Anyone with an online presence should know the importance of correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar when it comes to posting online. Whether it’s a status update, event invite, or promotion, these writing basics can either boost your business or hurt your credibility.
Case in point: the Walgreens Facebook fan page. What started as an ad about his Take Care clinics quickly turned into a heated debate about the misspelling of one word: treaty. See his faux pas below:
Did you know Take Care clinics at select Walgreens offer treatment for skin conditions, urinary tract infections and more?
This national chain of pharmacies was advertising healthcare and made a mistake with potentially huge repercussions. At press time, there were 508,187 fans of that page. The potential exposure to this bug was more than just the actual fans. Any post made to a place that has a membership as large as Facebook has the potential to reach millions of people around the world. Lack of confidence inspired by one small word could affect the company’s bottom line: profits. When the name and reputation of the company depend on the trust of its customers, the company should do everything possible to ensure that trust is retained.
The internet provides us with many images illustrating the lack of proofing or double checking work. The most recent was a photo of the word “SCHOOL” misspelled as “SCHOOL” in a school zone. How much confidence does this inspire in that particular school? Although the school itself is not responsible for improper lettering (city or county crews do most of the street painting), parents, administration, and the community at large feel the effects of ridicule and the shame.
I don’t know about you, but I love my words and I do my best to make sure they are clear enough for my readers to get my point. I have two blogs and a business page. When in doubt, I consult a dictionary or thesaurus. Both are available online, in print, and in most word processing programs. Another option is to have someone else review her work before making it public. Human eyes and brains get tired after reading and rereading the same document multiple times, and it’s easy to miss a simple typo.
Spell a word correctly but with transposed letters and it becomes something very different and can change the meaning of the sentence or completely interrupt the flow of your article or post. If a reader is distracted while reading, the effectiveness of your copy is greatly diminished.
The effect can go even further. Consider the cost of correcting a mistake. If a printing company prints your business cards or flyers with the copy you provided that had an error, you are responsible for reprinting with corrected copy. Damage control is always more expensive than taking steps to get it right the first time.
Take the time to carefully review everything your customers, fans, and the public see. Many people underestimate the importance of proofreading before posting. The result is often a costly and embarrassing mistake.
