting revenue losses, a social media mob could spell disaster for a respected.
mom-and-pop company. [L28] Comentário:

To proceed awkwardly and uncertainly;

Intelligently using social media carries far more reward than risk for micro-businesses. blunder: fumble through a speech.
If you listen to your followers, react quickly and compassionately when needed, and
develop an emergency plan if something does go wrong, you’ll be able to maximize the
benefits of this channel while avoiding a potential crisis. [L29] Comentário:

To come through (something) safely;

survive: weather a crisis.
[L30] Comentário:

All the income produced by a particular

source.
[L31] Comentário:

A large and often disorderly crowd.

[L32] Comentário:

a small family-owned private business

enterprise
[L33] Comentário:

To involve as a condition, consequence, or

effect