Don’t Say Dumb Stuff On Social Media

OK here’s a quick rant…

Don’t say stupid things that can damage your reputation online.

Some people don’t care about this, I get it, not everyone has a business to protect

But if you read my blog, then you’re a business owner right?

And the online landscape is your playground. So don’t go round making enemies with the other kids

Why do I bring this up?

Well yesterday was the U.S. presidential elections as you well know. And in the last 24 hours I don’t think I have ever seen so much trash talk on social media. Talk that is racist, homophobic, hateful towards religion, hateful and paranoid towards pretty much everything.

I’m all for freedom for your own thoughts and opinions. I’m all for freedom of speech

But I’m also for “not shooting yourself in the foot”

As a business owner you do have a reputation to protect like it or not. It’s there.You should try to come as across as likeable on social media. You won’t be doing business with anyone who doesn’t like you. If you lose rapport with a prospect it’s difficult to get it back. People who would have done business with you will not because of the silly thing you said.

Some of these people marketing folk that are in my social networks and they seem to have forgotten that they are ambassadors for their businesses. But the fact is you can’t totally separate yourself from your business.

Although I didn’t intervene, start arguments or unfriended anyone; I did make a couple of mental notes to not get involved in business with a few people. And I’m sure I wasn’t the only spectator who made the same conclusions

That’s damaging.

Do they not realize that peoples perception of them and their business is vital to their business?

I’m not saying be you can’t be authentic, show a little bit of passion for what you are feeling or say something mildly controversial. But if it’s an extreme view that is likely to grossly offend then please learn to show some restraint or you might find it comes back to bite you. Just keep it to yourself, don’t post it on social media. Don’t damage your chances of getting customers because of an emotional outburst that could leave long term scars.

If we all said the first thing that popped into our mind the world would be chaos. Mature business owners should have a filter in their brain that stops them from saying stupid, offensive or bigoted things, especially in public, online forums. You have an image to portray whether you like it or not. People can only judge you or your business by what is visible to them

I teach people complex stuff about social media like marketing, traffic tactics, tools and other things but don’t even worry about this stuff until you can master the basics.

One of the fundamentals of succeeding on social media is try to be likeable, don’t alienate people

A business person who appears grotesque and offensive won’t stay in business for long

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