8 Essential Tips for Social Media Etiquette

Social media is an important part of your organization, brand, or personal identity. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook have a large reach, and failure to understand the proper etiquette for these platforms can be damaging and embarrassing. You don’t snap gum, tell crude jokes, or chew with your mouth full in a business meeting, so don’t let sloppy Twitter behavior damage your image in the same way.

1. #Don’t #Abuse #Hashtags

Although they’re a convenient way to tag your posts for others to find it, overuse of hashtags is irritating and can come across as spammy. Limit your hashtags to a maximum of three per tweet and only use hashtags that are specific to cities, topics, or events. Think of hashtags as a search term, adding hashtags to general words like #dog and #yummy isn’t useful as a search term or an identifier.

2. Don’t Post to Name-Drop

Sending a tweet full of twitter usernames or Facebook friends looks like you’re bragging about how many people you know. Mentioning a few people for a good reason is fine (i.e.: thanking someone or announcing a speaker), but don’t tweet a list of 10 people you just saw at a party. Your followers aren’t interested. If you are mentioned on a group tweet, don’t reply to all members unless it’s important information that they need to know; they may not want all the @ mentions filling up their feed. If you want to thank someone for mentioning you on a #FF, reply to them directly and remove the other members from the list. (This same rule goes for Facebook group messages).

3. Don’t InstaDump

On Instagram, vine or similar sharing sites, try to space out your posts so that users’ feeds aren’t flooded with your content. Over-posting in a short period of time can be tempting when you are on vacation and find a brief pocket of WiFi access, but don’t assume that your users are interested in having to scroll through 25 beach photos in a row. Curate your best photos and post a maximum of three at a time.

4. Don’t Post Private Messages or Potentially Offensive Content on Someone’s Facebook Wall

Everyone has different comfort levels regarding what goes on their Facebook wall. Don’t post something potentially private on a friend’s wall unless you know they are comfortable with it being public.

5. Don’t Post Public @replies

If you’re talking specifically to one person, keep it that way. The whole world doesn’t need to eavesdrop in on your discussions. Tweets like “Hi @username it was great to see you the other day!” aren’t interesting or useful to your followers. While it may be interesting to you, chances are it’s just clutter to everyone else.

6. Don’t Post Private Screenshots of Emails or Text Conversations

Screenshots of funny texts or notable emails have become a trend. When you are texting or emailing someone, the assumption is that it’s between the two of you. When in doubt, do ask before posting it on your wall.

7. Twitter is for Tweets; Instagram is for Photos. Resist Cross-Posting

If someone is following you on Instagram, they want to see your photos. They don’t want to see screenshots of messages on notepad, text conversations, or blurry shots of a book passage you’re reading. Use Instagram for photos and leave messages in the text field or for twitter. Cross-posting a few Instagram shots to Twitter is fine, but make sure you add a relevant caption and you aren’t posting every upload. Chances are that they are already following your Instagram account, so posting twice is redundant.

8. Don’t be persistent

As a general rule, save Facebook requests for people you know socially and don’t be offended or persistent if co-workers or business relationships don’t respond to your requests. Everyone has different social media rules and boundaries and they may prefer to keep Facebook for close friends only.

Taking the time to understand social media etiquette and the differences between platforms will ensure follower retention and engagement. Whether it’s your personal account or the voice of your business, ensure you’re following good etiquette and putting your best foot forward.

Source: blogs.edmontonjournal.com