Social Media & Business Etiquette- Eight Rules

The 8 simple rules to follow when tackling your company’s social media.

In most of today’s small business, we usually have the business owner wear multiple hats inside the company.

Many of these entrepreneurs run errands, do deliveries, pick up mail, sell, buy – they simply try to do it all! Including running the social media accounts for their business. Today business owners find themselves looking out not only for their own Facebook or Instagram accounts, but also that of their business as well. Let’s not even talk about that crash course to learn Word Press to handle the often updates needed for their website.

Often times we see the lines between personal accounts and business become a somewhat blurred line, where we forget where one starts and the other end.

This is why I would like to remind entrepreneurs of 8 simple rules that will allow your social media business accounts to seem more like a fortune 500 company than that of your next-door neighbor.

Here are the 8 simple rules:

1. Think Before You Post:

This cannot be truer, please read and re-read everything before you post it.

Read it to yourself and out loud to ensure that the message you are trying to convey makes sense, that there is logic to what you are about to put out there to the world. That the message is relevant to your mission and that it is what I call “Kid friendly”, meaning and appropriate.

2. Respond To Comments Fast:

If you have created that social media account, expect people to react and ask questions or simply comments.

Reciprocate, kindly respond to ALL comments good or bad. Learn how to use your voice online and respond with gratitude, people have taken the time to write and expect an answer or at least an acknowledgement.

3. Don’t Insult Your Competition:

Never insult your competition online, you are only inviting your customers to check out the competition.

The last thing you need in your digital marketing is to draw attention to your competitor’s social media. Focus on what you have to offer and sell it with its own benefits.

4. Ensure You Are Posting Is “Share friendly”:

Many times, we realize that after posting that image or blog, the post is not sharable.

The worst part is that we only come to find out about this a couple of days later when we see in the comments that a costumer mentions something about it. This translates as missed opportunity to our followers to have spread the word on a sale, a new item or event being promoted.

It is crucial that every time we post on any social media platform, that we ensure every post is sharable.

5. Choose Hashtags Wise:

This is one that I get many questions on, not only do business owners want to know how many hashtags they should use, but how to choose them.

On this topic you could say that there are a couple of rules to follow:

• • First, do not go overboard with the number of hashtags you use. You do not want to use fifty and you do not want to use two. Be prudent and use a reasonable number to the content you are about to post.
  • Second, choose hashtags wisely. There is no need to hashtag every word in your sentence, make sure you write a sentence or two and then use hashtags, this is not to say that there might not be hashtags in between the sentences. Do some research prior to posting and see what is currently categorized under the hashtags you are considering, then you can determine if the hashtag could potentially work for your social media.

6. Keep Your Professional & Personal Accounts Separate:

The above is true for more than one business owner.

Many times their cute puppy falls on to the business page and the company’s latest coupon is published in their personal page. It is not professional to post your personal life onto your business social media, your clients don’t really care what you ate for lunch, or if your vacation to Aruba was phenomenal.

The same goes for your personal, although to a lesser degree.

If you own a business, most likely your friends like your business page and will get to see that coupon being shared twice. Causing  a perception of  spam to their feed. Once again keep your personal stuff on your personal account and keep your business postings on your business page.

7. Don’t Follow For Numbers:

This trend has fortunately slowed down a bit. It refers to when a business account follows someone for what is known as a “Follow Back” action.

This practice should be highly avoided, as it will create a false perception and low quality leads. This means a lot of numbers with no substance and a lot of people with no true connection or interest towards your business.

In order for your social media accounts to work for you, work on attaining true followers, people that know your product and have a true interest and will in the future relate to what you have to post and say.

8. Keep Your Brand Consistent Across Social Networks:

Being consistent across ALL social media platforms should be your number one rule when beginning to plan out your digital marketing.

From start to finish, all should convey the same type of message, from the photographs, images to logo, colors and scheme. The brand should seem cohesive and concise.  The consumer will follow patterns and feel safer when they perceive what they are used to, holding true when thinking of advertising on any media.

Always have your message on the same language, it is your brand that is talking not you.

Takeaway:

Although these simple rules are only the beginning of what social media is about, I am sure that if you follow them you will set your digital strategy in the right direction for the growth you seek.

Whether it be brand awareness, sales, recognition, etc. Social media is a great tool, know how to use it… And use it wisely.

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