5 social media sins every company should avoid

Over the past few years, it’s struck me how often people ask me about the best way to participate on social media. While we are becoming more mature in how we use social media for public relations and marketing, there are still some common mistakes people make.

Here are the top five mistakes that I think a company should avoid when beginning any social media activity:

1. Self-serving comments. There is a fine line between being helpful and being self-promotional, and I think this is the most common mistake you will see. Some companies or individuals research blogs and post comments only as way to promote their content. As a rule of thumb, it’s better to leave out any promotional stuff and only add comments that contribute to the overall discussion.

2. All about me. Many marketers still subscribe to the notion of broadcast media—just sending out updates about themselves. Social media is about conversations and engagement. Listen to the conversations and participate when appropriate (See the first point.).