Correcting Social Media

“With speed,” a client told us in a meeting last week, “come mistakes.” He wasn’t talking about mistakes we had made or mistakes that he had made, but about his willingness in the abstract to accept mistakes as a trade-off for speed.

That maxim certainly applies to social media. Social media is often done quickly in order to take advantage of real-time communication opportunities, and it’s very easy to make errors.

What can you do about it?

Before moving into thoughts of damage control (more on that later), look into how you can edit a post with an error.

Facebook

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After posting, you can use the tiny arrow at the top right hand corner of your post to pull down a menu which includes the option to edit. Click on “Edit” and your text box will open again so you can change your text.

Anyone with access to the page can edit, so you can do this yourself or have your social media team take care of it for you.

Once you boost a post, however, it cannot be changed. Be sure to proofread before you boost!

Twitter

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Tweets cannot be edited. However, you can use the ellipsis (three dots) to pull down a menu which will allow you to delete your tweet.

Highlight and copy the tweet, delete it, and tweet it again, fixing the error before posting.

LinkedIn

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If your autopost came out looking a bit weird, you can delete it and start again, just as with Twitter. And just as with Twitter, you can’t edit it.

Pinterest

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Pinterest lets you edit. Just hover over your pin and you’ll see a little pencil — the standard “edit” icon. Click on it and you can not just change your text but also add a URL and a location. If you pin an image from your computer, this is the quick and easy way to link your pin up to your website.

These are the solutions for typos or changes in dates that take place after you’ve posted. But what if you have a more serious social media faux pas? Here are some posts that address that issue:


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