Stop that tweet! How to avoid the biggest social media mistakes.

• Author: Stewart, Heather
• Position: EntrepreneurEdge

Social media is no longer shiny and new--but we're all still learning and making mistakes. And who knows what will be the next Big Thing? "There is no social media expert on the planet. It's too infant," says Wesley Chapman, co-founder of LIME Marketing in Provo.

But step away from the keyboard-media professionals have some advice to share before you hit "send" on that racy but hilarious post.

Don't assume personal accounts are, well, personal. Don't rely on privacy settings to protect you. The truth is, once you post something on the web, you've lost control of it. "If you tweet it, its out there. You can't get it back," says Chapman. As an owner or executive, your personal brand blends into your business brand. Don't post something on a social media site that you wouldn't want your customers, board members, employees or grandmother to read.

Don't send out a flood of tweets. The fastest way to lose followers is to inundate them with pointless messages. Instead, says Chapman, work on being engaging. Make sure you respond to questions, comments, concerns and ideas.

Social media can foster rich conversations, and the worst thing a business can do is stick to a one-sided flow of information, says Evin Catlett, social media director for Richter7. "Talk with your fans, not to them," she says. And there's nothing wrong with doing quick online polls to fine-tune your approach. "Social media allows us to crowdsource our audience to see what they want to hear from us."

Don't be cute. In other words, stay away from giveaways. "You're not a sports stadium," jokes Chapman. Offering prizes can be a quick way to get "likes," but "once the trip is given away and once the frequent updates start, they're gone," he says.

In fact, bigger isn't always better when it comes to the number of your followers. "Numbers don't equate to anything in social media " says Chapman. It's better to have a core of engaged fans who become your enthusiastic brand ambassadors than to have a ton of "likes" from giveaways.

"What you really need to look at is how many people are commenting on your page and viewing your posts," says Catlett, who points out that Facebook has great analytics tools that can help businesses figure out what's working...