I will preface this by saying that one size doesn’t fit all and sometimes, by a fluke of good fortune, terrible social content does go viral, occasionally as a case of how not to do something.
There are many articles written on how to produce social content to get your site noticed. There are not as many that tell you what can get your content totally canned – the social content turnoffs.
Incorporate the following into your social content and you may be doomed for failure:
- Unprofessional design – there is nothing worse than a really amateurish looking site
- Hard to read text – either the wrong font, size or color. If I cannot read it I am gone.
- Ugly, inappropriate or obtrusive ads. Need I say more.
- Pop ups; unders; overs. Considered rude and inconsiderate – my pet hate.
- Poorly written content. Particularly grammar, spelling and lack of subject knowledge.
- Bad, hard to find or missing navigation. Why is it when I want to read more I cannot find a link to any further articles – even though you tell me they are there? Bad news.
These are all major site turnoffs and, generally speaking, totally unnecessary. There are ad units that can blend in with most sites. Pop ups will chase away traffic. It is not difficult to publish pages that are easy to read and provide good navigation links. If your social content looks bad, so do you.
Provide the opposite and you will find visitors appreciative. Sometimes appreciative enough to send your social content viral.
