Every Entrepreneur Should Stop Doing This On Social Media

Social media is an incredible resource for entrepreneurs. What better way to communicate nowadays than through social platforms? However, the problem then isn’t in the game — it’s in the player. From investing time in the wrong social platforms to over sharing, entrepreneurs can make many mistakes when it comes to their social presence.

To help, I’ve outlined five things every entrepreneur should stop doing on social media.

1. Focusing on Past Accomplishments

   We know you’re proud of your past accomplishments, but you don’t have to share every single feat with all of your peers throughout all of your social media outlets. While you may be excited about your achievements — that time you climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for charity or the five previous startups you successfully launched — things are always better in moderation. Instead focus on the present and consider why you are on social media. Devote your time to mapping out a social media campaign for your current project so it can lead you to future success.

2. Being Negative

   To be brutally honest, no one wants to hear you complain. We all have those days; we all get sick; we all get frustrated and angry with something or someone. In other words, we all have problems and we don’t need our newsfeeds filled with negativity. That’s not saying everyone does not care, it’s just that negative posts aren’t effective. In fact, studies indicate that positive Facebook posts are more influential and contagious — which is what you want on social media.
   “Positive posts beget positive posts, the study found, and negative posts beget negative ones, with the positive posts being more contagious,” according to NDTV. On that note, you also shouldn’t share articles that bash the competition or share overly polarizing or political posts. By doing so, you’re automatically eliminating a good portion of your followers as most people don’t want to read political rhetoric or anything that opposes a brand for which they may also feel loyalty.

3. Too Much Talking, Not Enough Listening

   It’s widely accepted that social media is a conversation. The whole point of being on social media is engaging with other people. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs are only on social media to talk rather than listen. Instead of pushing your business 24/7, take a couple of minutes to find out what’s going on with your followers, then engage them. As a general rule, make sure four out of every five communications on social media are non-sales or business posts.

4. Not Taking Advantage of Tools

   Did you know there are a lot of great social media tools available that can optimize your social media accounts? If you did, why aren’t you using them? For example, there are free or reasonably priced tools that can perform analytics. This is important because it can inform you which posts have gotten the most feedback, as well as show feedback from your followers. This is a great way to test ideas without investing a lot of resources. Furthermore, there are tools that can schedule posts, create graphs, and track your growth.

5. Promoting Multiple Things At Once

   While I understand that there are literally a million things running through your mind you shouldn’t promote more than one business at a time. People will get confused. Instead, put all of your energy into the product or service that is ready to go. Once that’s been identified, plan and market only that product or service. Focus on just one venture in order to be clear and not confuse the market.http://yfsmagazine.com/2014/09/22/every-entrepreneur-should-stop-doing-this-on-social-media/