Top 3 Social Media Crimes

• Trends
• May 17, 2017
• by Sally Ann Rivera

Just like BIMBO comments are all around us, we are also living in a world of social media crimes. Before we write you a citation, check to see if you’re guilty of the following:

1. Sending a Facebook post to Twitter results in posts cutoff mid-word and links to unknown internet places. It’s a horrible Twitter experience and gains nothing for Facebook. If you want to use Twitter, use content specifically curated for Twitter. It’s a network of its own built upon engagement within Twitter (and has a 140 character limit for a reason). Sending Twitter to Facebook is a related but less serious offense. (We’ll call it decriminalized but not legal.) It can work in certain circumstances but is not a good long-term strategy because it doesn’t let you use Facebook to its fullest (and the features are endless) and sends photos/videos through as a links, decreasing engagement rates. A good translator knows you wouldn’t send literally the same message in two languages without checking for nuances. Apply the same mindset to using social media. Target your message to its medium.
    
2. Time’s Up: Always ask yourself, will this opinion age well? Probably the President’s greatest Twitter offense has come from eager critics digging up old posts that contradict what he does or says now. Bear this fear in mind when posting. Will what you post now still be true next year? Ten years from now? Even next week? If the answer is no or even possibly no, revise before posting. This falls right in line with our favorite “Structure” example recreated from a bank CEO where he can’t guarantee there won’t be more layoffs. Why not? We know the employees will hold him (and the bank!) to this promise as long as their memories serve.
    
3. Ambiguous hashtags defeat their own purpose. Use hashtags and use them effectively to build community and promote your brand. Don’t use them just to use them. A vehicle drove by in my neighborhood branded with #NoWait, which is an awfully expensive social media crime. What a waste of advertising space! Think through how your audience will use a hashtag and what else the tag pulls up. You want something specific enough to your brand that your audience can easily associate with you but also general enough to enable discovery.

Stop! In the name of communication. If you’re still struggling with all the above, we’re one tweet away.