Is your business following SOCIAL MEDIA ETIQUETTE for online success?
While Social media is vital for business success today, it is just like real life when it comes to etiquette! However, considering the global reach of social media, the reality is that bad manners, poor behaviour and lack of etiquette become amplified.
As Business magnate, Warren Buffett puts it: “It take twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about it, you’ll do thing differently!”
Hence, you want to be very careful about what gets shared on which social media accounts and THINK before hitting “publish”.
Rule of thumb: Remember the good manners taught in your early childhood and there’s not a chance you can go wrong with this!
Some of the rules that generally apply to all social networks are:
- No matter which social media you are using do not spam. Brands have gotten into trouble for this in the past, and it can show your brand in a disrespectful and distasteful light.
- Don’t be too pushy or forward; you want to make a good first impression.
- During solemn times, natural disaster tragedies, events of terrorism etc. you definitely want to turn your marketing messaging off no matter which social media you use. If you are using a scheduling service to post content for you, turn it off immediately at the first sign of a catastrophic event of any kind. Your timing will be seen as incredibly insensitive and could cause severe backlash against your brand.
Following are social media etiquette broken down for each of the popular social media networks that every business must follow!
When you set up your Facebook business page and invite people to connect, you are actually making a commitment to become a good friend, not just an online brand out there to make sales! When not adhered to the proper social etiquette, Facebook can do more harm to your business than all the good you have set up your account for in the first place!
Follow these rules in order to improve the chances of success for your business,
- It is fine to update several times a day, but space out the posts over the whole day.
- Understand how to use hashtag. One is fine but do not use up to 10 in one article.
- Respond to all comments made no matter whether they are good or bad.
- Do not post on other people’s business page asking them to like your page.
- When writing about your product, use “we” not “I”.
- There is an 80/20 rule. 80% inform and 20% sell.
- Avoid making multiple updates within a short time span.
Twitter
With over 300 million active monthly users, Twitter provides a great platform for businesses to reach their target audience! The following Twitter etiquettes or Twittequetets will make sure you look and sound your best on this social media platform!
- Respond to all questions and comments as quickly as possible.
- Keep your comments positive. People don’t want to read negatives.
- Don’t overuse hashtags. A maximum of three is all you should use.
- You don’t need to follow everyone who follows you. However, it is a good idea to follow people who frequently retweet or comment on your posts.
- Don’t use all 140 characters. There needs to be room for people to re-tweet you.
- Don’t share too much personal information.
- Use your logo as your avator. This way people can quickly recognize you.
- Don’t just tweet headlines with the relevant link. Add value by giving your take on the article as well.
Google+
Looking to build a good followership on the rapidly growing social media network? Follow these rules and you’ll find success!
- When sharing a post, always add your own commentary to it first.
- Always mention users when commenting on their posts.
- Use “hat tips” when sharing other user’s work. Everyone likes to be recognized for their work.
- Make your posts easy to read by using bolding, italics and strikethroughs.
- Add value and write good information.
- Engage. You must be there to back up conversations, get involved, address questions and add to the conversation.
- Respond to a question or a comment.
- Don’t spam. You will sacrifice authority and the respect of your community.
Instagram is definitely causing more than a stir, and your customers are no exception to that! The following Instagram etiquette will help your business retain current followers and win over new ones!
- Keep posts clean and avoid selfies, food and family photos on your business site.
- Use hashtags for you brand appropriately. The golden number is 11.
- Don’t ask people to follow you or use hashtags like #TagsforLikes.
- Don’t overuse Instagram. People don’t want their feed filled up with one user.
- Do not repost someone’s photo without permission or at least repost with credit to the original poster.
- If you want people to engage with your photos, then engage with theirs.
LinkedIn has proved to be the best social media platform for B2B lead generation. The following tips will help you leverage LinkedIn for your business in the best possible way.
- This is a professional site, so keep information industry related.
- Use your groups as a place to contribute information, not as a place to advertise your brand.
- When you have a connection request, tell them why you’re connecting.
- Once connected to someone, send them a “welcome” note.
- Use “I” not “we” when updating your LinkedIn page.
- Respond to posts, reviews and questions. If a user leaves a product review, thank them.
- If there is a complaint, address it.
- Answer questions and offer advice and assistance.
Seasoned Pinerest users often notice an influx of pixelated images, photos without any attribution and spam, leaving a bad taste in the mouth! So what can your business do to avoid that?
- Use high quality images.
- Always link back to the original source and give credit.
- Try to pin directly from the source for better accreditation.
- Use a scheduling tool to spread your pins out rather than pinning for an hour or two straight.
YouTube
Business can turn their YouTube channel into influential owned media which in turn can drive a huge amount of earned media. Nonetheless, this can only be done, if brands follow the rules of this massively growing social media platform!
- If you have comments enabled on your videos, make sure you moderate them and stay engaged. You can always switch the comments off.
- Make sure your channel continues to provide value.
- If you happen to find yourself in the presence of trolls, remember to keep your cool; you act on behalf of your brand in a public forum.
- Whether you have comments enabled on your videos or not, there are likely going to be times when you will need or want to comment on other threads and videos. The standard advice applies there as well: don’t yell at people, check your spelling and grammar, use your brand voice and definitely don’t leave spammy comments yourself.
Make sure you have followed the social media etiquette guidelines before hitting post. You’ll be glad to have double-checked before sharing it with the world!