Top 50 Social Media Mistakes Made by Small Businesses
February 28, 2010 by Mirna Bard
Filed under Social Media
An increasingly number of small businesses (SMBs) are starting to use social media to attract new customers. A recent Small Business Success Index™ report sponsored by Network Solutions and the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business shows:
- Social media adoption by small businesses has doubled from 12 percent to 24 percent in the last year
- 75% surveyed have a company page on a social networking site
- 61% use social media for identifying and attracting new customers
- 57% have built a network through a site like LinkedIn
- 45% expect social media to be profitable in the next twelve months
Despite the increase in social media activity among small businesses and the increase of social media education, I still see many mistakes being made by SMBs. Here are the top 50 mistakes I observe on a daily basis (in no particular order):
- Lack of planning (Huge one!)
- Lack of clear and measurable objectives
- Not learning about social media
- Lack of knowledge about target audience
- No commitment
- Lack of consistency
- Not realizing that there is a time dedication
- Worrying too much about negative comments and brand haters
- Focusing too much about the technology aspect
- Passing the buck to assistants and interns
- Spreading themselves too thin by creating profiles everywhere
- Not completing profiles
- Uploading pictures of pets or children for avatars
- Fake friending just to pitch
- Only talking about oneself, brand or products
- Hard selling
- Using the same tactics on every site
- Responding to every negative comment
- Not thinking before commenting
- Not measuring (Another huge one!)
- Giving up on social media too easily
- Forgetting it’s about 2-way dialogue
- Setting profiles and forgetting them
- Thinking social media is a magic solution to their business problems
- Jumping on without having a hub (web site or blog)
- Neglecting to put links back to their web site or blog
- Not taking a enough time to do research and listen/observe
- No systems in place
- Not focusing on core tasks
- Not separating business and personal social media time
- Putting eggs all in one basket
- Continuing with tactics that are clearly not working for them
- Not taking the time to put a social media schedule in place
- Not setting time boundaries
- Not paying attention to customer needs
- Not providing value
- Not knowing how to integrate with other marketing/advertising efforts
- Not knowing how to use all the social media categories together
- Focusing too much on number of fans/followers/friends
- Not making enough effort to seek out the right sites for their target audience
- Neglected (not updating) websites or blogs
- Using generic or auto responses
- Spamming people with private messages, DMs or e-mails
- Using social media as a replacement strategy
- Not willing to experiment
- Being close-minded about adding strangers to network
- Not learning from mistakes
- Bribing bloggers and others to write about products and services
- Not spending time finding evangelists and influencers
- Forgetting that building relationships can be lots of fun
Some of the above mistakes, I already mentioned in a previous blog post: Are You Making These 10 Social Media Business Blunders?
Have you seen any other social media mistakes that I forgot to mention? Please list them in the comments below.
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Mirna, I am thinking if I am able to avoid all the 50 then I will be a PERFECT expert/ organization. #34 is very intriguing , not sure how many SMBs follow it. And #42 personally bugs me a lot.
. This is an exhaustive list , many thanks for sharing!
Mirna, thanks so much for posting this list! It is very complete and concise. I thought it was worth repeating and I quoted your list in my blog. 3rdidea.com/inspiration. I am hoping small businesses will become aware of the mistakes many of them are making. Thanks again!
You nailed it again. I don’t make a lot of these mistakes but I do make several. The list is a really handy reference. Thanks!
Thanks everyone! I enjoyed writing this blog because I felt WE all needed a reminder and a kick in the booty for doing some of these things…feel free to add to the list! I am sure there is a lot I did not list!
Mirna, Some good thought provoking stuff. I like the #38 and trying to integrate the major platforms. Thanks for the post
Mirna, great information. Noted several area which I have to work on. Glad someone is keeping me on track..:0)
Have a wonderful day
Dr. Marc
PS 63:7
You mention using inappropriate photos – what I hate is no photo at all…a faceless generic profile pix is creepy and sends a negative message – you’re hiding something, you can’t be bothered, you don’t take Social Media serioously.
Comprehensive list that we can all use as a checklist for our efforts.
Thank you all for your comments. Anne, yes I hate no photos too. People who don’t have photos are also mistaken for spammers.
question: for #33 are you missing a “not”? as in [Not]Taking the time to put a social media schedule in place
Thanks for pointing that out Maggie! Not matter how many times I read these posts, I still find something LOL
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This is a fantastic list on what not to do in social media! Social media is something that any small business owner can do, but it can be very tricky to master. I’m sure that many small businesses will benefit from the list you made.
I can’t stand mistake #42 because it kills any type of relationship building. Mistake #21 is something where business owners should realize that it takes patience combined with implementing the right strategies to start seeing the rewards from using social media.
Thanks Mirna for great article!
I revisited this blog today, Mirna…and realized that I need to spread this around some more~! So good, such a fine breakdown of weaknesses plaguing social media users. Glad I bookmarked it with four stars~!
Thanks Lady~!
Alan, I am with you on #42 and on #21 everyone needs to understand that social media is a process not an overnight solution!
Eureka, glad you came back to this blog…we definitely all need a reminder! Thank you for giving it 4 Stars..Yeah! I have not “Seen” you in a while…hope that means you are busy!
Mirna
This is wonderful info. I will pass this along to as many as I can.
~Jarrett
Thanks for the tips! Being a small, start-up with just myself to do all social media in addition to all marketing tasks, it’s overwhelming. I’ll keep these in mind to stay on track and not get discouraged!
Hi Jamie,
We are guilty to some degree with some of these, but you will save yourself lots of time if you try to avoid them as much as you can. Make sure to put a plan and a schedule together so it doesn’t become so overwhelming. Good luck!