Creating a social media account for your business is a big step in the right direction as far as promotion is concerned. However, there are certain rules, guidelines and best practices that must be observed when promoting on these sites. It is not a free-for-all and certain actions can even get you banned. Getting banned from these top 4 Social Networks is easier than one thinks, especially if you skip the dreaded terms and privacy guidelines. But what we don’t realize is just how important they are to keeping social etiquette. While skipping over these terms for your personal account may not mean much, doing so for a business account can have disastrous consequences. Internet Marketers should be aware of these rules and restrictions before leveraging from any of these social media sites.
Getting Fired From LinkedIn
Fortunately, LinkedIn offers much more freedom than other Social Networks. However, their guidelines should still be closely examined in the User Agreement section.
- Posting copyrighted content- If you feel inclined to use content that has reserved property rights, take some time to reflect and stop what you are doing. Not only will LinkedIn remove the content but they will also terminate your account permanently if plagiarizing persists.
- Creating fake profiles- Avoid the urge to impersonate your competition just to mess with them. Although you may think it sounds clever, in the end, it will get you kicked out from any Social Network.
- Stalking unknown users- For some people, this is a hard one. Don’t connect with people you don’t know. Having the same sporting interest does not give you a reason to add someone to your networks. If they feel uncomfortable, they can kick you out!
- Using LinkedIn to send mass e-mails- If you have Outlook, there’s no excuse for you! This is a violation of the user agreements and will get you banned immediately
- Placing links where they don’t belong- If you’re this desperate to get a backlink, you definitely did something wrong…Please fill out your forms accurately.
- Selling your accomplishments- You are a LinkedIn addict and you’ve created a popular LinkedIn Group! Congratulations! You cannot, however, sell it if you want to stay in this Social Network.
Getting Shut Down on Twitter
These Twitter Rules should always be followed if you want to keep your Twitter account for days to come. Attention All Marketers; do yourself a favor and take a close look at these:
- Pretending to be another person- creating multiple accounts to mislead other Twitter users is strictly prohibited. This includes pretending to be your competitor, an ex-employer or any other ex for that matter.
- Using trademark names- Twitter will suspend you if you are using a trademarked logo or username. Simple as that!
- Making a business out of Twitter- It is illegal and frowned upon to buy or sell Twitter usernames. If this does happen get ready to say bye bye birdie forever. This applies for both the buyer and seller.
- If you make it, use it- This goes for Twitter usernames. If after 6 months your Twitter account remains inactive, Twitter will automatically claim it.
- Repeating content over and over…and over again- If you are Tweeting the same thing like a crazy person, this will only get you banned. Good content shows for itself when it’s advertised properly. Tweeting it once will suffice.
- Excessive following- If at 12:30 p.m. you were following 100 people and at 12:35 p.m. you were following 800, Twitter will automatically suspect something. This behavior will signal to Twitter that it is time for you to rest your hands. Prepare to be banned.
- Falling for scams- Anyone who’s not Lady Gaga knows that getting followers fast is quite a task. Therefore, anything that screams “Get Followers Fast” also screams SCAM.
- Taking over a trending #hashtag- If there’s a trending #hashtag/topic on Twitter and you keep using it with unrelated content about your brand, also prepare to be banned.
- Failing to post context on updates- Your updates, although short, should have some kind of context. If you post clusters and clusters of links you’ll only end up being frowned upon by your followers and by the blue bird. This will get you kicked out.
- Unwanted- If your account was blocked several times and your followers consider you the King of Spam, get ready to receive no mercy.
Your Worst Nightmare: Facebook Banned!
Mighty Facebook! Getting kicked out from this Social Media Powerhouse is every marketer’s worst fear. You can put an end to that by reading the Facebook Page Guidelines, which state the following:
- Plagiarized content- you learned this in grade school for a reason. Anything that’s copyrighted should not be written without providing due credit to the original source. For example, if your website has a genuine “about us” description, you should spin the text in a way that fits Facebook guidelines.
- Grammar is king- Facebook is very strict about grammar and naming. Terms like “flower”, “car” or “beer” are prohibited in the name section. Good luck to those with funny names. In addition, proper grammar like capitalization is enforced.
- Failing to obtain permission when using bots or scrapers- Remember that it’s prohibited to collect user data by using automated means. Unless, of course, you have permission.
- Improper CTA- placing calls-to-action in your images is also strictly prohibited. This includes any kind of advertisement like “share with your friends” or “click to get a discount”.
- Improper use of offers/promotions- This requires a lengthy explanation so I suggest you read the Facebook Page Guidelines. The main idea is that in order to run any kind of offer you must, under all circumstances, do it through a Facebook App.
The Fastest Ways to Get Kicked Out of Google+
Google + is a great way to increase your Social Media efforts. However, if you break the rules stated in their Google+ Policies & Principles you’ll be gone faster than you came.
- Forceful circling- Just like you wouldn’t befriend random people on Facebook, it’s important that you understand that circling like a maniac is also frowned upon, and there’s no doubt that you can expect a punishment if Google catches on.
- Misleading +1 buttons- It’s against Google+ policies to include the +1 button where it doesn’t belong. You should be obtaining Google + traffic through great content and relationship building.
- Cramming keywords– one important thing to keep in mind is that Google+ puts as much emphasis on organic traffic as Google Search does. Therefore, stuffing keywords in every update won’t do the trick.
- Failing to use your page- If Google+ finds out that you haven’t used your page for more than 9 months then be prepared to lose it.
- Promoting offers- within Google+ you are prohibited from running any kind of sweepstakes or offer directly on your page. The solution here is to display the link that steers away from the site to the offer
- Tagging every single word in your updates- the power of tags won’t work if you use it in every word. Keep that in mind!
When planning how to use social media in your Internet Marketing strategy, make sure the first thing you do is read the Terms and Agreements. While things like offers and sweepstakes may be a smart marketing move, attempting to do so on Google+ or Facebook will get you banned, which can come with terrible consequences that hurt your marketing efforts. Avoid the pain and humiliation of making one of these all-too-tempting mistakes and take the time to read the policies posted by these Top 4 Social Media sites – they really are there to help you.
Optimum7 successfully manages the Social Media accounts of its diverse portfolio of clients. Contact Us today to get started on your Social Media campaign.
