20 May Is Your Social Media Expertise Foiled by Bad Grammar?

Your website says you’re an expert. You tweet, you blog, you update your Facebook status. You do the same for your clients. Maybe you’ve put together a white paper or free report on Social Media.

Every time you do this, you have created something that is published for the world to see. It’s one thing to make your thoughts fit into Twitter’s 140-character prison, but are you publicly using poor grammar, spelling errors, or confidently presenting poorly executed thoughts? Do you proof read?

There is nothing that challenges your expertise and credibility MORE than incorrect punctuation, spelling mistakes and bad grammar. I not only see this on blogs but also in published eBooks that I’ve paid good money for! “Experts” publishing works that read like they were transcribed from a scattered conversation.

I purchased a fitness eBook the other day and one section I was reading described the ideal way to grocery shop when aiming for whole food choices. Mortified, I read, “As you cruz through the produce section…”

Cruz? As in Penelope, not Tom? Oy. I wanted my money back due to that grave error alone.

A website or blog is often the first place that you go to learn a little bit more about a person or company. If your online content is colored with many spelling and grammatical errors why should your prospective clients take you seriously? You might unintentionally go viral as people forward your badly written articles to other people to laugh at.

When I run across content that takes a long time to get to the point and is full of fluffy words and thoughts, it’s really hard to read and I will go elsewhere immediately.

Remember: what goes on the web stays on the web!

If you describe yourself as a social media manager or online content manager you had better know the difference between your and you’re, their and there (and they’re) and thoroughly understand that you don’t put an apostrophe in a plural word.

If you are writing on behalf of your company or representing a business, it’s critical that you check the content that you are putting out on the web or you will diminish your credibility in the eyes of your readers.

Do spelling and grammar errors make you think less of a company or author? Share by commenting below!