Social Media Etiquette
There are etiquette guides for almost everything. Right from setting up tables to public behavior. So, this shouldn’t come off as a surprise that a communication medium, as huge as social media, comes with its own sets of guidelines and etiquettes.
Since social media is such a public forum, everything you do or post should be checked and re-checked 10 times before anything ends up online. One wrong Comment or post could turn into a controversy and may have serious consequences for your Brand’s reputation.
6 Social media etiquettes every business must follow:
Always give credit where credit is due. Social media is vast with its reach in every corner of the world. It thus opens the door for your content to reach massive number of people in a blink of an eye. People see a lot of things online and are quick to recall if they see or read the same thing at two different sites.
Plagiarism and copyright infringement can make your business look very bad, disrespectful and greedy and could make you lose followers.
- Be quick to reply to comments
The people on the internet are very impatient and quick to move on. If they make an enquiry or post a complaint, they expect a reply within an hour at the max. Also, remember that all your communication with your customers is direct and highly public on social media so don’t leave them hanging.
No matter if a comment is negative or positive, always respond promptly. Ignoring negative comments could lead to a major PR disaster. Whereas handling a negative comment with efficiency could turn a detractor into a loyal customer.
- Post regularly but do not overshare
Your social media feed shouldn’t look like you barfed out your thoughts. Occasional posts or posting once a day is fine but do not post 5-6 posts a day for a week and then go MIA. Your posts frequency should be consistent.
You want your brand to be interesting, engaging, and representative of your best characteristics. You don’t want to dilute it with scads of irrelevant posts.
- Don’t follow anyone and everyone
Every business wants thousands of people to follow it on social media but following anyone and everyone in that hopes is not the way to go. This will not only oversaturate your feed with irrelevant posts but also tarnish your credibility and reputation.
The number of followers your business is important to determine the awareness your brand has, however, the followers don’t mean much without context.
Hash tags are a good way to be found by your target audience. But like every good thing, there’s a limit to the use of hash tags. You do not want to bombard your post with only hash tags. Using too many of them could be distracting and could come off as desperate.
The best way to use your hash tag is using them sparingly. Consider them as money; you wouldn’t want to spend too much at once.
Social media automation is a very handy tool but a one that is strictly for ‘Emergency purposes’ only. Avoid using it in direct communication with the customers. People have a knack for sniffing out automated messages or comments on Social media. They might report it or mark it as spam, which is not at all good for your business.
Posting the right thing on the right platform at the right time can be a bit of a task, isn’t it? Well, let us make it easier for you.
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