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Social Media
Etiquette for Business: 25 Do’s & Don’ts
By Travis Balinas, Published July 30, 2014 - b2c.com
Learning the best social media
etiquette for business owners, especially small businesses, is almost as hard
as getting started with social media in the first place. Over time, social
networks have evolved almost as much as the ways people and businesses are using
them. With constant evolution and daily growth, it can be tough staying on top
of the best practices that come from experience. What’s even harder to do is to
fully understand all of the little nuances that act as unwritten etiquette
rules that run these networks.
However, the more comfortable you
become with social media, the more you drift away from remembering that it’s
still about business too. A favorite quote of mine comes from my friend Jason
Falls:
The more sales oriented you are, the
less human you become. In today’s world, that often equates to fewer sales or
at least a poor long-term sales strategy. The more human you are, the less
businesslike you become. If you forget about business in that existence, you
will suffer as well. It takes one to fuel the other.
When it comes to etiquette,
behavior, and what to do/not to do, this is something that takes a bit more
practice to fully understand. that’s why I’ve put together 25 of the best do’s
and don’ts for small business social media. Over the years, these too will
change as well, but for right now, this is the best starting point for social
media business etiquette.
1)
Have Your Social Media Profiles Completed in Full
No one likes to get to a Twitter
page only to find out that they haven’t taken the time to upload a photo to
their account. Photos are a good start, having a name that is easily identified
as being you and your business is a must, and take that extra 5 minutes to fill
out all the “about you” information. First impressions are important and
lasting. What do your social media profiles say about you?
2)
Don’t Have Multiple Profiles
Just as hard as it is to try and
live two separate lives, so it is to manage multiple profiles of yourself. This
doesn’t mean that everything is all or nothing and you have to live your life
as an open book. But it does mean that if you’re going to be on a particular
network that you familiarize yourself with the security settings so you can
know what you’re posting publicly and privately.
3)
You Are What You Tweet…and Share
Just use good common sense. The
internet is now the track record of your life. Don’t share something that you
don’t want to be left as a representation of you. But don’t let this stop you
from making yourself known on issues and things that matter. Having no voice
pertaining to certain things that your business stands behind could be worse
than a few people disagreeing with your own beliefs. Be proud of who you are
and represent as a business, but make sure that you know what image you’re
crafting as a result.
4)
Use Automation Sparingly…Social is Still about Relationships
Automating certain aspects of your
social media updating can be good for both continued social media engagement
and for your own time of day. For example, OutboundEngine customers enjoy automated
social media updates to their business pages about a dozen times a month. This
keeps fresh content in front of their clients and frees up their time
throughout the day. But with this, they’re still able to post on their own,
tweet, share, and communicate with their audience, and encouraged to do so.
5)
Don’t Try to be Everywhere All the Time
If you have a few free hours
everyday, then by all means, try every social network out there. But let’s be
realistic, that’s not the case. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Pick one or two
social networks for starters and go from there. Personally, I’d recommend
building a personal profile on LinkedIn and a Facebook Business Page.
6)
Be a Friend to Get a Friend
See someone ask a question on
Twitter that you know the answer to? Send them a reply! Is one of your Facebook
friends asking for a recommendation for a realtor? Recommend your friends
Business Page. Did you write a helpful post on your blog? Ask for feedback from
your LinkedIn network. Build connections online just how you would in person.
7)
Don’t Be Needy
No one likes someone who is needy.
Don’t ask your Twitter followers to “retweet this tweet please.” Don’t beg your
Facebook friends to come “Like” your page. Get creative with things. You can
still accomplish those tasks, but learn how to disguise them.
8)
Be Wary of Spam (and Don’t Be Spammy)
Just because you get a follower on
Twitter doesn’t mean they’re a real person. Do your homework. If they’re
following 20,000 people and have zero followers, chances are they’re garbage.
And please don’t click on any links they might send to you. On the other side
of that coin, don’t join 20 groups on LinkedIn and go post the same
self-promotional message in all of them, and then leave. That’s just rude!
9)
Transparency is the Ultimate Form of Trustworthiness
Should you run into an issue that
causes a flurry of activity on social media, the worst thing you can do is try
and hide from the issue. Never delete comments, try and respond the best you
can, and don’t become defensive. Work to resolve the issue and let those that
cared about it online know when it is solved.
10)
Have a Direction for Your Sharing, Don’t Be All Over the Place, and Build
Consistency
Find a direction and stick to it.
People don’t like having the rug pulled out from underneath them when it comes
to what they are expecting. If you like sharing cool DIY things around the
house and one day decide to share something unrelated, you’ll have some
confused and upset followers.
11)
Don’t Over Share
At that same token of consistently,
don’t over-share. With Twitter, you can tweet a half dozen times per day and be
fine. With Facebook Business Page, once a day should be enough. The same goes
for LinkedIn too.
12)
Avoid Poor Grammar and Spelling
Nothing makes you look sillier than
bad grammar and spelling. Word of advice: prep your social media updates in a
Word doc before going public just to make sure.
13)
WHY ARE YOU WRITING IN ALL CAPS?
ARE YOU MAD AT ME? DID I DO
SOMETHING WRONG? Please for the love of all things holy stop with the all caps.
All they say is that you’re not creative and probably upset about something.
14)
#Don’t #Abuse #Hashtags
Hashtags are a good way to help get
your tweets and Facebook posts categorized with similar content so when someone
searches for that keyword, they find you. This does not mean that you turn
every word into a post a hashtag.
15)
Stop Sharing The Same Message Again And Again
It’s definitely lazy and in poor
taste to take the same status update, tweet, or LinkedIn post and continue to
share it over and over again. First of all, all social networks are smart
enough to see the repetition and they’ll start showing your post to less and
less people. Secondly, it’s just a bad way to label yourself as lazy and
spammy.
16)
Stay Away From Auto-DM’s
As you learn more about social
networks, you’ll learn about things other people do and tools that they use.
When the time comes and you think you should send new Twitter followers an
automated direct message (DM)….please don’t. It’s tacky.
17)
Engage in Constructive Introspection
Always ask yourself “does anyone
care about this except me?” and you’ll really find out whether or not your
social media posts are hitting the mark. Again, this goes back to listening
first, posting second. Make sure you’re sharing things that your audience cares
about.
18)
Share Without Any Intention of Getting Something in Return
Remember this especially if you’re
just starting out. Just because you’re doing something on social media, doesn’t
mean it matters yet. Just like starting out with your business, things were
slow at first until you made connections, built up a reputation, and got a
handle on things. Same goes for your social media accounts.
19)
Be Generous and Give Credit When Credit is Due
This is especially true on Twitter.
Nobody likes it when you steal a good update. Take the time to find their
Twitter handle and mention them in a tweet. Send out thank you tweets to people
whose work you enjoy. You’ll make some great connections.
20)
Match the Right Content to the Right Network (and be Mindful of the Tone of
Each Network)
Just because you’re on Facebook,
LinkedIn, and Twitter and you find a really cool article to share, doesn’t mean
that it belongs on each network. You’ll learn in a short time what sort of
things get shared on each network. You’ve also got to realize that the same
message you used on Facebook might need to be dressed up a little bit more when
shared to LinkedIn. Keep the tone of each network in mind as well.
21)
Don’t Automate Across Platforms
Twitter has a feature that allows
you to share your tweets to Facebook, simultaneously. You can also tweet out
your LinkedIn status updates as well. Stay away from this multi-channel
messaging feature and you’ll be fine. Take the extra 30 seconds it takes and
write an original message for each channel.
22)
Act How You’d Like to be Treated
If you find it annoying when a
Facebook Business Page continually posts updates about their store hours or if
you follow a Twitter account that continually send out the same tweet in all
caps, remember not to do the same. It’s just good to keep in mind.
23)
Think Before Tagging
Tagging people in photos is a great
way to expose you and your business to their friends. When they’re tagged in a
photo posted by you, you’ll be shown to their network of friends. But please,
always check with someone before you tag them in a photo or check them in with
you on a social channel.
24)
Don’t Get Caught Up in the Numbers Game
It’s so painfully easy to get caught
up in the numbers game but remember this: while having lots of Facebook Fans
and Twitter followers is good, they’re only as good as they’re makeup. Meaning,
if you have 1,000 Twitter followers that are all spam accounts, then there’s no
point to tweeting because the message is to an audience that truly doesn’t
exist.
25)
Have Fun
Remember how social media started as
a way to keep in touch with friends and family? Just because you’re using it
for your small business doesn’t mean that you should stop having fun with it.
Try new things, post different stuff, and always keep things conversational.
Have fun with it and you’ll learn that you can enjoy this part of your job.
And with that, I wish you all the
best of luck and feel confident that you are all well equipped to start your
journey to becoming a socially thriving small business.
Originally
posted on the OutboundEngine blog.
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In addition to this blog, I have authored the premiere book on Netiquette, "Netiquette IQ - A Comprehensive Guide to Improve, Enhance and Add Power to Your Email". You can view my profile, reviews of the book and content excerpts at:
www.amazon.com/author/paulbabicki
If you would like to listen to experts in all aspects of Netiquette and communication, try my radio show on BlogtalkRadio and an online newsletter via paper.li.I have established Netiquette discussion groups with Linkedin and Yahoo. I am also a member of the International Business Etiquette and Protocol Group and Minding Manners among others. I regularly consult for the Gerson Lehrman Group, a worldwide network of subject matter experts and I have been contributing to the blogs Everything Email and emailmonday . My work has appeared in numerous publications and I have presented to groups such as The Breakfast Club of NJ Rider University and PSG of Mercer County New Jersey.
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In addition to this blog, I have authored the premiere book on Netiquette, "Netiquette IQ - A Comprehensive Guide to Improve, Enhance and Add Power to Your Email". You can view my profile, reviews of the book and content excerpts at:
www.amazon.com/author/paulbabicki
If you would like to listen to experts in all aspects of Netiquette and communication, try my radio show on BlogtalkRadio and an online newsletter via paper.li.I have established Netiquette discussion groups with Linkedin and Yahoo. I am also a member of the International Business Etiquette and Protocol Group and Minding Manners among others. I regularly consult for the Gerson Lehrman Group, a worldwide network of subject matter experts and I have been contributing to the blogs Everything Email and emailmonday . My work has appeared in numerous publications and I have presented to groups such as The Breakfast Club of NJ Rider University and PSG of Mercer County New Jersey.
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