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Sometime ago during the eighteenth century in France, the word “etiquette” was used to provide a set of rules for people on how they should behave in a Social setting. Etiquette is described as a code of behavior that describes the expectations for social behavior according to social norms. Today, as the world continues to evolve and we have finally reached modernity and technology, and with the existence of the internet and social networking sites where millions, if not billions of people communicate and share volumes of information every seconds; we still follow certain business etiquette to win our customers.
While we know that there are many other practices out there that we should have included in this article, we will highlight these 10 social media etiquette that will guide you through your Social Media marketing activities.
Keeping these in mind will help build your business's credibility and online reputation to generate more customers and increase conversion rates.
Keeping these in mind will help build your business's credibility and online reputation to generate more customers and increase conversion rates.
1. Complete your social media profiles with valid information
Make sure to provide complete and valid information for your business’s social media profile. Upload a professional profile picture and think of a screen name that would best represent you and your company.
2. Create a friendly atmosphere on your page
Prior to creating a business page, you are expected to have a specific audience in mind, so everything you share is meant for that specific audience. Create a friendly aura for your business page by writing posts in a friendly tone, replying to their comments, reviews, and private messages as soon as you received them, and engaging to conversations that are related to your business.
3. Avoid spamming
Sending irrelevant or inappropriate messages on the internet to a large number of recipients is considered unethical, especially if the recipient is not a target customer for your business. Avoid spamming people’s social media pages. Instead, get them to visit your page by providing them the right information and help they need.
4. Be organized and consistent with sharing information. Avoid oversharing.
Avoid sharing random information. If you want to share certain topic or news that is irrelevant to your business, think of a nice caption to relate them with each other. Be creative with what you share, make your audience feel that when they see it on their newsfeed it’s specially meant for them and it contains exactly what they expected from your business Page. Do not overshare, find out the best number of posts you can share to your target audience everyday, as well as the best time to post it.
5. Avoid excessive use of Hashtags
A hashtag works for a number of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, and more. The use of hashtag turns a certain post into a trending topic on the internet and can even connect conversations among networks. This powerful tool works great for content marketing to identify social media conversations relevant to the business and get the contents in front of the right people. But too much of something is always a bad thing, so make sure you only use relevant hashtags for your posts, not too heavy and messy on the eyes of your readers, and with just the right volume of target hashtags. For Facebook, three hashtags per post can be enough.
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6. Provide valuable contents
It’s alright to talk about yourself or your company once in a while, especially when you are just starting and you want to introduce your business and yourself to your audience. But for most part, your entire page must be dedicated to your target audience. Besides, they’re the sole reason you created a business Page. Provide them with valuable contents they all can relate to and make use of in their everyday life. Do not forget to check the grammar and spelling of your contents before you serve them to your audience. Value is not just in the context of your contents but also in the way you present them.
It’s alright to talk about yourself or your company once in a while, especially when you are just starting and you want to introduce your business and yourself to your audience. But for most part, your entire page must be dedicated to your target audience. Besides, they’re the sole reason you created a business Page. Provide them with valuable contents they all can relate to and make use of in their everyday life. Do not forget to check the grammar and spelling of your contents before you serve them to your audience. Value is not just in the context of your contents but also in the way you present them.
7. Don’t approach random social media users and offer your products and services
A lot of social media marketers would send random people ads for their products and services without considering if that person they are sending it to is right for their business. Flooding their comment or private message box with ads and offers most of them won’t really need could cause more harm to you than to them. Instead of spending your precious time to get a number of possible customers from random audience, use your time to find the right people for your business and take them to your Page, then establish a good relationship with them. Soon, you won't have to do it alone, your loyal customers will do it for you.
8. Share information appropriate for a social portal
Make sure that the information you share will be acceptable with absolutely anyone seeing it on their newsfeed. It is important to keep in mind that although we are free to share anything we like on our own Page, we have a social responsibility to consider. This will also boost your company's credibility.
9. Never post/respond when you’re not in a good condition
Written text is always subject to being misunderstood; sometimes our choice of words could change the tone and meaning of the entire message. Make sure you are always in a good condition when coming up with the right words to say to your audience. Avoid responding, commenting or posting on your social media page when you’re irate, intoxicated, or exhausted.
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10. Avoid being too private on a public medium
Use direct messaging for private conversation, but not be too private. Social media platforms are still a public medium. When replying to negative comments and review, try to do it publicly to show other audience you have nothing to hide and that you acknowledge these kinds of feedback and can deal with it with grace and confidence.
