I have quite a few business owners and self employed people on Facebook friends list. The number of potential clients they turn away on a weekly basis must be astronomical, and it’s all because they’re making the same social media mistakes. I seriously label it as being oblivious to what attracts people. Now, I was guilty of all three of these, but as soon as I stopped, it took no more than a few weeks for me to start seeing a massive change in not only the number of people that interacted with me, but the types of interactions. Drop these three terrible habits and you’ll be much happier…and so will your followers.

1. Get rid of the negative!

“I HATE MONDAYS!” How many times do you see that on Monday? Well, I have news for you…everyone experiences the same number of Mondays every week. I have to be honest, I had to unfollow a friend about 2 years ago because I never saw her write anything but a negative status. “Today is crap!” “My life sucks!” “I guess things are never going to get better.” It was clear to me that I wasn’t the only one sick of seeing her daily encouragements. No one had anything to say so she frequently didn’t get comments or Likes. We see so much negativity online, in the news, and on TV. If people knew that every time you posted something, it was going to be positive, they know it’s going to at least be worth a look. Therefore, you’re conditioning people to look at what you have to say. That alone is a great start!

2. Don’t advertise!

Out of all the mistakes on social media, this one may be the biggest turnoff. I think multilevel marketing is a great way to make money. I hope you’re still reading this. Let me guess…you’ve seen someone post a status about their multilevel marketing business? Truthfully, I don’t think posting a status about you business is bad. However, people are way past being sick of advertisements. I mean, when was the last time you didn’t skip an ad on YouTube? Or fast-forward through the commercials on your DVR? Well, guess what people are doing to your advertisement post? Keep scrolling. I used to do multilevel marketing and got a lot of legitimate interest on social media…just like I do with my current businesses. There is one thing you’ll never see me do, though. “Are you interested in ‘service’? Well, visit my website.” I see people doing that all the time and while I can’t speak for the marketing of major corporations, I can 100% speak for self employed people and that technique rarely works. Something you might see me post these days would be, “I used a blind person on stage to help me with a magic trick and afterwards, they told me that it was the first time they ever got a round of applause. I’m so blessed to be able to do this.” First off, this status is true. Second, it’s a simple reminder that I do magic shows, but it doesn’t come across as an advertisement and it’s also something that people would be interested to read. If you can’t post a story like this, post a recent testimonial from a client. Facts tell, stories sell!

3. Stay as far away as you can from controversial…seriously!

Let me give you some social media wisdom:

Fact 1. People already have their minds made up about political and controversial issues.
Fact 2. Your post isn’t going to change their minds.
Fact 3. Unless your only goal is to tick people off, do yourself a favor and just stop, because those kinds of posts destroy any professionalism you previously were displaying.

I could not be more serious without beating my fist on the table. Business owners who post anything controversial are literally posting a train wreck. I made the decision to stop controversial posting in 2013, when I made one post that collected 79 comments in just under 15 minutes. I had ticked off everyone including myself. Ticked off people posted comments for the other side and more ticked off people posted comments that disputed the comments from the original ticked off people. It was an utter catastrophe and it took a friend that agreed with my post to call me and say, “I completely agree with what you posted. Now delete it immediately!” He was right. If that post had stayed up, I would’ve lost more people in 24 hours than I had gained in the previous 5 years. You can make 100 mistakes on social media…don’t make this one.

So what should you do?

I’m glad you asked. I put a few things together that will get your business more Likes on Facebook and just more positive interaction on social media, overall. You can check it out at the link below. Remember, all you’re trying to do, overall, is stay away from anything negative. It’s hard to believe that we live in a society where ‘positive’ is actually outside the box.

https://www.bryansaint.com/3-things-that-will-get-you-more-likes-on-facebook/