Social media gaffes can significantly dilute a brand’s message and overall impact. Here are three common pitfalls to avoid.

Social media can be tricky to manage well, especially for small businesses and contractors who are strapped for time and resources. In an effort to keep the online content flowing, many well-intentioned individuals and organizations commit common social media gaffes that can significantly dilute a brand’s message and overall impact. Here are three common pitfalls to avoid: Mixing Personal and Professional Posts Social media posts should have warmth and personality–but they also need to remain on-brand. So, while light-hearted posts about an in-office pet, team-building activity, or other day-to-day (safe for work) color commentary are great ways to add life to a work-based handle, you should be careful to keep personal posts far from your work feed. For example, the owner’s vacation, family or pet pics generally don’t belong on a work handle (unless they directly relate to brand news/identity.) Typos and Sloppy Writing While social media is generally a more casual way to market your brand than some other traditional channels, typos and sloppy writing always reflect poorly on your brand. Proofread all posts before they go live and ask for a second pair of eyes on any important content. Publish a mistake? Don’t panic: Most platforms (Facebook, Instagram and others) allow you to quickly edit your post without deleting it or losing likes. The Same Content on Every Handle We get it–you’re really busy. And many platforms offer the tempting option to automatically push content to one handle to another (so for instance, to duplicate all your Facebook posts to Twitter). However, this trick is apparent to users in the look and URLs used in those automated posts, and many consumers find it annoying. While you may occasionally have posts that works well across several platforms, it’s generally much better for engagement to optimize your social media content for each platform. It’s better to manage 1-2 platforms well than to be obviously spread too thin everywhere.