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Three social media content mistakes that could hurt your brand

by | Feb 23, 2015 | Advice & Tips

Social media has changed the business communications landscape. Keeping up with this evolving promotional channel requires following time-tested business communications and marketing guidelines. Better still: Your social media content must meet media-grade standards.

Social media as a business promotional channel

Social media content is intended to encourage engagement. Unlike a press release or pre-written article, you also have less room for content: blogs should be 300-500 words; Facebook posts no more than 420 characters; and Tweets are limited to 140 characters including your URL.

This shorter, more relaxed format can quickly get you into trouble. Here are three examples of pitfalls to avoid:

1. Acronyms: Even if your post is aimed at colleagues within your trade, assume you are educating someone new to your industry. I once edited an employee newsletter for a major U.S. airline. We frequently used such industry-specific acronyms as FOD, GSE, ETOPS and UNAM, especially when we were trying to squeeze in yet another story. One day, a newly hired gate agent called me in frustration. He was excited to read the newsletter, but couldn’t understand the articles because he was not yet familiar with the acronyms. Lesson learned!

2. Grammar and spelling: A lot of people will say that grammar and spelling in social media just aren’t important. This content is supposed to be informal and laid back, right? The rules are there to make it easier for readers to understand your meaning. So why take the risk? Poor grammar also makes a bad impression. Invest in an AP Style Manual. That’s what we use here at Media Relations. You can be as informal as you want if you’re writing a personal blog about your own life. You’re only expecting your friends to read it. But if you’re communicating about your business or industry, keep your content as clean and error-free as possible.

3. Typos. We all make mistakes. Ideally you should never proofread your own writing. Your mind may automatically fill in missing words. Or, you may miss double meanings. Always have a fresh set of eyes look it over. If there’s no one else available, print it and read it aloud.

With more than 35 years of business writing experience, creating media-grade content for social media channels is second nature to our team. Unless you already have someone on your team with similar background, and the time to devote to the tasks, it makes sense to hire us. Call us at 952-697-5269. We offer you the flexibility of either setting up a pay-per-post content schedule, or simply being on call whenever you need our services.

 

Written by Robin Miller

Written by Robin Miller

Robin will coordinate the writing for your newsletters, social media posts, website, blogs, newsletters and press releases. “I like interviewing clients and spokespeople, hearing their stories, getting to know their personalities and listening to how they phrase their thoughts,” she says. “It’s fun to transform what I’ve learned from those conversations into media-grade content.” Robin enjoys shaping content to ensure that the message will be clearly received. “When someone understands the relevance of what they’re writing and can position it properly for their audience, their work tends to be more convincing and on point. I’m fortunate to have a very diverse background, which gives me a good perspective whenever we bring on a new client.” An IABC- and Mercury-award winner, Robin says her practical experience in the health sciences has proven particularly beneficial as she interprets clients’ scientific information for mainstream media. “But it’s no longer sufficient to write well,” she cautions. “As marketers, we must now comply with the intricacies of digital marketing. That involves a whole set of rules, which are constantly evolving.”

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