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The Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media

March 17, 2010 BY Mark Evans

Fact: When it comes to social media, it’s not really about the tools; it’s how you use them. The more effectively and productively that Twitter, blogs, Facebook, et al are used, the more success you will have. On that note, here are seven things that will probably kill your social media efforts:

1. Over-tweeting. It’s about quality rather than quantity. Anyone tweeting 20, 30 or 40 times/day has too much time on their hands, a short attention span, a willingness to share too much, or should allocate some of this creative energy towards blog posts.

2. Starting and stopping: Doing well at social media means doing it on a day-in, day-out basis. It’s about grunting it out as opposed to moving in fits and starts. The worst thing that you can do is go crazy for a couple weeks, and then disappear for two weeks. Your audience doesn’t know if you are coming or going, and they’ll eventually stop tuning in.

3. Spam: If your posts, tweets or update are mostly about promoting your own products, services or ideas, it will turn people off sooner rather than later. Social media isn’t about one-side conversations.

4. Me, me, me: Again, posts, tweets or updates that are about you – your caffeine habits, your lack of sleep, your children, your work, etc. become tiring really, really quickly. Honestly, I don’t care that much about you.

5. Offering nothing of value. Social media is about giving and offering advice, insight and information about interesting articles, blog posts and online services. If you’re not doing that, it’s just a one-sided conversation, which isn’t much fun.

6. Automation overkill. I’m not anti-automation tools. In fact, I think when used the right way, they can make your social media efforts far more productive and efficient. It’s when automation tools are used badly, that causes trouble. If your tweets are the same as your Facebook updates are the same as your LinkedIn updates, are the same as your MySpace updates, that’s not good; that’s just lazy.

7. Using a shot-gun approach, which involves using many social media services as opposed to using a small number really well. With a shot-gun approach, what usually happens is everything gets done badly or, at best, in a mediocre way. Instead, companies should walk before they run by focusing on one or two social media services, and doing them really well. Based on how things go and the lessons learned, then expansion into other services makes sense.

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This entry was posted in Social Media and tagged Facebook, Social Media, Twitter. Bookmark the permalink.

http://www.theclientsideblog.com Michael Seaton

Take away item # 4 and #5 from Twitter and you’ll hear crickets! Good points, I agree with all of them Mark.

http://www.markevanstech.com Mark Evans

Michael,

Thanks for the comment!

cheers, Mark

http://blog.tamar.com Milly Diaz-Tamar.com

Great points Mark! These guidelines apply to both individuals AND brands. If you’re a brand and your agency is not discouraging you from simply broadcasting messages in the socialsphere, consider rethinking your relationship with them!

Point #4 is especially important for us all to note. In real life, do you like people who are ‘me, me, me’? Of course not! I have to disagree a bit with Michael’s comment above. I’ve sorted out my ‘follow’ list on Twitter so my stream is filled with people who are less about themselves and more about sharing knowledge, news, helpful tips! Check out more helpful Twitter tips here: http://blog.tamar.com/2009/01/top-10-tips-for-the-twitter-verse/
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http://www.madrigal.com.au madcom

Interesting point about overtweeting. Doesn’t his contradict point #2 in some ways. Do you tweet 20-40 tweets for one hour a day or all day? I worry that I am tweeting for an hour while no one is there!
http://www.reccen.nl Marco Prins

Hi Mark,

What you are writing is something that everybody can know very logic.
That´s directly the problem easy and basic things are the most difficult things to remember and to do. So the things you are telling is so simple that is for me an eyeopener. I´m working in recruitment and in The Netherlands recruitment agencies have a bad name. And because we go to the base (thinking logic and listen to our clients) we have developed something great (i´m not pitching nr.3 SPAM).

Because our budget is not very high and we LIKE social media we are trying to use social media. That is of course not the problem but nr. 2, 4 and 7 and maybe also 3 we will analyse because on these points we have to learn lessons. About LIKE is that also not very important?

Marco Prins
marco@reccen.nl
http://utodd.com Todd

You must first define success. Your definition might differ from that of others.

I take issue with #1 (over-tweeting). According to tweetstats.com, I tweet an average of 35.4 times a day. And, if you’ve ever eaten dinner or shared a beer (or six) with me, you’d realize I talk the entire time, cracking jokes, telling stories, providing witty replies, keeping the conversation moving AND listening. It’s what I do. I enjoy a healthy conversation (or bullsh!tting on the porch as some may call it).

Also note, of those 35.4 tweets a day, 65% are @ replies. So they are hopefully a conversation, not just a megaphone blast of me, me, me.

The problem with list of “deadly sins” or “you’re doing it wrong” is that every situation is unique. My followers are different than your followers, my tweets are different than your tweets. Don’t proclaim there are correct and incorrect ways of doing social media. Instead, understand your definition of success and how you can best accomplish it.

http://www.markevanstech.com Mark Evans

Todd,

You’re right, every situation is unique depending on what you want to get out of social media. My list of “deadly sins” reflects my own approach/philosophy, although I think there are aspects of the list that lots of people could embrace.

Thanks for the comment.

Mark
http://propsblog.com Blake Waddill

I have to agree with you on this one. Some of the most popular people on twitter (Chris Brogan, for example) have probably tweeted well over 100 times in a day.

The main difference between him tweeting that much and someone doing it “wrong” is what they tweet about as you mentioned in #4. Sticking with the ChrisBrogan example, most of his tweets are replies to others.

Too much “me” is definitely bad, but I think you also need some touch of personal, or you might be in danger of becoming a RT parrot and nothing more (something that I did way too much when I first got on twitter).

Either way, Great Title and great article. These are certainly solid guidelines!

http://www.markevanstech.com Mark Evans

Blake,

I think providing some personality is a good thing when it comes to social media but too much “me” is not a good thing unless you’re really into someone. At the same time, I think there are some people, including myself, who use social media as a professional tool.

Thanks for the comment.

Mark

http://lighthouse-insights.blogspot.com/ Prasant

yes it depends from person to person. Like i won’t like people spamming with there checkin details, you may not be liking my links on photography etc. I believe Mark has explored from this post more from a brand perspective

http://twitter.com/torontovote James

6. Automation overkill.
I agree with the subject but not the paragraph.

Having your tweets, sent to Linkedin or Facebook allows you to share them with a different audience.

Having your followers auto tweeted or direct messaged or having your tweets automated every hour can be annoying
Koen Verhagen

Mark,

I think the fact that you are trying to give a guide about how you should behave on Twitter, shows that you have no idea what social media is all about. If people tweet too much, so what, if they talk too much about themselves, so what? Twitter reflects the way people really are. And that is the great thing about it. You might like it or you don’t. Just unfollow if you don’t. Defining the Deadly sins of Social Media is exactly the opposite of what social media is all about.

@koen_verhagen

http://www.markevanstech.com Mark Evans

Koen,

Thanks for your thoughts, although I do politely disagree. While social media may be the “Wild West” in the sense there are no hard and fast rules, there’s room for general guidelines regardless of how you use social media. The list is an attempt to talk about some issues that rub people the wrong way but there are people who may have no problems with of the items.

cheers, Mark

http://www.agilewords.com Fabrice Talbot

Great post Mark! I realize I might be guilty of the #2 sin. I usually stop tweeting on weekends. I am pretty consistent though throughout the rest of the week. So I hope my audience forgives me.

http://www.markevanstech.com Mark Evans

Fabrice,

I think it’s all about consistency – and that can mean once a week or once a day. As long as your audience knows what to expect, you won’t disappoint them. And I think not tweeting on weekends make complete sense given it’s good to take a digital break. Thanks for the comment.

Mark

http://sashakovaliov.com Sasha Kovaliov

I think there should be 0.5 – Not defining the strategy – that’s where all the sins come from.
Fabrice, I have weekends offline – it doesn’t hurt. Actually, I feel better and can catch up on other things in real-life and recap what has been done this week. So some consistent offline time is a helper.
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http://www.GreenHitShirts.com Ty Palmer

Mark, thank you for keeping me on track. Just as with face to face communication, I want to put my best foot forward when offering ideas and sharing news in my particular niche. Your guidelines help me focus, and if we are all doing so, then the worldwide
Twitter conversation tone possibilities are quite promising. Cheers!

Ty Palmer :: Founder

http://www.markevanstech.com Mark Evans

Tyler,

Glad you found the post valuable in some way. Thanks for the comment.

Mark

http://girls-gone-geek.com EPeterman

Mark, I really liked this part of your post: “(A)llocate some of this creative energy towards blog posts.” Yep. It seems to me that needs to be some substance behind the chatter, unless the person tweeting is exceptionally and consistently clever. Thanks!
http://www.thebreakupnote.com Chad @ thebreakupnote

very very good advice!
http://lighthouse-insights.blogspot.com/ Prasant

automation should be handled with care, too much of anything is bad. And if you are a brand and are on twitter then they should read your list. One should also understand that sm is abut humans and not for bots. thanks for a lovely post.
http://guidelights.org Rise’ Harrington

Thanks for the valuable insights. Alot of it seems common sense but it’s (SM) such a new phenomenon that it’s nice to know I’m not way off base. Thanks for sharing~
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