Mistakes happen whether you plan your posts in advance of your meeting or during a moment of creative inspiration. Regrettably, even the simplest and silliest of errors still leaves an unfavorable impression on your reader. Nearly all social media errors are entirely avoidable! Here’s a review of some common social media gaffes, and some tips to help you steer clear of these pitfalls.


1. Insufficient hashtag research: Social media marketers use hashtags to engage current and prospective audiences by directing attention to a phrase, keyword or topic. Nowadays, most conference and convention marketers develop hashtags for their meetings. Event-specific hashtags are very effective, but a missing character or an incorrect keystroke results in a lost opportunity. If you select #event18 to promote your meeting and your hashtag includes a typographical error, the post will not attract as much attention.

Before employing hashtags in your posts, double-check their accuracy. Simple searches on your social media platforms of choice or on Google are quick and easy ways to ensure that you’re using an appropriate hashtag. Another resource I utilize regularly is hashtags.org, a website offering in-depth analytics on hashtags and their usage.

2. Links to nowhere: Double-check any links you include in your social media posts before and after your post is published on your platform. Many marketers now employ URL shorteners to maximize their character usage, especially on platforms like Twitter, which enforces character limits. Find and fix bad links before your readers do.

3. Incorrect photo tags: Verify that the names of the people you are tagging are correct and be sure to attach the correct Twitter handle to your posts.

4. Check your retweets to ensure they’re still relevant: Twitter allows account holders to retweet their own prior tweets. If readers responded to the first post, it resonated with the audience, making it a solid candidate for a retweet. Keep in mind that reminder posts often redirect readers to a website. Ensure that the landing page still exists and all information is up-to-date.


5. Check the posts on your pages and walls: Technology is not perfect, and glitches occur. If your organization relies on an automatic scheduling tool like Hootsuite, for example, ensure that the posts deployed as scheduled. A simple slip of the hand could result in an error. A few minutes of additional attention will produce sound and cohesive social media messages.—Lesley Kyle, CMP

Lesley Kyle is president and CEO of OpenMindWorks, Inc., a social media and marketing firm. She is also a columnist on the subject for MeetingMentor.