Business Mistakes in Social Media

I just finished reading an article in the Houston Chronicle by Mary Tuma called "Companies in new age of networking". The article is an interview with the president of the International Association of Business Communicators, Julie Freeman. This article and the interview gave very safe suggestions for businesses looking to add social media to their PR and marketing campaigns. However, the reason I am linking this article to my blog is the comments that were posted in response to the story. While there were only three comments they are very vocal opinions on the potential commercialization of social media.

goofyguy77 wrote, "I sense a corporate 'follow the leader' frenzy here that will blow out in a few months when the failure of these schemes becomes way to obvious to spin anymore (and some ad budgets run dry)"

As someone who works with business owners looking to engage in social media, I am consistently disappointed to find shell profiles, boring blogs and pointless status updates. These are the most common business mistakes in social media.

If business owners took a moment to understand what social media is all about and how it can be used to engage their target public then they would find themselves participating in a means of communication that is both powerful and rewarding.