The key to successful social media is tackling the simple etiquette that comes with the online practice. Getting started with social media as a business owner or individual can be tough. There is an ongoing evolution of social media which can make it very hard to stay on top of the best used practices.
Let’s start with the basics, what is social media?
- It’s a way for humans to express themselves to their peers, community and the world.
- It’s a way for services, products, companies to brand and market themselves to the world.
- It’s a form of communication.
- It’s a media outlet – many people get their news from social media.
In order to fully maximize the full use of social media, here are some simple Do’s and Dont’s:
Do:
- Make your feed as aesthetically pleasing as possible. Feel free to refer to our other blog piece “The Importance of Images in Social Media”, which highlights the importance of imagery.
- Use variety. Find what works best for your followers and stick to a plan. E.g. make a schedule for yourself: Morning’s post a quote, midday post a image of yourself, evening post a picture from your dinner plans.
- Be authentic. Let your fan base see who you are. People can better relate to a genuine profile rather than a fake one. If you’re transparent, you will gain your followers trust.
- Crosspromote. If you have multiple accounts, cross promote yourself/your business across all your social media channels, whether by linking them or posting similar content.
- Encourage positive thinking. Whether it’s by sharing a quote, or interacting with other users with a like/ positive comment. It’s not only a great way to network but also a positive way to impact somebody’s day.
- Be consistent. Make sure all your social media profiles reflect the same person. You don’t want to be perceived one way on your facebook and another way on your instagram. You want to keep your brand consistent.
- Know your audience – when liking and interacting with other profiles, and posting make sure you are being consistent with your posts and who you are.
- Engage with your fans. Include games, contests and giveaways. Ask your fans questions – e.g. “What are your plans this weekend?”. Make sure to go through your following and interact by liking and commenting your fan’s pictures on a daily basis. A like for a like is always appreciated.
Don’t:
- Be too much. Think conservative over liberal – at least on your social media channels. It’s good to be spicy and have an opinion, but you don’t want to offend anyone or be perceived the wrong way.
- Make personal problems public. This speaks for itself. You want to be professional, not emotional. Proofread your social media posts as if they were your resume – #TMI
- Over-do and spam. Don’t post 6 times a day, a good technique is to cap your posts to maximum 4 times a day – and that’s assuming you have interesting content. Posting too much can have a negative effect and you can lose followers if you’re posting quantity over quality.
- Post quantity over quality. Don’t over edit or over filter. People want to relate to your images and not feel as though the content you are posting is fake. Keep content you are posting relatable.
- Neglect educating yourself about your privacy settings. It’s important to know who can see what you are posting.
- Overuse hashtags. Nothing is more annoying than having the # symbol in between every word. Find what hashtags are relevant to your post and minimize to 3 or 4 hashtags per post.
- Be repetitive. Make sure you don’t share the exact same message over and over again. People want to visit you for lucrative information, not a repeated stale message.
