Etiquette in social media is very important since it can make you or break your business. The way you conduct yourself through social media channels is a direct reflection on your business. Whether you’re looking to establish yourself as a topic expert or build brand awareness for a business you must learn the basics of how to conduct yourself online. I have enlisted an easy to follow guide on Social Media Etiquette.
Social Media Etiquette
1. Do Not Sell Or Pitch: Social media is a great platform to connect and engage with others. If all your tweet leads to a sales pitch, people eventually will unfollow you. The objective of using social media is for your audience to be engaged and look forward to your next post. I am not against pitching or selling when its done tasteful. I normally pitch products and services that I have used and find useful for my readers.
2. Difficult People: If you find yourself dealing with someone rude, kill them with kindness. This is the best way to deal with difficult people. Treating rude people with a professional attitude will always help you keep their negativity from overcoming you.
3. Get To Know Your Audience: Your audience is the lifeblood of your business and knowing who they are will help take your business to the next level. Defining your audience will help define your target market.
Benefits of Getting To Know Your Audience:
- Speak to your target customer directly
- Join your audience conversations
- Publish quality content
- Find online influencers in your niche
- Never ignore someone who reaches out
- Be available to your audience
- Talk about content published by others
4. Say Thank You: I personally strive to say thank you to everyone that helps my business thrive. The power of a simple thank you to your audience cannot be underestimated. Showing appreciation produces higher levels of engagement and humility does go a long way.
5. Be Helpful: Does it pay to be nice and be helpful to others? The answer is, Yes. Listening to your readers and being helpful does help build a strong community of readership. The majority of my business comes through referrals. Being helpful is the most effective way to grow your business.
6. Dirty Laundry: Airing your dirty laundry on the Internet is a bad idea. Many people on social media like to air their dirty laundry and this could cause them to lose even their most loyal followers. It personally leaves me a bad taste in my mouth and I end up un-following and potentially blocking these individuals.
7. Be Transparent: Social media encourages for user to be transparent. You have to be authentic on social media. People want to connect with person behind the logo. Successful brands succeeds on social media because they achieve a consistent voice.
Make Sure To Exhibit:
- Honesty
- Integrity
- Goals
- Expertise
- Weaknesses
8. Share Your Failures: Pointing out to your readers your share of failures will help your blog readers connect with you in a higher level. Talking about your failures and lessons learn can let your readers know your transparent and a real person behind the brand.
9. Don’t Be Needy: Do not become the needy social media users. If someone unfollow you on social media resist the urge to ask them why they opted out. Be creative when trying to gain user but don’t ask your followers to retweet or share your content.
10. Poor Grammar: An important reminder for everyone on social media to always check your grammar before pressing send. I personally slow down and read my tweet out loud before posting. However, if you make a mistake don’t blow it out of proportion it happens to the best of us.
11. Social Media Profiles: Social media networks provide a profile or bio where you provide a brief explanation of who you are or your brand. Unfortunately, many people fail to complete their bio’s. The bio is a window into your brand and personality. Your bio is considered your elevator pitch many people will make an inform decision whether to follow you nor not after reading your profile.
12. Don’t Be Negative: If you are having a bad day don’t have an emotions outburst on your social media channels. No one wants to be associated with a negative individual.
13. Reply To Comments: When a person takes time to leave a comment you should always reply back. Make it your objective to always show your reader, how you value their feedback. Make sure to acknowledge your readers and you will be rewarded with a great online community.
Benefits of Replying To Comments:
- Build Relationships
- Gain Readers
- Create An Online Community
- Build Authority
- SEO Benefits
[box type=”info”]I hope these social media etiquette guide helps you conduct yourself in a professional setting. The Internet is growing at a rapid pace and everything online can be blown out of proportion or become viral within a couple of hours. Following this guide above will help you avoid in making the same mistakes many brands, celebrities, and people have already partake in. Join my newsletter to receive free online marketing tips and tricks directly into your mailbox. [/box]
Great list. Number 13 should be followed by everyone who wants to grow – I notice that some folks who are ‘leaders’ in their niche don’t seem to follow this practice. It’s disheartening as a follower when the engagement with the leaders content (even when it’s great) is only a one-way street. Posting content doesn’t mean they don’t have to acknowledge or further connect.
Why do you think 13 can be so challenging for some? Do they ‘forget’ how to engage with new folks to keep their ideas growing or do they think posting their content is ‘enough’ engagement? I look forward to your insight.
Hi Liz,
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment. Yes, your absolutely right #13 should be follow by everyone who wants to grow. There are many leaders in the blogging industry that have not given me the time of the day or simple responded to a comment or email. I told myself that I would try my best to respond to every email and comment possible.
What I have come to learn is the bigger my blog gets the more is demanded of me. I plan to take a day of the week to simply reply back to comments, emails, and stay connected to those individuals that have been part of my success at NancyBadillo.com This will ensure that I responding back and set a great example. We all get busy but we need to prioritize. A blog only grows with an engaging community.
the key to increased social engagement is just like you have stated which is like a checklist that you have to run through in your mind before you push that “tweet” button!
Thanks Nancy!
This is another great post. As I said on my facebook about you, I see you as one of the best publishers on the net. This is because of your simplicity when explaining your points. I’ll also like to say here that all you’ve mentioned in this post are true and helpful. So keep this good work up! However, how can one make money with social media? Apart from social media, is there any other platforms to make money online? I asked these just to add to what I’ve learnt.
Waiting for your response.
Hi Jeremiah,
Thank you so much for your kind words! I am glad my post come in handy. There are many methods to make money online.
1. You can create a niche site and make money by selling affiliate products.
2. You can buy Facebook ads, Google Adwords, or any type of ads to drive traffic to your product/services.
3. You can grow your mailing list and simple make money by recommending products to your readership.
Hope these additional list helps!
Absolutely true stuff. Actually, I don’t have a problem with #1 unless people are overly excessive with it; I post a link to my latest book on Twitter once a day at best, though I’ll skip a lot of days in a row. My biggest thing is #13, replying to comments left on my blogs. Then again, I also think that sometimes one needs to comment on a blog post they think is good and offer something, even if it’s only an opinion, to let the blogger know their content was appreciated… like I’m doing now. 🙂
Hi Mitch,
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment. Your feedback is valuable to me. I am glad you enjoy my article. I agree replaying back to comments it’s crucial to any business.
This is a great list and I couldn’t agree more with all of them!