Editor’s Note – A special thanks to Ivan Serrano for the infographic
All forms of communication have their own set of engagement rules. Unfortunately, most of these rules are unspoken and often disputed. Social media is no exception. The importance of social media cannot be overstated. It’s the best way to reach out to your customers and increase your brand visibility. If done properly, you can gain new followers and customers. The flip side of this, of course, is that if you don’t follow the proper etiquette rules you might end up turning your potential audience away. It might sound like a stuffy practice, but ultimately social media etiquette is really about having good social manners online and how your behavior affects your fans and followers. Before you post to your social profiles, you should ask yourself the following questions:
- Who is your audience?
- Will anyone besides you care about this content?
- Will your content offend anyone? If so, who?
- Is this news best for social platforms or would it be better communicated another way?
- How many times did your post today?
- Did you proofread for spelling and grammatical errors?
- Does your content provide value?
- Are you giving proper credit to people when sharing their content?
- Is your tone consistent?
- Are your updates unique and interesting?
- Do your posts humanize your company without being too personal?
As the name suggests, the most important part of marketing on social media is the social aspect. In order to maintain your current fan base and build loyalty, it’s important to engage in conversation and respond to people’s comments as quickly as possible.
While you should make sure your updates answers the above questions, each of the social networks have their own set of etiquette rules as well. This means that you will need to adjust your content to each platform accordingly. In this infographic, you’ll learn how to present yourself in the best light on the most popular social platforms. It will explain how often you should post, how to interact with other users, various statistics and how to best leverage the unique features for each site. Following these simple rules can help improve your brand image and attract more followers.
