Social Media Etiquette for Business Owners: Do’s & Don’ts ~ Digital Marketing Maestro

Social Media Etiquette for Business Owners: Do’s & Don’ts

When it comes to social media, chances are your target customer is using it.

2.8 billion people were using social media by the end of 2016, up 21 percent from 2015
83 percent of Americans have a social media account
48 percent of Americans have interacted with companies on at least one social media network
Mobile use of social media increased by 30 percent in 2016, surpassing 2.5 billion users globally (91 percent of all social media users)
Young adults were among the most strongly represented social media adopters but usage by older adults has increased in recent years

As a business owner or marketer, you know the impact social media has on the connection between companies and consumers. But are you making the right impact?

The constant evolution of social networks can make it difficult to remain on top of best practices in social media etiquette. Business owners who log in to these social networks only occasionally may find it difficult to fully understand all the nuances that act as unwritten rules of use.

When it comes to business, actions and what to do or not to do with the social media etiquette, it takes experience to truly understand how these tips relate to your everyday behavior. Here are 7 do's and don'ts for business when it comes to social media etiquette:

1. Don’t Just Advertise on Your Brand’s Social Media Feed

We don't fully rule out the marketing, but the trend shows people want to seek brands with a varied, detailed, and sensitive social media stream. Brian Solis, principal analyst at Altimeter Group has put forward the following three pillars on which the brand promotion base lies: listen, learn, and engage. If you want loyal customers who bring in more, the sole purpose of your social media feed should be to listen to the concerns of customers, to use that knowledge to improve your brand/service, and organic likes and sales will naturally, follow.

2. Do Promote and Build Your Brand’s Culture Through SMM

Share your brand stories more than the specifications about the product. You can make your social media feed a better experience for the visitors by promoting the following:

· The story that inspired you to start the brand/business

· Welfare is what causes the company supports and the research you did for it

· Your consumer and employee interactions/stories of your brand

· Creating a themed environment in which your clients communicate with one another

· Other blogs and articles conveying useful information about your niche

3. Don’t Spam Your Followers’ Feeds

Don't spam your audience again and again by posting unnecessary or the same information. When you continuously inundate your followers several times a day with the above, they will most definitely hit the 'unfollow' button, most soon. And quite rightly so! Make sure your posts don't revolve around the same topic, the same information, or nonsensical, irrelevant topics.

4. Do Understand Your Audience

The 80/20 rules state that your social media strategy's 80 percent focus should be on your audience, or how your brand can be useful to them. Only 20% of the strategy should focus on self-branding. Therefore, to be successful in social media marketing, you must prioritize understanding of your audience. Your social media feed has to be tailored to suit the following factors about your target audience:

· Age range

· Gender

· Country/region

· Occupations

· Peak times of the day when the audience activity is very high.

5. Don’t Use Inappropriate Media

It's easier to select from the range of social networking platforms open to you, rather than run a campaign anywhere mindlessly. If you don't have enough manpower to fuel all of your campaigns, unique and independent of one another, the later can get you in trouble. Additionally, not all social media platforms can match your target market and business needs. For example, if you run a bespoke jewelry business, Instagram would serve your promotion far better than LinkedIn. Make more emphasis on quality than quantity. Run successful, effective campaigns on social media sites that your target audience most frequently visits.

6. Do Provide Customer Service

Social media has become a vast customer care center where people pose issues and concerns about a brand and brand owners tackle the issue in the form of comments or tweets! Don't trim the cord. Have a customer service manager handy at all times who replies to your customers with free advice and solutions. Train the customer service managers to get things done for your customers over the internet and see how this helps in sales.

7. Don’t Get Comfortable

It's always reviving out of one's comfort zone to indulge in experiments, try and make errors. If you're getting comfortable with only one social media marketing strategy, people won't stay interested and engaged for long. Therefore, ensure that you continue to tweak your products as well as the social media campaign, introduce bizarre new features, and develop new links with other communities.