5 Best Practices for Social Media Etiquette

If you’re a business owner, you are most likely on some type of social media platform. These communication channels can be managed well or poorly. Applying etiquette and best practices on these platforms will help. Here are five important points to consider:

1. Be Professional and Courteous: Saying please and thank you is just common courtesies. For instance if someone “likes” your business page or retweets a post, then thank them. You can go a step further and ask for their business page so you can also “like” and support them!

2. Don’t Ignore It: Social media is a free-thinking platform and people take the opportunity to express their concerns, feelings and opinions. Sometimes you may get a comment that is negative or derogatory. Do not ignore it. This is an opportunity. Stop…think…respond. Sometimes it’s a simple as saying, “thank you for sharing your opinion”.

3. Be Positive: Expressing negative comments or cutting down the competition will not help your overall image. That old saying, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all” goes a long way when working your social media communication channels. Posting when angry is not a good idea. Express your complaints or problems on your personal social media…not your business.

4. Pay Attention to Details: Check your posts before going live. Are there spelling mistakes? Does the link work? Is the correct image uploaded? Don’t lose your audience by providing incomplete information. People are busy and if the post doesn’t make sense, they’re onto the next thing.

5. Offer Value: Think about your audience and what they are interested in and what’s important to them. Refrain from talking just about yourself and your company. It’s better for a third party to sing your praises instead of yourself. The 80-20 rule applies here. Make it 20% about yourself and 80% about them.

Social media can sometimes seem overwhelming, but by applying some simple techniques, you will hopefully be able to navigate through with as little problems as possible. If you’re not yet on social media, consider joining these growing networks so you can start enjoying the interaction with your audience!

Cathy Yeomans, Imagine Public Relations, White Rock, BC, imaginepr@shaw.ca