877-490-8324When it comes to engaging customers or followers on social media, there are certain unwritten rules that you should be abide by.
Even though some of these rules may be obvious to social media professionals, it is always a good idea to re-evaluate these strategies every six months because even the savviest social professionals can fall into the trap of posting too much promotional content or overlooking the importance of interacting with followers.
To make sure your company is executing impeccable good social media practices, here are some useful tips:
- Add Value
Although social media networks provide companies with the perfect platform to market their products and services, it is important that you make an effort to post more than just promotional content on your profile. After all, consumers are quick to unfollow or unlike companies that don’t add any value to their feed. Make sure you’re also posting valuable information that can be used or acted upon without the need to “buy” anything from you all the time. - Don’t Be Weird
The line between normal and weird can be a little blurry especially for companies trying to grow their brand. There are a few things that you can do, however, to make sure you stay out of the “weird zone.”For starters, companies should never pay for followers or ask for retweets unless doing so is required for a social campaign or contest. This is because asking for retweets can make a company seem un-authoritative, which is not good for its online or offline reputation. In addition, you should be conscious of the amount of hashtags that you used in your posts. Typically one to three hashtags per post should be the maximum used. Any more than three can make the post look like spam and lead consumers to quickly unfollow your company. Finally, if you have any internal doubt whether to post a certain message or respond in a certain way should always ask for a second opinion. This should keep you out of the weird zone and avoid being misunderstood. - Be Nice
At one point or another, every company is going to come face-to-face with a negative social interaction. These interactions might be complaints about an experience someone had with your product or service, or could just be an Internet troll (a person who purposely looks to start arguments or upset groups of people online).When addressing negative social interactions, it is important for you to analyze the situation prior to responding. For instance, if the consumer has a legitimate complaint (such as a bad experience with a product or service that you sell), companies should respond by acknowledging any wrongdoing, apologize and seek to resolve the issue immediately.On the other hand, if the negative interaction is a social media bully who is just looking to start a fight with the company, it is typically a good idea to ignore the interaction altogether. Responding to an Internet troll might create more publicity to the negative comment, and provide the person with more incentive to continue publishing negative posts. - Double Check Your Work
Although most companies should aim to create content that gets shared by your fans and followers (goes viral), it is important that it does so for the right reasons. For example, a tweet that goes viral because of an unfortunate spelling error or bad hash will bring the wrong kind of attention, and could do damage to your companies credibility. - Interact
It is important to remember that social networks are meant to be social, which means that companies should be interacting with their fans and followers every day. Don’t wait to interact only when something negative is posted. Be proactive and supportive of your base.