6 Ways Social Media Can Hurt Your Business

Take a closer look at any company out there and you'll see they use social media to promote their products/services. Social media a good thing, except when it's not. Just like it can build up a business in no time, social media can also tear it down in a matter of seconds. And if you're wondering how, here's a list of six ways social media can hurt your business.

Nothing ever dies

One of the things you need to bear in mind when using social media is that nothing ever seems to die. Once a discussion starts, there will be thousands of people looking at it and everything your type is going to remain there for a long time. You can sometimes try to put a topic behind you, but you never know when it's going to resurrect. Even if you delete an entire conversation, you can never be sure that no one took a screenshot of it. Therefore, you need to be very careful when using social media and think through every comment you're about to post.

Social Media Posting

Grammar mistakes

We're all human and we tend to make mistakes, especially when typing. The only problem is, if you do this on your company's page, chances are you're going to lose your credibility. And trust us, there are people on social media who're just waiting for someone to butcher spellings or their followers' names. Again, people take screenshots more than ever and any grammar mistakes you make are guaranteed to stick around for a long time. Using a spell-check app or going through each of your comments before you post them is an absolute must.

Social Media Swirl

Brand representatives

When starting a page for your business, you have to understand that each of your employees is a brand representative. This means that whatever they post can have a direct impact on your company's credibility. And since you can't really control your employees' social media profiles, you have to make sure they understand this. We recommend asking them not to post anything related to your business without proper authorization. This applies to both to pictures and tweets or Facebook statuses. Also, taking a closer look at your employees' social media profiles from time to time is a good idea.

Social Network Snapshots

Bad focus

There are so many social media platforms out there and it's very important that you choose the right ones to promote your business on. Fail to do this, and you'll probably end up wasting a lot of your time. In order to be able to choose the right platforms to use, you need to know which platforms your audience uses the most. Even once you figure this out and start using the platforms your audience uses, you still need to track how well you're doing and whether some changes need to be made. Luckily, there are experts in media monitoring who can help you with this.

Mobile Social Media

Negative comments

No matter how hard you try to satisfy your customers, there will always be people who'll post negative comments about your business. And if you don't know how to deal with such comments, your business can suffer a lot. Arguing with your customers is never a good idea, especially because any comments you post can easily spread everywhere on social media. Ignoring negative comments is also something you should try to avoid doing, since it makes you look like you have something to hide. Replying to these comments and being as polite as possible is always the right solution.

Social Media Planning

Hackers

According to some reports, hackers tend to target small businesses more than ever. So, even if you think your company's page is never going to be hacked, making it as secure as possible is recommended. This means you should avoid obvious passwords and make sure you have access to your recovery e-mail. The biggest problem with getting hacked is that anything hackers post on your page can hurt your reputation. Moreover, they could get their hands on all the valuable info you have stored on your social media page.

Even though social media can do wonders for your business, it still poses somewhat of a threat to it. The best way to make sure social media doesn't hurt your business is to make your every move well thought-through.


Guest Author

Diana Smith

Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in topics related to marketing and the latest business technologies. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family.