Social media manners for business

Social media is all about your customers. It is not an advertising platform. It is not a soapbox. It is not a complaints forum.

If you want to look after your image as you make friends, it may be a good idea to mind your social media manners. Here are 21 things you do not want to do on your platforms.

1. Don’t miss a day – one of the secrets of social media success is consistency.
2. Don’t complain – life is hard enough without adding to your followers’ troubles.
3. Don’t engage in small talk – small talk is for texts and private messages.
4. Don’t be mean – nobody worth knowing wants to be associated with negative behaviour.
5. Don’t be arrogant – you’re trying to make people like you, not show them how clever you are.
6. Don’t act like a know-it-all – even if you do, or an expert – even if you are.
7. Don’t be fickle – don’t follow people and then when they follow you, unfollow them – this is shallow and rude.
8. Don’t oversell – social media is about adding value, not self-promotion’
9. Don’t overshare personal schedules – boring your followers with the painstaking minutiae of your company’s or your daily life is a bad idea.
10. Don’t lecture – people don’t like people who tell them what to do.
11. Don’t talk about yourself – rather share content from your blog, share interesting articles, share quotes that relate to your brand.
12. Don’t ignore people who complain – either deal with them in a public or private message.
13. Don’t overuse hashtags – #there #is #nothing #more #annoying #than #this.
14. Don’t ignore your spelling and grammar – posting on social media is a new type of publishing.
15. Don’t post too frequently – once you know how many posts your followers enjoy, don’t abuse them with spam.
16. Don’t react to trolls, no matter how much you want to – restrict their posting abilities on your platform.
17. Don’t tag people in unflattering photographs – you are not trying to make enemies.
18. Don’t forget to be polite – saying please and thank you means more than you realise.
19. Don’t post compromising content – omit anything that you don’t want your boss, your spouse, your children, your clients or your potential bosses and clients to read.
20. Don’t post when you shouldn’t – when you’re tired, intoxicated, angry, or emotional.
21. Don’t be boring. Make people smile.

If you want to find out more about social media, join us for The Social Brand, our social media workshop.