Social media marketing has certainly grown from the college dorm to the corporate boardroom. Strategies and trends have evolve, what with almost everyone getting a Facebook account and mobile technology skyrocketing.

It’s far too easy to mess up with social networking, especially if your promotions sound aggressive or spammy, or if your content is bland.

Blunders to Avoid in Social Media Outsourcing​​

1. Ignoring content quality. So much depends on content quality, from your status messages to the links you post on Facebook. The agency should be able to come up with Facebook and Twitter posts written in such a way that it engages audiences and invites likes, shares, and comments. Access to internal subject matters and careful researching is needed to constantly provide something valuable.

2. Applying the same approach to every social media channel. It’s a mistake to repeat the same information across different channels, and using an automated tool to update those channels is a bigger mistake. The best approach is to provide something meaningful to at least one or two channels, and not replicating the same content to multiple ones.

Each channel is going to be followed by different kinds of people. For example, a lot of people on Twitter are tech-savvy and if your followers consist of this kind of people, try posting links, pictures, videos, and status messages that this demographic would enjoy. If your Facebook business page is liked by mostly friends, colleagues, and relatives, try to gear content toward this audience.

3. Being passive about followers and other tweeters. If your social media outsourcing firm just posts an update twice a day everyday and go on a massive following spree on Twitter, might as well have no social media campaign. You have to give your fans and followers a reason to follow you. Give them valuable information and content, ask questions, and more importantly, reply to their messages. If you’re going to post questions, state it to allow positive responses. Don’t just say “What do you think about it?” if a brand new product is launched by, say, Apple.

4. Assuming an erroneous post will easily be dismissed. Social media outsourcing companies should know better than to say things without fact checking or having some diplomacy. There’s always the delete button, but that can’t guarantee your words will be lost and forgotten. The moment you update your accounts, who knows what other users and bloggers have picked up from you.

There was one incident where online store Celeb Boutique tweeted about a dress called Aurora in the wake of the Colorado shootings, thinking the trending hashtag #Aurora was about that particular dress. If that wasn’t enough to cause anger from everyone, it took Celeb Boutique hours to delete the errant tweet. When you make an offensive mistake like that, you delete it and apologize immediately.

The social media outsourcing agency is going to create your face online and embody your brand. There are mistakes you can’t afford to do on social channels and every Internet marketing company should know this.