Is a business or person annoying you on Twitter or Facebook with their spam-like posts? Pay attention to what makes up their posts and take note not to repeat these annoying tactics:

• USING ALL CAPS – When email first became mainstream, it was well known that using all caps meant screaming. More and more people are jumping on the social media wagon that never knew the ground rules. Take note- ALL CAPS MEANS SCREAMING (did you hear me?)

• Repeating the same posts over and over and over and over and over again – In print and TV, repetition does equal results, but not if the commercial plays over and over again with no break. If you keep posting the same thing, you will surely annoy your audience and be dubbed as spam! Be creative, try saying your message different ways or tying it into a campaign. Here are some great twitter campaign ideas.

• Over saturation – Yes, you can over saturate twitter and facebook. When I look at my home stream on twitter and facebook, I expect to see messages from a plethora of people and businesses. I get very annoyed when all I see is posts from the same business. Try to time out your posts. A good way to time out posts is by using an automated system. Hootsuite is a great tool to help you automate and track tweets.

• Profile page – There are many mistakes when it comes to your profile page. Placing your logo as your profile picture is a no-no. It’s simple, people relate to other people. Post either your picture or a picture of your team. Place your logo as a background image.  Also, another big mistake is leaving your profile page incomplete. Make sure to fill out as much as you can, especially your website address.

• Stale automated messages – Automated messages are great, but keep them fresh and up to date.

• Posting personal information – Keep your personal and business accounts separate. Your clients don’t want to hear what you had for dinner or your weekend plans.

• Too many followers in a short amount of time – Yes, people notice when you have thousands of followers over night. An account that builds thousands of followers in a short amount of time can be conceived as not genuine and spam. Focus on getting followers within your target market. Remember it’s the quality, not the quantity of followers!

These annoying tactics could get your followers and friends to unfollow or remove themselves as your fan. Worse, some just hide your profile posts or ignore you every time you post. Cultural Sponge offers strategic twitter campaigns, social media classed and consulting for businesses. Contact us and get your business heading in the right direction when it comes to social media!