Matt Yeomans author of #Fail – the 50 Greatest Social Media Screw Ups after signing my copy at SXSW Eco.

Social Snafus.

They are rather common and happen to firms and organizations of all sizes – even the most sophisticated large brands. While the stories may make us cringe and shake our heads in disbelief, we can learn from these mistakes as well.

A terrific way to do just that is to pick up this book: #Fail – The Fifty Greatest Social Media Screw Ups. One of our advisors caught up with co-author Matthew Yeomans at a South by Southwest event recently providing The Social Jumpstart Library with our own autographed copy.

It’s a fast and fun read packed with both examples AND advice on lessons learned. Granted the book focuses mainly on large Fortune 500 firms, however, there are plenty of mistakes that we can learn from for any size organization.

Here’s some of our favorite nuggets of learning that we found in Matt’s book:

1) Listen

We see this advice a lot and we say it a lot ourselves too but, it always bears repeating. Social Media allows business owners to hear what the marketplace is saying about you. Remember the old adage “I wish I could be a fly on the wall”? Well now you can and you should. It was amazing the number of firms that were simply clueless to what was going on all around them as people were talking about their brands.

2) Think.

Ha!

You have a clever and witty tweet related to something in the news. It’s pithy, actually hilarious, and you quickly open Twitter and type it into your phone and press – twee… WAIT.

Don’t do it. Step back and take a second. Ask the “Grandma Rule” question. Is this something I would be comfortable having my grandmother read? My boss? My kids? My client?

Think before you Post, Pin, Tweet or do anything online.

3) Check

And check again.

Are you logged into the right account?

It was amazing how many “Fails” were the simple mistake of people thinking they were posting from their personal accounts when in reality if was the company account. What a disaster and it continues to happen as noted by Lisa Barone in her recent social tips interview with us too.

Like many other things in life – effective social media marketing is common sense. Matt’s book is a great reminder of this simple fact!