Dangerous Mistakes that can ruin any social media marketing campaign

Dangerous Mistakes that can ruin any social media marketing campaignBeing one of the popular and one of the most rewarding strategies, social media marketing has come a long way. It just needs a post to be good and informative, and it can go viral any day. This results in thousands of visitors and a long list of followers. But on the flip side, a single mistake can ruin the entire strategy. It may be so fatal that it could eventually turn away the already faithful followers which one may have. Therefore, a few mistakes have the potential of doing almost the opposite of what the viral posts are capable for doing. Some common mistakes that can be avoided are:

  1. Publishing offensive content: Quite evident and common, but the most common mistake one might do. Although, none of the social media managers would post anything intentionally which is offensive, there is a series of instances where they do it regularly. It normally happens for two possible reasons. One might be a post being made mistakenly, while the other might be the post not appearing offensive at the time of publishing. However, irrespective of the reason, both are preventable. An example one might relate to the in-famous tweet by US Airway’s in the year 2014. It was the response to one query where this brand sent a pornographic picture without realizing it being a mistake till one hour later. After this incident they discovered that this link accidentally got copied from one of the tweets by another follower. A simple proofreading was only thing needed to prevent such a scenario. Hence, ensure one does multiple checks before a post is made public.
  2. Misinterpretation of a trend: Trending issues or hashtags are a lucrative option for any brand to cling on for a promotional activity over the social media marketing. It needs the right selection of the right trend and at right time which can bring the brand in limelight. However, a wrong approach where one utilizes the trend in an inappropriate manner can bring havoc to the brands reputation. An example can be the case of DiGiorno Pizza which though of capitalizing over the funny and popular trending topic named #WhyIStayed for advertising its pizza. However, the brand had no clue that the hashtag had been used for raising awareness against domestic violence within USA. It resulted in 1000s of angry customers who made sure that DiGiorno realized the mistake and apologized. This had a lasting damage over reputation of the brand. It just needed a simple click and checking the contents of the hashtag which might have prevented such a scenario.
  3. Funding shortcuts: The internet already has a lot of shortcuts in store. These are particularly targeted to the impatient or the desperate social media managers. However, it is a golden rule where any approach that is destined to be a shortcut is going to be an expensive proposition. There are several marketers offering a number of likes and followers in return to package fees. However, it is to be treated as a warning sign as it usually is a part of a spam like tactics or a black hat approach. Hence, it needs to be avoided and people should only follow conventional and accepted methods.
  4. Not paying heeds to feedbacks: It is seen that most of the social media followers are vocal in terms of their views, likes and dislikes. On many occasions they express their views while on many a times they restrain from doing so. However, this becomes evident from the reactions or actions. For instance, if your post is appreciated, it will be shared or liked by many. However, a post that is not shared or liked by many shows the index of unpopularity itself. These provide a great tool for indicating likes and dislikes. Not paying attention to the kind of posts that work or the posts which don’t would result in failure. Hence, ensure you take both the direct and indirect feed-backs of your audience seriously.

Image credit: kbuntu

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