The Most Common Social Networking Mistakes

The Wall Street Journal lists the 4 most common mistakes individuals and businesses make when trying to use sites like Twitter and Facebook.


August 21, 2008, 9:55 am
Social Networking: Common Mistakes Small Businesses Make
by Kelly Spors

Many businesses these days are venturing into the Wild West of social media, trying their hand at things like blogging and Twitter and creating profiles on social-networking sites. But along the way they’re making lots of mistakes.

These mistakes shouldn’t be taken lightly. How your business is perceived in the Web 2.0 world will affect your reputation and your ability to connect with customers, associates and potential customers. (Who wants to hire a company that can’t even manage an engaging, thought-provoking blog?)

Sta.rtup.biz, a small-business social-networking site, recently had some thoughts on how small businesses are botching their forays into the social-media world. Here’s a look at some of the most common mistakes from them and other social-media experts:

– Bare Profile: Signing up for a Facebook account is the easy part. Before you blast emails to 1,000 of your customers and friends, a business should spend some time thoughtfully building a profile with an attractive photo, background and contact information.

– Too Little Personality: Lighten up. The social-media world is about engaging customers on a more personal level. Your “About Me” shouldn’t just be dry facts about your business. Make sure you add some personal touches. Humor often helps.

– Too Much Hype: Using social media shouldn’t be about blatantly selling a business. It’s about making connections and creating credibility so that people will like you and trust you and eventually want to buy from you. Use it to interact and meet new people – don’t get overly promotional.

– Not Enough Fresh Content: Engaging others through social media needs to be an ongoing, frequent process. You can’t just build a profile and let it sit idle. Preferably you want to be refreshing your content regularly (daily, if possible) so people come back for more.
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SO ASK YOURSELF DO YOU HAVE A:
* thoughtful profile/attractive photo/ background & contact information on your sites?

* “About Me” that is not just be dry facts about your business. Add some personal touches. A little Humor goes a long way.

* way to build relationships, interact and meet new people – don’t be overly promotional.

* engaging people through your social media,on a ongoing, frequent process?

I hope that you are doing all this. I'm pretty sure that I am.
Check my wordpress blog for more on my site. Newly updated info on
Web 2.0 Info like Twitter and Face Book.

You can find out more about social networking http://www.workingathomeincomeblog.com/