Our list of Dos and Don’ts of Social Media For Business

Social media and content marketing has given businesses of all sizes much quicker and cheaper access to markets. When done well, it draws its audience in, tells an engaging story, and even serves as a market research tool. It’s undoubtedly levelled the playing field for small businesses.

At the same time, such an online presence has given your potential customers quick and accessible channels to share their opinions, leave a review and voice concerns. It’s given your audience a way to form a view that is often solely based on social media content.

Understanding netiquette – the online code of conduct – and the do’s and don’ts of social media for business will help you safely navigate the various platforms, get the most out of your social media efforts and grow your company.

Let’s unpack some pros and cons of using social media for business and the simple actions you can take to have a successful online voice and presence.

We’ve checked in with the team and asked for their top tips on how to post on social media. Here are their top 10.

Our top five dos of social media for business

Tip 1: Do choose your platform

TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest…. What will it be?

Each of these platforms has a distinct audience and purpose.

Successfully accessing audiences doesn’t necessarily mean you have to use all of the social media channels available. At the same time, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Select the ones that best align with your business, its customers, and your brand. Then match content and tone of voice to the platform.

For example:

LinkedIn focuses on business networks and professionals. It’s the place to share business success stories, innovations, development opportunities, and projects. Businesses often use it as a recruitment tool.

Facebook remains the most popular social media platform. It’s more casual and has more of a connected community feel than LinkedIn. It’s the place to share stories with a glimpse behind the scenes, update on products, run competitions, ask for feedback, and generally interact.

Instagram is where you let the visuals do the talking! It’s a good platform for the food and hospitality industry, orchards or wineries, interior design, and fashion. These sectors are, by default, visually appealing. That is not to say that you can’t make tech tips look good!!

TikTok or Youtube is all about videos. A short film can be a great way to do Q&As, explain a process, introduce staff, or even do a virtual tour of your business.

Brands targeting a young audience increasingly use TikTok as their primary social media channel. Videos here are also a form of entertainment. Even the humble Crocs have a cult following on TikTok – well over 4 billion people have viewed their videos on this platform!

Twitter is all about short conversations, messages and opinions without frills. It’s a fast moving platform where each snippet is limited to 280 characters.

Pinterest has morphed into quite a substantial community of inspiration seekers. What started as a visual channel to share new ideas and interests has become a popular channel for brands to show off their services or products.
Social media is also a fantastic tool to improve traffic to your website. Want to know more? Our Learn Hub has all the details.

TIP 2: Do think before you post

Everything you share represents your business, your brand, and what you stand for. The content of your post and the reaction to it can be brought back up and shared again and again – which is a good thing if it is a successful social media post.

After all, you’ll want it to be shared, create a buzz, and engage your audience. But you’ll definitely want that buzz for all the right reasons. So make sure

Your post has value
Is it free of spelling and grammar mistakes – has it been edited.
It is in the suitable format, and the appropriate platform
Its language and theme are appropriate and inoffensive
It represents your business and its mission
It’s posted at the right time

Here’s a recent example of how a Halloween tweet went horribly wrong.

Tip 3: Do set achievable goals

What is it that you wish to achieve with your social media engagement? Maybe your primary goal to attain steady web traffic. Or perhaps you’re building up brand awareness, or your most pressing social media goal to access audiences and increase engagement with your community.

With that goal or goals in mind, it’s good to think about what your social media presence will look like in a year.

Whatever your goal is, make sure you give it some time. Track and analyse performance over several months, and implement changes where needed. Have you set up your metrics to measure these goals?

More often than not, all it takes is a different tone of voice, extra imagery or an SEO tweak.

Tip 4: Do engage with your audience

Make sure you allocate enough time to follow up on posts and engage with your readers. Don’t leave your customers hanging there with a question or comment they’ve posted.

Did someone ask a question? Send them a friendly reply.
Did someone post a criticism? Also, send them a friendly response. Be polite and answer as best as you can. Don’t be defensive.
Did someone tag you or share your post? Give them a quick thumbs up, or add a friendly comment.
Create a poll, ask a question, exchange ideas, and seek an opinion. Ask your audience – it’s a cost-effective, simple way to do market research!
Need a recommendation? Ask your audience.
Don’t forget a call to action. What do you want the reader to do?
Use tags, especially local ones
Add a link to your web pages.

Tip 5: Do keep an eye out on your competitors

Knowing what your competition is doing is part of the parcel of business planning. And it should extend to social media as well. Your rivals’ performance across social platforms can be useful to gauge opportunities and refine strategies. It is a simple way to gain insights into what kind of content works well and what tone of voice engages the audience.

Use these insights to your advantage down to the last #. Maybe your social media strategy will need a small tweak, your content a slight shift in focus. If you want to learn more about gaining competitive insights from social media, SEMRush provides an excellent step-by-step guide.

Our top five don’ts of social media for business

Tip 1: Don’t reinvent the wheel

You don’t always have to start everything from scratch. There are already a lot of social media apps for your business you can make use of.

Lists of the best social media management and content creation tools continue to flood search engines. It pays to do a bit of research into the various tools and determine which may best suit your needs.

Some are even free. And if not, ensure they have a reasonable free trial period so you can test functionality and ease of use.

And when it comes to content creation, reuse, and recycle. Reuse your imagery on different platforms, tweak the text and repost.

Tip 2: Don’t focus solely on the sales pitch

You don’t always have to be selling something; sometimes, it’s just nice to jump in with a friendly chat. Poke fun at yourself. Social media is perhaps the one place where, as a business, you can let your hair down.

The 80/20 rule is the widely accepted measure here. 80% of your social media content should be informative or entertaining, allowing the reader to glimpse who you and your business are. Only 20% of your comms should be a sales pitch directly promoting your goods and services.

Tip 3: Don’t mix business and personal views

Accidentally posting raunchy holiday pics or voicing a strong subjective opinion or grievance on your business’s social media platform might just be a mouse click away. But it can easily crush a carefully developed brand image.

That’s where social media management tools will make a difference in keeping everything safe and separate. Some management tools will also allow you to designate accounts ‘secure’ and will request a confirmation for each post.

Another easy way to prevent ‘accidental’ postings is to consistently upload your content well in advance so that you are a month ahead of your schedule.

Of course, you want personality to shine through, but ensure the conversation remains graceful and professional. Post content appropriate for its target audience and the platform at the right time.

Tip 4: Don’t spam

How often should you be posting on social media for business? It depends a bit on your business and the online community you wish to engage with. There’s a fine line between spamming your audience and potentially missing opportunities to communicate news and increase brand awareness.

Creating a social media plan from your business’ communications strategy is time well worth spending. Some points you might like to consider:

Not all platforms necessarily need the same communication frequency. The rule of thumb across channels seems to be once or twice weekly.
LYF Solutions®, for example, aims to post on both Facebook and Instagram once a week but less frequently on LinkedIn.
Be consistent. Once you have worked out your content pillars and a schedule for each platform – plan for it and stick to it. Unless you have breaking news to share!

Tip 5: Don’t forget to read the room

Social media platforms arguably have a far more relaxed air about them than most business environments. Casual still has to remain thoughtful and professional, though. Always mind your manners, and always ‘read the room’.

Refrain from posting offensive material that could harm your business reputation
Never ignore negative customer feedback
Always give honest and courteous feedback
Always remain professional – even if a customer’s communication is rude
Empathise when things go wrong for a customer
Don’t criticise your competition

Final thoughts

There’s not one right way to set up your social media for business; there are, however, a few pitfalls.

We’ve been focusing a lot on ‘netiquette’ in this particular article. The main reason is that it takes thoughtful planning and time to set up a successful social media presence. A misstep in content or reference can derail such efforts in a relatively short time.
Have fun with it AND approach it with care probably sums it up best. And if in doubt, get in touch with us. We’ve got a team of creative thinkers and social media professionals to assist you in your planning.

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I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for all the work you have done for us over the years. Not only are you super efficient and professional but you are so creative and thanks to you, our businesses have grown through your expertise in marketing, web design, SEO, social media and graphic design. If anyone is looking for these services, look no further and contact Ray.

LYF Solutions provide a high-value online marketing solution for businesses that want results, and want to be assured that they will get what they pay for without the hassle of having to constantly follow up. LYF provides a holistic, all-encompassing online marketing solution to drive sales, and expand your business.