Social media sites offer a great way to brand your business for free. Everybody uses sites like Facebook and Twitter, and many check them daily. But there are some deadly mistakes that can really cost you and even kill your social media campaign if you’re not careful. Here are the top 10 worst mistakes you could make.

1. Shameless Self-Promotion
By far, the worst thing you can do is use your social media site as a sales page. People on these sites don’t want to be marketed to. They want to socialize, network and share common interests.

2. Buying Your Friends
On Fiverr.com and other freelance sites, you’ll find people selling friends for social media sites. It may be tempting to pad your profile with fans, but this is a deadly mistake. In most cases, the ‘friends’ aren’t even real people. It’ll be obvious to the real people who show up on your site.

3. One-Way Exchange
When people comment or ask questions on your page, you’ve got to respond. You need to reply to them and make them feel welcome. This shows that you’re an approachable, responsive brand that cares what people think.

4. Nothing to Do
What makes a social media site popular is its interactivity. If yours just presents information about your brand and doesn’t give them anything to do there, people won’t stick around. Use the apps and widgets available to make your site interactive.

5. Social Media Neglect
Maintaining a social media site is a never-ending job. You should devote a little time to it every day. The brands that are most active on social media do the best with them. Carve out a little time and stick it in your schedule.

6. Fighting Words
No matter what anyone says about you or your brand, never be negative or nasty to them. That only brands you as a jerk. Always be considerate, polite and friendly. Keep things positive even when you’d love to give someone a piece of your mind.

7. It’s All About Me
If your page does nothing but talk about you, your products and your services, people won’t be interested. You need to find other things that your fans would like and share them.

8. Wallflower
Don’t wait for people to visit your profile. Get out there and socialize. Make friends, spend time on other profiles, and get to know people. You’ll be surprised at what a difference this makes.

9. Inappropriate Comments
Whenever you’re logged in, you need to be extremely self-aware. Everything you say or do reflects your brand. Show your personal side but don’t get too personal. You want to look like a brand owner and this requires a little bit of professionalism.

10. All Over the Place
Stick to things that are of interest to your brand. It’s okay to digress and get off topic once in a while to show your personal side, but for the most part stick to things your fans care about.

The absolute biggest mistake you can make with social media sites is ignoring them altogether. Experts predict that social media sites will become the search engines of tomorrow. To some extent they already are. Sign up to each new social media site that comes along because it might be the next great branding opportunity.