Reason #2 Why Your Social Media Sucks: Abusing the Auto-Post

Apr 2012

Welcome to our new series “Top 10 Reasons Why Your Social Media Sucks,” where we point out many common mistakes that prevent businesses from reaching the full potential of their social media marketing. Stay tuned for more missteps, errors, faux-pas, and boo-boo’s every Monday and Wednesday ’til the list runs out!

The Problem

There you were, sla-a-a-aving away in the daily social media grind. Post to the blog. Post to Facebook. Post to Twitter. Post to LinkedIn. And just when you had it all down, along come Google+, Pinterest, and goodness knows what all else.

Forehead, meet Palm.

But wait … what’s this? A way to post just once and have your share-worthy gems automatically get whisked away to the social network of your choice … with just one touch of a magical “Publish to All” button?

No, you weren’t dreaming—you just discovered the almighty auto-post. And baby, did you ever use it. Like, a lot. Every day. Multiple times a day.

You never knew you could be this productive on social media … and you never knew how quickly you could slide into obscurity.

Which brings us to today’s top mistake: Over-doing auto-posting.

The Solution

Not since the sirens first warbled their hauting song to ancient Greek sailors has there been a more alluring temptation than the auto-post. So easy, so convenient … and if over-used, so damaging.

Why? Because each social network is its own little eco-system, with its own rules (written and unwritten), etiquette, and tacit expectations. Twiter has hashtags. Facebook embeds photos. LinkedIn is all business. Google+ is all about … well, OK, it’s mostly about Google+, but I digress.

My point is that when you expect a single post to resonate across all your networks, it’s like expecting the same pair of shoes to perform on the basketball court, on a job interview, and onstage with the Kirov ballet.

Even worse, savvy social types can spot auto-posts a mile away … and they do not look upon them kindly.

So, if you want to avoid appearing uninspired or, worse, lazy, write and publish your posts the old-fashioned way: one network at a time.

Turn around Tips

Take some time to really understand the style of each individual social network, as if you were a sociologist studying the social mores of a new civilization.
Un-do any auto-linking arrangements you have set up—with the exception of Twitter-to-LinkedIn, which actually does work pretty well.
Create a cheat-sheet to remind you about each network’s norms and expectations, e.g., “Hashtags are for Twitter only.”
By all means, continue to use multi-network tools like HootSuite, TweetDeck, and others. They’re all incredibly useful … just handle that “publish to all” feature with care.

So, do you have any war stories to share about the perils of the auto-post? Tell us in the comments—we’d love to hear from you!

Read earlier posts in the series:

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