3 Social Media Pet Peeves You Need to Avoid

Jennifer Hanford

November 8, 2015

Pet peeves.

You know, those “little” things that end up annoying you like nothing else? Even to the point where you feel like screaming or banging your head against a wall?

Of course you know what I’m talking about, because we all have a pet peeve…or more than one. Or many of them.

One of the worst things about pet peeves is that the people who are “peeving” us never seem to be bothered by them. In fact, the offenders are often unaware they are doing anything irritating at all!

Which means we are all probably committing pet peeve offenses from time to time…at least.

There is little doubt that the ever-growing popularity of social media has given rise to a completely different set of pet peeves: social media pet peeves.

Brands are just as guilty of making social media pet peeves as individuals. If you have been driving dozens of potential – and even current – clients away without realizing why, then you might be guilty of committing one or more of the pet peeves I’ll explain more about below.

That is why I have “surfed the web” (that expression is one of my pet peeves!) and put together this list of common social media pet peeves.

Read on to find out what activities your brand may be doing on social media that are really annoying, and what you can do instead.

3 Social Media Pet Peeves You Need To Avoid

1) Me, Me, Me…Pay attention to ME!

We all seem to know at least one person who only talks about him or herself all the time, right? Sadly, many businesses are guilty of doing this on social media.

This is probably one of the most annoying of all the social media pet peeves since most people aren’t on social media to be sold or broadcasted to. They use it for conversations, information, and/or fun…not to be spammed.

According to a recent article by Geoff of We are Social Media, “55% of people use social media to stay in touch with what friends are doing.” In the same article, he also shares a list of the top 10 reasons for using social media.

Here are the top 5 reasons people use social media:

To stay in touch with what friends are doing
To stay up-to-date with news and current events
To fill up spare time
To find funny or entertaining content
To share opinions

Although sharing promotional content is important as a brand, you may find that balancing it with other people’s content (OPC) helps boost your brand’s overall credibility among your social media communities. You can still let people know who you are and what you do, of course. But you should also know that doing so in moderation helps you avoid turning them off completely.

2) Over-posting…everywhere

There are probably hundreds of infographics and online posts that suggest how often brands should post content on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, etc.

However, not one of those guides is 100% accurate because there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Regardless, I am pretty sure that not a single one of those posts recommends that a brand should post or tweet on its social media platform a hundred times a day. Or more.

But some brands do just that. Every day. Along with bombarding and overwhelming their audience, these brands are most likely losing followers as well.

And the worst offenders, at least in my mind? Those brands that post all about themselves a hundred times or so a day.

If your brand is guilty of over-posting, take some time to become familiar with the current guidelines for how often to post.

As I mentioned, none of the guides are 100%. Most do give an acceptable range of how many posts you should share with your audience though.

Constant Contact, for example, shares some of the current best practices for posting as a brand in their recent post, “What and How Often Should You Post to Social Media.”

Keep in mind there is no simple formula for finding the best times to post and how often to do so for your brand. You can determine what is best for your brand by diligently researching and analyzing each of your platform’s numbers on a regular basis.

3) Using Twitter Auto-DMs

This is one of my personal social media pet peeves, and I know that I’m not alone.

I used to immediately turn right around and unfollow the people and brands who sent auto-DMs. These days I simply ignore them…but they still irritate me.

On a recent blog post for her site, Brandanew, Upasna Kakroo shares 10 excellent reasons why brands need to stop using auto-DMs.

Here are a few of the reasons she provides:

It is not authentic
It makes you lose trust
It makes you [look] like an auto-bot
It makes you a lazy social marketer
It may lead to an immediate unfollow

If you’re using auto-DMs, then it’s a really good idea to stop. Instead, you may consider reaching out individually to new followers with a personal DM or tweet.

It’s also fine to simply let conversations and engagement happen on their own. If a follower has an interest in your brand, then he or she will probably let you know.

I could go on and on with this list of social media pet peeves…there are unfortunately so many.

A little knowledge is a good thing though, so you can certainly turn things around if you are guilty of committing these or other annoying pet peeves online.

Do you have any social media pet peeves you would add to this short list? I’d love to hear them! Feel free to leave a comment below.

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Jennifer Hanford

Freelance Blogger and Social Media Manager at j+ Media Solutions

Jennifer is a freelance blogger and social media community manager. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her family, reading, baking, and pinning on Pinterest.