Social media is a great way to promote your product and get your company’s name out there. Like anyone else, however, it’s always important to watch what you post – you don’t know who might be looking. Over the years, there have been a number of social media faux pas lists compiled. Having learnt from others’ mistakes, it’s our turn to show you what to avoid when under the social spotlight this year.

1)     Know your hashtags

If you choose to trend jack on a hashtag, you’re going to want to know what exactly the trend is that your post is tagged to. Whilst this can be a really effective way of getting your content seen, it can be an easy way of losing credibility when done wrong.

Fun posts linked into overarching trends can be good. Posting something that becomes offensive in the context of its hashtag is definitely a faux pas.

2)     Always credit

Sometimes you find the perfect picture or quote to go with your post or article, but there’s one problem. It’s not yours. If you desperately need to use someone else’s property to advertise your product, it’s important that you always ask permission and credit the owner. Nobody likes plagiarism – and you’ll lose credibility and trust if people label you with it.

3)     Track your links

Tracking your links is the most effective way to utilise social media. Not knowing what’s popular with your followers is a faux pas. What’s the point of making posts if you don’t know whether they’re working? Certain subjects and content styles may draw more attention than others.

4)     Keep people engaged

In relation to the last point, keep visitors engaged. If you can see that people stay on a certain URL longer than others, it’s probably a reliable bet that your audience is engaged. Engaging content means that people come back to see more, and the more people return, the more popular your company name gets.

5)     Keep things short, sharp and sweet

Especially on Facebook, it can be easy to reel on and on about your product, your company, something ground-breaking you’ve achieved recently. For the most part, it’s best to keep things short, sharp and sweet – business people are busy people. New prospects are unlikely to have time to read a novel length post about an event you went to recently. If you can grab their attention quickly, they’re a lot more likely to check out your company.

If you’re struggling to get your social media off the ground, despite avoiding these faux pas, then you need to figure out which social media marketing methods are best for you.

Looking for further advice on your own B2B digital marketing strategy, why not prove the worth of your marketing budget with this handy guide!