I received an interesting email from a Facebook friend of mine yesterday. It read, “I’m learning a lot from you and Facebook. One of the main lessons I’m learning is that Facebook is not a … site where you bring your nasty attitude for the world to see. These people have no clue that they’re committing brand suicide. Better them than me.”
This email resonated so much with me that I feel the need to come out of my blogging hiatus to create a post about it. Are you creating brand suicide by doing one of the following?
1. Sharing inappropriate posts– Are your updates often mean-spirited, depressing, explicit or just plain “TMI”? If so, you are likely turning potential clients off to your products or services. I actually attempted to copy and paste some updates that I have seen recently, but upon rereading, I did not have the heart to expose my blog readers to any of them. So, let’s just say, keep it positive or at least informative. Also, I would highly suggest keeping political/religious posts respectful, unless you happen to be a shock-jock or someone whose job is to be controversial in one or both of those areas. Rule: Don’t post anything on a social network that you would not say on a public stage or show a stadium full of people via jumbotron.
2. Posting applications on your friends’ walls- Unless you know for a fact that your Facebook friend wants you to “throw a bunny” at them, post a “Blingee postcard” or make them “smell your feet”, do not post application links on your friends walls. This includes Farmville and Sorority Life. There is a two-part reason for keeping usage of these apps to a minimum.
- Serious business people may remove you from their friends list to keep you from doing it again. These applications cause clutter and many are completely inappropriate in terms of content.
- Friends will reciprocate and clutter your wall. I have posted a screen shot of a business person’s profile. I have removed all identifying information. Tell me, how seriously would you take this person? Furthermore, all of the applications cause his/her actual business-related posts get lost in the clutter.
3. Acting as a walking talking billboard– Social networks are just that, SOCIAL. It’s okay to share business information, specials and deals. Just make sure that you are engaging your audience and encouraging two-way communication. Just as a viewer has the ability to turn the channel on a boring commercial, they have the ability to tune you out as well!