Social Media Pet Peeves: 6 Mistakes Hurting Your Business

Three weeks into the summer holidays, and my patience is well and truly gone!

As a social media, PR, and marketing expert who has spent years helping small business owners get noticed, I see a lot of content online. Most of it comes from hard-working, hugely talented people who are doing their best to juggle a business, client work, and real life.

However, every now and then, I see trends and posting habits that make me want to put my head in my hands.

Here are my top social media pet peeves – well, six mistakes that are hurting your business, and what you should do instead… and if I upset you, I really am sorry. But they might just help you up your social media game!

1. Microbe-Sized Tiny Text

We have all seen those carousel graphics or Instagram stories where the font is so small you have to squint, take a screenshot, and zoom in with two fingers just to read a single sentence.

Yes, I probably should wear my glasses more often. But if your text is microbe-sized, your potential clients are not going to fetch their spectacles; they are simply going to keep scrolling.

Your audience is busy, distracted, and often reading your posts on a mobile phone screen while boiling a kettle or waiting in the school pickup line. Do not make them work for it. Keep your font bold, clean, and large enough to read instantly without needing a magnifying glass.

2. Generic, Unfiltered AI Posters

For the people sitting in the cheap seats: generic AI content makes you look exactly like everyone else who could not be bothered.

Let me be clear here: I use AI tools all the time in my own business. AI is brilliant for helping you brain-dump ideas, organise your thoughts, or draft a quick outline when your brain feels completely scrambled.

However, I would never let an AI tool spit out generic slop and post it directly to my page.

When you prompt AI to make a social media post without the information it needs on your voice, tone, style, vibe. When it doesn’t understand your customer. When it’s just doing something quick because that’s what you told it. You don’t woo and excite your customers. You make them scroll on, feeling that they really didn’t know you at all. 

3. Context-Free Cliffhangers

Another huge pet peeve of mine is the no-context cliffhanger. You know the ones: hospital check-ins with zero explanation, vague posts saying “I cannot believe this just happened…”, or asking a dramatic question and then completely leaving people hanging.

I am busy enough with my own dramas, and so are your ideal clients. We do not have the time or energy to play detective online.

If you have something valuable, exciting, or important to say, just say it. Respect your audience’s time by giving them clear context, real insights, and genuine value every single time you post.

4. Slapping Emojis Over Faces

This one pops up constantly, particularly in lifestyle, country, and family-run businesses. People post a lovely picture, but stick a massive, random emoji right over a person’s face.

I completely understand privacy concerns, especially when it comes to children or staff who do not want to be on camera. Privacy matters. But if you do not want someone’s face on the internet, simply do not post the picture!

Take a photo from behind, crop the image, focus on the hands or the product, or make your account private. Sticking a giant yellow emoji over a face ruins the aesthetic of your page and looks messy. Job done.

5. “Share This to a Random Account”

I frequently get comments on my posts telling me that someone will share my content if I send a direct message to a completely random account.

They are either up to something fishy that I cannot be bothered to work out, or they simply do not know how the share tool works. Either way, let us just pretend this whole interaction never happened.

Never fall for these spammy engagement traps, and certainly do not use them on other people’s pages. Real business growth comes from building genuine relationships with real human beings who actually care about what you do.

6. Fonts You Simply Cannot Read

If your chosen font looks like a tired spider crawled across the screen after dipping its feet in ink, it is a hard no from me.

Is it scroll-stopping? Maybe. Is it engaging? Absolutely not.

If your audience cannot read your headline in less than two seconds, they will swipe right past it. Fancy cursive fonts might look pretty on a wedding invitation, but on a fast-moving social media feed, readability wins every single time. Fonts matter. Choose clear, bold, easy-to-read typography that gets your message across fast.

Have I Been a Bit Harsh?!

Maybe… maybe not!

At the end of the day, social media does not need to feel like an overcomplicated science. It comes down to basic respect for your reader’s time and attention. Make your content clear, keep it honest, bring your real personality to the table, and make it effortless for your ideal client to consume.

Ready to Make Your Social Media Work Harder?

If you are tired of guessing what to post, feeling completely overwhelmed by social media, and wanting a simple, step-by-step strategy that brings in real clients without taking over your life, you do not have to figure it out on your own.

Sign up to be notified about my 60 sprint courses. They are short, hyper-focused, 60-minute training modules designed to give you practical tools to grow your visibility, polish your messaging, and get real results fast.

Or, for honest marketing tips, PR secrets, and practical advice on how to build a business you love, come and follow me on Instagram @rheafreemanpr