8 Common Social Media Mistakes

There are numerous lists of social media mistakes and rules for managing a social media presence. This list attempts to be different by providing things that are relatively easy for you to fix and/or are non-profit specific. Please add more mistakes/thoughts/guidance in the comments section.

1) Not getting a custom Facebook URL

Once you have over 25 fans for a Facebook page, click here and you can select the "Set a username for your pages" link... and pick something that is easy, makes sense, and will always translate well to your marketing materials. This is much easier than using something like:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?profile=1&id=110969078933271#!/pages/Sample-University/110969078933271

For example: www.facebook.com/moredonors :)

2) Making it hard to find your social presence on your websites.

When someone visits one of your primary landing pages (home page, event page, information page, etc.), it should be easy to see the social media links - using icons - without having to dig and find them. I have seen various NPOs who do not have a link to any of their social media accounts anywhere on their website. Use the icons because people's eyes are trained to notice the Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, etc. icons, but may quickly look past the words "Twitter" or "Facebook" if mixed in with other links.

A few good examples:

The Bronx Zoo

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

1GOAL

3) Not considering other Twitter accounts you should "own"

If you are having trouble thinking of what other usernames people may anticipate your org using, ask your constituents - "What are some usernames for Twitter you think we could use?" You may be surprised at some of the ideas that come to mind, particularly from the more experienced social media users.

4) Leaving one person in charge of monitoring everything "social media"

When I worked at the University of Florida and at the University of Michigan, each institution had some very wise staff members with extensive knowledge of every inner-working-detail of somewhat antiquated databases. The good news was we had the wise staff members... the bad news was that if and when they leave, a lot of understanding leaves with them. The same applies to throwing everything social media on one person's plate. You do not want your Twitter account to die the day Joe or Jane Employee leaves.

Using the same examples, from Florida & Michigan, some key policies of the databases were constructed with ease of data management in mind. However, when it came to pulling and slicing the data for strategic marketing appeals, the data provided significant challenges. That was because the data managers were in charge and simply did not have the perspective on what might be useful when pulling the data. Nothing malicious, just certain things had not crossed their minds.

Again, same parallel with your social media accounts - As comments, tweets and questions start to flow, your single social-media-designee may not have the perspective or knowledge to best represent your NPO. Consider having representation from across various departments work together on social media response and management. This actually can be a catalyst for better collaboration on non-social-media projects.

5) Having a long list of people who must sign-off on every tweet, Facebook post, etc.

At the other end of the spectrum from having only one person in charge of social media is having too many. This is a trap I have seen many non-profits fall into, mainly because NPOs have a history of having more red-tape than the for-profit sector.

There has to be some freedom to work and respond within social media. An old annual giving adage states "No letter should be written by committee." The same goes for social media communications. Too many people involved will stifle the benefits of quick, intelligent and even (gasp!) fun replies. You must find the balance between too little and too few staff participants. Not unlike...

6) Doing too much... or too little.

A tweet every twenty minutes will quickly turn off the casual follower. Nothing for months and you're likely to be unfollowed through tools like UnTweeps or Twit Cleaner. Strike the balance. Here is an example of expectations from university alumni:

And a poll... How often do you want to hear from your favorite NPO on Twitter?

7) Failing to learn about the world of social media B.Y. (Before You)

"Join us for the first ever Twitter Fundraiser!" Sounds like a pretty bad tweet, doesn't it? Well... it happened within the last few months because an organization either didn't think before tweeting or didn't realize it had been done a few (thousand) times before. When you or your organization are new to social media, take the time to review what your peer organizations and industry leaders have done on social media so that you can build upon their success rather than look silly.

8) Making it hard to learn about your organization's case for support.

This reaches beyond social media to the overall communications and management of an NPO. As I state in many of my presentations and client meetings, you have to have a clear case for support before you dive into the deep-end of social media. Make it compelling and easy to find online via your website, Facebook page, and in the Twitter description of your account.

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Other mistakes for an NPO to avoid via social media? Let us know via the comments section.

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