I’ve been spending a lot of time studying and experimenting with social media since the beginning of the year.  I know that some of you will certainly think I’m showing up really late to a party that started some time ago.  And, that may be true!  

But, the more I study the topic, the more I’m becoming convinced that being an early adopter with such a powerful emerging technology, like social media, is bound to lead to a number of mistakes and missteps.  For recruiting applications, some of these mistakes have been both profound (ie. disqualifying) and expensive.  

However, I’ve started to observe, in the last six to twelve months, social networking recruiting ideas that will likely be viable for the long term.  Makers of the new applications have gained insight from earlier mistakes, and the use of social media for recruiting purposes is really gaining momentum.

One thing that helps this process of improvement is that social media mistakes that companies make seem to be increasingly documented.  I’ve read many articles on this topic and thought I'd share one I recently found helpful.  

This article is based on a light study recently conducted on LinkedIn, where a group of participants were asked to document the mistakes they most commonly observe.  The original write-up included the top 16 mistakes, but I’ve cut it down to the top twelve I thought were most relevant.  

The list is arranged so that the mistakes are numbered and listed in bold.  Under each mistake is a relevant comment from a user in the study.  It may seem a little disjointed at first, but these eclectic comments do paint an interesting picture.  If you want more detail, take a look at the original article.

1.  Thinking it's a sprint instead of a marathon.

"I find most expect social media to be a sprint not a marathon.  They get really into it and then let it fall by the wayside by not posting regularly and not engaging with others.  As my partner says, ‘It's a marathon, not a sprint.’  You must give it time, you are building relationships."

2.  Not having a plan or strategy.

"I think the biggest mistake is not having a clear strategy around why they are using it that aligns with a strategy of what they want out of it.  This is closely followed by not measuring if they are on track.”

3.  Talking too much and not listening enough.

"They need to talk less and listen more.  Social media is all about making connections and, just like in the real (rather than virtual) world, people will be more drawn to you if you actually listen to what they're saying, than if you try to force your message upon them."

4  Airing bad feelings.

"I think the biggest mistake is airing bad feelings / arguments over sites like Twitter.  I watched a CEO debate rather childishly with a PR guy – going so far as to use derogatory and inappropriate language."

5.  Too much time spent on self-promotion.

"One big mistake small business leaders make in social media is to spend a lot of time trying to promote themselves.  They also forget to keep an eye on how their brand is being perceived.”

6. Not making it relevant to me.

"I don't want to get ten tweets a day hearing about YOU.  I want to hear things that are valuable for me and my life… and they need to be fast.  And not too frequent:  I don't want to incessantly hear about your business.  It won't make me think of you more, it'll just make me annoyed with you.  So:  short, sweet, pertinent, and valuable to me."

7.  Blurring the lines between personal and professional.

"They blur the line between personal and professional.  If you are using Facebook, use it only for personal or business, not both.  Same applies to Twitter.  I think LinkedIn is ideal in that it is all business/professional."

8.  Creating a business profile first and a personable profile later.

"They make their profiles appear as their company portals, trimmed with lots of company/brand information.  It results in viewers bouncing out of the profile quickly—ie. professional visits the profile, but flips to another profile without scrolling down the entire profile.  You should create an interesting profile first, engage people, and then propagate your message."

9.  A serious underestimation of the amount of resources it takes to administer a social media effort.

"The number one mistake I've seen is a serious underestimation of the amount of resources required to engage and maintain a social program."

10.  Expecting social media to do all the work.

"You can't just blast the world with your ideas, products, and services, then sit back and expect everyone to think you're so wonderful.  That is unrealistic."

11.  Getting on social media just because everyone else is doing it.

"I see many businesses getting on social media because 'everyone else is' or 'we just have to' but without clear purpose or a plan.  One wouldn't open a new store, address a new market, or open a new sales region without extensive planning, goals, organization and thought.  And yet, many small businesses (especially sole proprietors) just up and register for Twitter, etc. one night and wade right in."

12.  Not understanding that it's all about relationship building.

"What I see so often is that a business decides to jump into social media because they're afraid they might be left behind, but then they fail to put a well thought out strategy in place.  They end up throwing a bunch of profiles on the internet, trying to market and sell to everyone, and basically failing."

Do an inventory or your organization’s social media efforts.  Are you making any of these mistakes?  If so, put a plan in place to make corrections.  I do believe your effort will pay off.  Social media is here to stay, but you’ll need to apply effort and focus to make it work for you.

Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.