Social media sucks. Twitter sucks too.
That sounds like blasphemy coming from the ‘Social Media Commando,’ right? Let me explain:
Tools like Twitter and Facebook are great for catching up with friends, sharing interesting links, and growing a community for a productive purpose. The relationships I have established using these social networking tools have introduced me to some very wonderful people.
…And then there are the self-involved noise makers who pollute the social Web with what is best described using the French term ‘amour soi meme’ (roughly translated, love of oneself).
Protect Your Brand From Social Posing
How often do you look back on what you distribute on the social Web? Do you look inward to examine how others react to your tweets, posts, and messages?
As businesses and individuals grow their fan base of followers, it is tempting to think everyone loves you and it is impossible to do wrong. That’s a huge tactical error. When social media becomes purely self-promotional it fails, because people will tune out or call you on the declining quality. By the way, you’re lucky if people tell you when your messages are losing their luster — it’s far more damaging, and common, when people grow apathetic and click ‘unfollow.’
However, you don’t have to break into a cold sweat, just ask yourself a few simple questions:
- What’s my purpose for sharing on the social Web?
- Do I spam people with thousands of daily tweets?
- How does the community I participate in react to my brand?
- How is it possible to be generous and productive at the same time?
Your social media strategy probably doesn’t suck, but remain diligent about making sure it stays on the right track. The fact is that once you hit that ‘update’ button, your tweets, blog posts, and status updates are on the Web for good. By the way, if you feel the Commando isn’t practicing what he preaches, feel free to call BS at any time!