Social media is constantly changing, but social media etiquette is timeless. While the strategies for building community through social media are always shifting to adapt as each platform evolves, we can always count on these basic rules of social media etiquette. Here are nine of the most effective ways to boost your social media manners to win over your audience again and again.
- Don’t just use your social media to self-promote. Use it to connect with and to serve your ideal customers. If you’re constantly trying to sell, your audience will just scroll on by. But if you make it your mission to mostly serve relevant content, they’ll be interested whenever you do promote.
- Don’t underpost. While there’s a fine line between keeping your brand front of mind and bombarding your audience with too many posts, don’t be shy! Remember, quality matters. Find relevant topics, relatable memes and praise your colleagues. Not sure how often your brand should pop into a feed? Here’s a handy guide to help you out.
- Keep a positive tone. Avoid complaining and ranting on your business accounts. Sometimes, we need to call attention to needed improvements in order to spark change, and that’s fine. Just be sure to keep it focused more on the positive changes you’d like to see rather than on everything that’s wrong with the world.
- Give credit where credit is due. Never repost without citing your source. Not only is it the right thing to do, but (in case you need a better reason) it also can help you get fresh eyes on your account and make new connections when you tag the original source.
- Respond to messages quickly. Just as your response time for emails and phone calls determines how professional you appear to your customers and clients, your responsiveness to direct messages and tags count. If you don’t have time, this is a task you should definitely consider delegating.
- Don’t call out your competitors or rivals. Rather than hearing everything your rival is doing wrong, all your audience hears is that you’re not being a good sport. You’re better than that.
- Respond to negative reviews or feedback with grace. Have you ever lost yourself in a particularly juicy comment thread? Your audience is likely grabbing some popcorn to see how the drama will unfold whenever someone leaves you a nasty comment. It definitely pays off to take the high road and respond with grace.
- Chill out on the hashtags. Each platform has varying approaches to this rule. In general, when you list out tons of hashtags it looks like you’re trying a little too hard to gain followers, not necessarily connecting with the right audience. Using a few great hashtags is a much more effective strategy. Want to know more about hashtag usage? Here’s a handy blog to help you sort it out!
- Choose who you follow wisely. Focus more on the quality of your connections rather than the quantity. You want to keep your feed relevant so that you can share the best content for your audience. So if you’re following just to be followed in return, it’s time to rethink that click. Engagement is a two-way street, plan time to engage with connections you follow.
It’s as simple as that. I’d encourage you to play around with different social media strategies and platforms and see what works best for your brand. As long as you stick with these simple etiquette rules, you can’t go wrong. And if you need help, aJuxt is always ready to jump in. (Just saying.)
Written by Lynsie Slachetka || Chief Executive Juxtaposition Officer & Founder