Image via Jason Howie.
I recently came across this insightful article by Jackson Wightman on Ragan’s PR Daily discussing some of the biggest social media myths. I enjoyed this article because it helped me realized some of these things I’ve been hearing all along in my PR experiences are downright wrong. To me, it’s almost the same as hearing “don’t go outside with wet hair if it’s cold,” just to hear that this actually has no effect on your chance of getting a cold. Go check out the article to get a full 411 on what social media tips to avoid, but just incase you don’t, I’ve listed three of my favorite “tips to ditch” below. Take a look and make sure you don’t fall trap to these faux pas!
1) “You need to be present on all social media platforms.”
This is one tip I’ve heard many a time. People say it’s better to be on all social media platforms just a little then be focused on just a few. I’m glad to hear this is one piece of advice to avoid because I’ve always thought quality over quantity. You should focus on platforms where your audience is and where you can achieve the most with your brand.
2) “Email is extinct.”
I can’t remember a time that I was taught any PR-related email information. Personally, I’ve always found email to be quite useful and in past internships this was one of the biggest platforms we used to raise awareness, garner donations and engage with our audience. As Wightman states, “Email is an essential part of lead nurturing and enables you to segment content. Despite what the charlatans say, for many people email is still the preferred channel for communication.” So keep on sending those emails and drafting those pitches because email is here to stay!
3) “All your updates can be automated.”
Thankfully this is one tip I’ve never been told, but one I’ve seen many times. Are you ever going through a company’s Facebook feed and all you see is automated, robot-like posts? This is one of my biggest pet peeves and I believe it does nothing but hurt companies. Social media is all about interaction and engagement with your audience, so why would you only publish automated “read this article” content? Hopefully all content creators will take note that this tip is long gone and simply not acceptable in today’s social media world.
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