Social media is as much art as science, but there are some mistakes you just shouldn’t make. Here are five.
5. Don’t link your Facebook and Twitter accounts
Render unto Facebook that which is Facebook and render unto Twitter that which is Twitter. A good tweet is different than a good Facebook post, and vice versa. When you link your accounts and send tweets to Facebook, your Facebook friends will know you can’t be bothered to post and won’t interact with your posts.
4. Don’t spam your followers
Kanye West can go on long stream of consciousness Twitter benders without losing followers. You cannot.
3. Don’t include links in Facebook and Google+ captions
When you paste a link into a Facebook or Google+ status update you’ll see a preview of what the link will look like when you post it. After you see that preview, delete the long link. You don’t need it anymore. Write clean captions without the https://www.blahblahblah.com gibberish.
2. Don’t be a jerk.
A flashy argument is a great way to get some attention, but it never works in the long run. The same goes for rants, excessive snark, and bitter complaints about entities who have wronged you. People might tune in for the fireworks, but then they’ll tune you out.
1. Don’t misuse Twitter’s @Reply
Every time someone starts a tweet with an @reply and doesn’t understand that not everyone in their feed is going to see it, it makes a puppy cry.
Don’t make a puppy cry. Understand the @Reply. Please. Puppies everywhere will thank you.
I actually have seen my Facebook interactions grow with it being linked from my Twitter. I prefer to use Twitter, and my family all uses Facebook (as well as lots of my friends), so this just shares my thoughts and happenings with them. I have asked, and they don't see it as a lack of attention, but rather being considerate of their social media preferences, while using mine.