In the world of online reputation management, there are few tools as potent or as effective as social media. Whether you’re trying to amass traffic, build links, or deploy written content as effectively as possible, there’s no substitute for a winning social media strategy. What many online reputation management pros neglect, however, is the development of an excellent social media strategy. Only making willy-nilly Facebook posts, or launching a barrage of poorly-coordinated tweets, could ultimately lead to significant errors, or only to a campaign that lacks focus.
There are a few social media mistakes that online reputation management pros should pay special attention to; make sure that, in your own social media strategy, you’re doing everything you can to avoid these errors!
The first mistake to avoid is posting information or content that isn’t relevant. The problem that many online reputation management professionals have is that they’re so swept up in social media as a link-building or content deployment tool, they forget that social media is also used for branding. You’re not going to prove very useful in branding your client, however, if you’re not posting information that dovetails with the client’s interests or identity.
Another mistake is to launch a social media campaign that doesn’t engage. Again, remember that it’s not just about deploying information. It’s also about generating content that users will interact with; their social shares help to fuel your page rankings, so don’t settle for content that nobody is going to be interested in. As with SEO content writing, it’s essential to consider the end-user here.
Third, many online reputation management pros—as well as those engaging in DIY reputation management—think they need to be everywhere, present on every single search engine. Of course, there is no harm in being as close to omnipresent as you can be if time and resources allow, but for most of us, it is vital to pick a couple of social networks and focus our efforts there. Here’s a tip: Make one of the social networks LinkedIn. It offers some of the best Google ranking results.
Another big problem is oversharing. This goes hand in hand with our observation about posting irrelevant content. A lot of individuals permanently flood Facebook with photos, thinking that more always means better. In online reputation management, however, this isn’t the case. Be focused and strategic in developing your content and in choosing what to share.
Finally, a significant mistake is to think that social media is free. The account may be free, but the time and manpower that goes into maintaining a robust social media presence is anything but! It really takes work to do this right, and if you can’t put the work in, then it’s probably not even worth the attempt.
Online reputation management thrives on social media. Social media is not nearly as easy or as clear-cut as it may seem, however. Doing it right takes a great deal of strategy and foresight, and, for the online reputation management expert, that strategy is essential.
