Social Media Etiquette for Businesses

Social media is constantly evolving which can make it difficult and time consuming to stay on top of best practices. When social media first became popular it was mainly for personal communication between friends and family and didn’t really have an impact on businesses. However, the boom of social media has meant that brands can advertise, target specific audiences and even hire new employees through social media platforms.

Setting up social media profiles and being in charge of writing content can be a daunting task for many businesses. However, having a social media presence is something that consumers often look to first before visiting, enquiring or buying from you, so it definitely pays to get it right.

If you’re reading this blog, worried that your social media platforms have become stagnant with low engagement; Don’t panic! Our team of social media experts at Serenity Digital have put together this handy guide of dos and don’ts to get you back on track.

Dos and Don'ts when using Social Media Channels for Businesses

Do:

1. Set clear goals and objectives

Without setting goals it will be difficult to measure the success of your efforts and much like any medium, your social media performance goals should naturally have some affinity with your wider business objectives. Setting goals will allow you to reflect on your performance, successes and be able to locate opportunities to improve in future. 

2. Track progress and activity

Seeing as you’ve set goals and objectives it's only right that you track and analyse the results. Tracking the progress allows you to adapt and guide future campaigns, pinpoint content that has the highest engagement with your audience and be able to spot failures and prevent them from reoccurring. 

Tracking clicks, likes, shares and comments is incredibly important for measuring engagement in your marketing, but tracking outcomes which affect your bottom line will help you determine the revenue made from your activity. Combine the insights you gather from social media with other platforms such as your website sales, leads, and in collaboration with your sales team's offline conversions, to truly understand where you are achieve the best return on investment.

3. Complete and continually update your social media pages

It’s crucial that you make a good first impression to visitors of your social media profiles. Accounts that are only partially complete appear less professional and disconnected. Ensure that you have included all of your contact information and a high quality profile picture - preferably your company logo. Ensure that all visual and written communication aligns with your visual identity and brand.

4. Prioritise your social media networks

Although it may be tempting to post content across every possible social media platform, it's important to remember that not all platforms will be suitable for your business. Start by focusing on the networks where you know your audiences will be, these are usually LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. You can now rest easy knowing that it's not a necessity to post an embarrassing dance on TikTok!!

5. Use good and relevant imagery

Imagery is a powerful way of interacting with your audience, it allows you to gain attention, build loyalty and communicate with your customers instantaneously. Social Media Strategist Jeff Bullas reports that Facebook posts with photos receive an average 37% increase in engagement. Apparently our brain can interpret images 60,000 times faster than words, allowing you to display and communicate a product and service, whilst giving depth and context in a much more immersive way. Want to go further? Stop your audience in their tracks whilst they scroll their feed with motion graphics and video.

Don’t:

1. Overpost or overkill

Posting too often can be just as detrimental as not posting enough. Research conducted by Sprout Social states that 46% of social media users will unfollow a brand if too many promotional messages are posted. All posts should be concise, purposeful and targeted to your audience - quality is better than quantity. 

There is a difference between being proud of your businesses achievements and bragging about your successes. Social Media is the perfect place to demonstrate where you've provided value to your customers and share detailed feedback and testimonials from clients; however it's crucial that this is conducted in a humble manner, no one likes a show off!

2. Obsess over numbers

It’s very important to remember that growing your network and creating brand awareness takes time, sadly it isn't something that will happen overnight. Whilst aiming to increase your followers and engagement should be high on your priority, the notion of quality is better than quantity still remains.

3. Post with errors

Always make time for proofreading. Spelling errors and grammatical mistakes are enough to turn the majority of your customers away, leaving them questioning credibility and causing a negative impact on your brand. If you wish for your audience to see you as an industry expert and a reliable supplier, communication must be clear and correct.

4. Ignore comments and messages from your audience

You wouldn’t ignore a potential customer if they walked into your business so why ignore them on social media? Engaging with your audience not only increases their likelihood of buying one of your products, visiting your establishment and website etc... it also increases the chances of your post being seen by a larger audience due to the algorithms within social media platforms. Make your audience feel appreciated and this will be reciprocated.

5. Forget who your target audience is

It’s important to remember the language you are using in your posts; slang and colloquialisms can come across as unprofessional and unreliable if not used correctly. Understand your target audience and aim to write in a conversational tone  - boring and corporate paragraphs of copy aren’t engaging, individuals need to feel connected to a brand.

How Serenity Digital can help your business on social media

Management of social media accounts

At Serenity Digital, we will not only set up your social media platforms, we can assist with the creation of engaging and innovative posts. We’ll document your content, produce a brand library of supporting imagery, video and animations and we’ll take care of publishing your content at the best times for each platform and audience. Each month you will receive a detailed report that outlines your successes, audience engagement and (where measurable) revenue from social advertising campaigns. Giving you more time to focus on running your business rather than promoting it. 

Creating engaging content for your social media accounts

We will also work with you to understand your business, your target audience and social media goals and objectives. From this we will create engaging and bespoke SEO-friendly content that will be tailored to your audience. Our copywriting services will strengthen your brand voice and provide added value to your business. We can help you reach out, connect and engage with potential customers.

Start a conversation with one of our Serenity experts to find out how we can help you with your businesses social media platforms.

« All blogs