How NOT to use Social media

How NOT to use Social media

Social media as a marketing tool is a vast and often difficult area to venture into. While most people have a vague idea of how to use social media it isn’t necessarily easy to find out where and how to get started. Luckily there are plenty of resources out there talking about the great possibilities posed by social media for marketing purposes and how to do it. What we haven’t been able to find is an article that explains how NOT to use social media, so here it is. Social media is a great concept that advertising and media agencies are eagerly trying to take advantage of – and with good reason. However, in their eagerness to engage with consumers they sometimes do not spend enough time getting familiar with the dynamics of social media and the characteristics of its users. This list of don’t dos is not generally ordered by importance, but the first point in the list does hold a special place of importance based on our experiences with not too web savvy marketing planners.

1) Don’t try to invent your own version of something that already exists.

There is little reason to offer social networking facilities on your corporate or product website. Actually there is plenty of reason not to do it. Social sites like Facebook are already doing it, they’re doing it great, and they have millions of users. People who use social networking sites to connect with their friends are not going to ditch Facebook for your site. And fact is that generally people do not use social networking sites to find new friends – they use them to connect with the friends they already have, which means they are going to use the social networking site that their friends use.

2) Don’t try to take advantage of every possible social media site out there.

There are too many of them, and your efforts are much more likely to pay off if you put some real effort into the ones you feel are the best ones for your purpose, instead of targeting too many and not putting the effort needed into any of them. Our suggestion would be to select a few of the larger social media sites and a number of smaller and more specialized ones that match your field of interest.

3) Don’t try to sell your product on social media sites.

Social media users are notorious for being wary of advertising and marketing. Some social media communities are more marketing hostile than others, but as a general rule of thumb it is a good idea to refrain from trying to push anything onto social media users. Take your time getting to know the community and find out what is appreciated and what isn’t. Use social media primarily for product awareness, branding, and interaction with interested consumers.

4) Don’t use social media if you want clear editorial control over your brand and message.

But let’s face it. Chances are you don’t have that anyway. The internet is largely unregulated and anyone can say what they want about your brand and your products. You could try to use social media and SEO to gain more control about your brand by pushing bad PR down in the search listings. Do however be prepared for anything when you engage in social media, you never know how your audience is going to respond.

5) Don’t use social media solely as a link strategy.

While social media can certainly be part of a link strategy, it would be a shame to use additional incoming links as the only measure of success. The “side effects” to a successful social media link building campaign are too good to be ignored and could include branding, traffic, loyalty, trust, credibility, love, etc. One of the big changes to traditional online marketing, brought on by social media, is the need for companies to shift focus from their corporate or product websites towards “satellite” outlets in the different social media communities. After all, it is a lot easier to get consumers to engage with you if you come to them instead of waiting for them to come to you.

6) Don’t engage in social media if your company is perceived as an unfriendly, arrogant, cynical, and uncaring company and you prefer to keep it that way.


Social media optimisation is a unique opportunity to engage with consumers and show them that you are in fact a human, trustworthy, listening, and responsible company that cares about its consumers.

The very last word of advice also comes from our experience with advertising and media people, but this is exactly what they are so good at! They may have a thing or two to learn about the more technical “how”s, but they certainly know their “what”s and the importance of connecting with consumers is one of the things that has stuck with us the most. For a quick (and funny) lesson on the relationship between advertiser and consumer, watch this short video