Blogging | Top 10 Social Media Sin Bin Traits

Whether you're a social media newbie or a social media pro, there's always room for improvement I feel. I wouldn't say I was either as I started off my social media journey during the Myspace, Bebo and that Journal one (forget the name). I've slowly migrated over to Twitter recently - well I say recently that's a lie, I've had it for a while but it's taken so damned long to get to grips with I'm still definitely learning.

For me, the migration to certain sites went alongside my friends and family. What sites they were on and which were the most locally active. Now I am so much more confident and I feel socially I'm at a different place than the friends I grew up with. See, they aren't bloggers. They like to talk to their friends, family, acquaintances and favourite pages. I'm more of a networker and a have a definite blogger mentality. I love to read and discuss topics with other like-minded. I love to really chat with my favourite brands and service pages and I like to do it in a variety of ways.

You can find me over on so many sites, from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. I'm also on Google+ but only as a way of convenience for blogging and haven't actually updated anything on there. For each of my active sites, I have different loves and pet hates, many of them are similar to other social networkers loves and hates and it's because of this I wanted to post a top 10 social media sin's post.

This list is definitely subjective. Please do not be offended if you do any of these because I know I am not perfect. It's a learning curve and after all, we are all learning. We each have different likes and different hates so I'd be interested to hear what your opinions and views are on each of my top ten points.

Frequency: Posting every week then going to every 3 months then back to monthly is too infrequent for more followers. As a follower of many sites, I do like to see regularity, ideally weekly as a minimum.

Boasting: I am a guru, I did this for X, I was paid this for X, I am so hot, I am a better than you because of X. These are all things I have heard across so many social networks. It's never cool to make others feel that they are you and guru? puh-lease. Guru means spiritual teacher and girl if you think you're a spiritual teacher of beauty or fashion think again. Influencer, trendsetter or style-savvy maybe - guru not so much.

Lying: There have been so many supposed influencers being caught with their Twitter pants-down. Buying followers are never cool. Work hard, build up your readership and followers the right way rather than lying. Twitter is hitting hard on bought and spammy accounts so you will be caught out. It really isn't worth the hassle guys.

Selling: Sponsored posts and affiliate links come part and parcel with being an influencer. Of course, there are many who don't do either which is fine and there are those that choose companies and products/services that follow the publisher's personality- this is also fine. Then there are some networkers who ONLY post affiliate links and sponsored content. This isn't fine in my eyes, it becomes very transparent and bore some and it will lead to most clicking 'unfollow' sharpish.

Competitions: Competitions are good for the company and can be beneficial for the host. They tend to lead to huge amounts of stats and new likers in a short space of time BUT, it can come across as desperation if you do this a lot. Although it leads to a huge amount of followers it also leads to a huge amount of un-followers once the competition has ended. I know many compers unfollow or use unfollow programmes to make space for new likes and comp holders. Is it really worth it?

Copy Catting: Love to read other blogs? I know I do. It's great to show your appreciation for other bloggers but just don't go and copy their ideas. Copying each post's content and content ideas aren't great. Do you really want to be a blogging parrot? There are so many ways to create your own unique content - I personally carry around a notebook and write quick ideas, products, subjects and news posts that I could one day turn in to a blog post. Instagram also helps as I sometimes turn my Instagram worthy pics into separate posts.

Being Info Greedy: Found a great product review elsewhere, found a swatch of polish on another blog or did you read some breaking news elsewhere? then tell your readers where you found it. Don't be greedy with sharing other bloggers posts, links and pictures (with permission or source links of course). It's good to give back, you can't expect anyone else to do the same if you don't pay it forward guys. Kindness doesn't cost anything.

Sponsorship: This follows the same peeves as selling. I hate when I hit a page and it's only filled with products that have been sent as PR samples. I hate when the content is only about parties they have attended, press events they have been too or paid content. It's good to mix these up with your own views, opinions and personality - otherwise, your site, page or blog will come across as being fake, fake, fake!

Personality: Show your personality. Well, certain aspects anyway It's good for your readers and followers to see some personality after all most relationships are made through mutual connections. What I hate to see is when the publisher believes their personality is better than anyone else, there are lots of profanity and abusive messages, they continually diss other's, they play 'take my side' when they have an argument or they belittle people. There really is no need - grow up.

Pictures: Take your own pictures. This helps other's see what you see, show us why we should like something or why we should hate something. We humans really are visual creatures and taking your own pictures shows us that you are genuine. Also if you use other pictures please, please, please credit the original owner or author. Stealing is never cool.

What's your take on these points? do you have any pet-peeves from the social media world?