While social media is a great marketing tool, many companies are using it the wrong way, which can be detrimental to their businesses. Here are the top 10 mistakes to avoid when using Facebook, Twitter and other social media marketing tools.

1. Not listening. Social media is a conversation, and often times it's one-sided. You're not there to talk about your brand so much as to listen to what others have to say and to participate in meaningful conversations. You never know: you might even learn something valuable by listening!

2. Turning into an autobot. It's possible to set up tweets so that you don't have to manually do it, but that's not always a good idea. Tweets like "Please check out our video" sent to 500 people are spammy, and clearly didn't come from interaction by a real, live human. Be real, and be personable. People warm up to humans, not robots.

3. Being too promotional. Using social media requires a delicate balance of questions, conversations, personalization and promotion. If you overdo the promotion, you'll turn people off, and they will stop following you. It's perfectly fine to pepper your update stream with a few coupon codes, but don't make them the theme of your social media efforts.

4. Not updating enough. Some companies set up Facebook Pages and Twitter Profiles and then complain because they didn't get any new business as a result. But social media requires constant attention -- much like a baby -- to be fruitful. Aim to update at least daily, and provide useful insights and links that your readers are interested in.

5. Not following back. If someone follows you on Twitter, you're not required to follow them back, but social media etiquette says you should. There are well known political and celebrity figures who don't follow people back; what does that say about how they respect their fans? Take time to view who's following you and follow at least some of them back. Send a comment thanking them for following you.

6. Not promoting the social media channels. Many people would rather visit your Facebook Page than your website, but if they don't know about the Page, how can they get there? Include icons on your website that allow visitors to easily get to your social media profiles, and include them on your blog and in emails as well.

7. Expecting overnight success. Social media is one of many channels you should be using for your marketing efforts; it alone won't net you millions in sales. So use it in conjunction with everything else you do, and over time, you will see some traction.

8. Not having the right person managing It. In small businesses, the owner tends to try do take on all tasks. Social media might not be one for the owner to tackle if he's not into it. Find an intern, marketing professional or other person with social media skills to handle the account,s or else they might do more harm than good.

9. Not using it as a customer service tool. People are likely talking about your brand, for better or worse. If you're paying attention, you can help customers with problems through Twitter and Facebook publicly, which goes a long way to showing that you're listening. You can thwart a potentially nasty spread of hate about you and make a customer happy. 

10. Not getting onboard soon enough. If you're not using Facebook and Twitter for marketing, this means you. Every company can benefit from having a social media presence, so get your strategy together and start using it to your advantage.

Photo: Flickr user Opensourceway. Creative Commons 2.0.