Today, 72% of Americans are on at least one social media platform; 74% of Facebook users and 63% of Instagrammers use the sites daily. With so many people living out their existence in cyberspace, we started to piece together rules for social media managers: here are 6 simple tips that will improve your social media presence.
1. TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK
No one likes being yelled at. Hitting that caps lock may seem appealing when you’re composing your post because you think it can grab attention. In truth, caps lock does grab attention, but negative attention which is worse than none. Using caps lock can be hard to read and it turns people away. There are better ways to engage your followers, which we will cover.
2. #Don’t #Hashtag #Every #Word
Hashtags are a great way to connect with like-minded people with similar interests, but over-hashtagging does the opposite. Not only is a string of hashtags hard to read, it’s spammy and doesn’t target a specific audience—which is the whole point in using hashtags in the first place. Be selective and purposeful with your hashtags: limit to two or three per post for best practices.
3. Check Your Spelling
This should go without saying but avoid spelling and grammar mistakes in your posts. Not only do these mistakes cast an amateurish hue on your company, it’s also hard to read. Take the extra moment to make sure posts are professionally written to match the professional standard of your company. Not sure if your drafts are grammatically correct? Plug them in to a word processor or have a co-worker check—this simple step could save you a headache later, especially on un-edit-able Twitter. Great writing disappears on the page (or post) because it is inherently engaging, transporting the reader into another world; bad writing just makes you a laughingstock.
Vanity metrics such as likes, shares, and followers don’t add up to sales.
4. Don’t Obsess Over Numbers and Vanity Metrics
This can be a tripping point especially if you’re the only person in charge of social media marketing in your company. It’s easy to fall into the trap of obsessing over numbers: followers, likes, and shares, the list goes on. Having 100,000 followers and averaging 500 retweets is satisfying, but if it adds up to zero sales, what’s the point? These are called vanity metrics; they look pretty but serve no function. Followers are fine, but customers are better. Imagine your SMB has a core of few hundred fanatic followers who consistently buy your product. Doesn’t that sound better? And while we’re at it, don’t ask people to follow you—it scares them and potential customers away—they’ll follow if they want to.
5. Don’t Slide into DMs
DMs are the equivalent to a person’s private life on social media where they can converse without leaving the platform. Keyword: private. You wouldn’t want someone to barge into your house trying to sell you something, right? The same is true of DMs. Don’t invade the equivalent of private life—it’s rude and it’s almost certain to lose a customer. That’s not to say you should never use DMs, because there is a time and place. If you’ve gotten a negative review or an angry mention on Twitter, for example, DMs may be the best way to talk to the customer one-on-one and find a resolution. But, again, ask the person if you may contact through DM first.
6. Be Visual and Get in Motion
Photos and videos are like steroids for your social posts (except legal). On Twitter, for example, tweets with images garner 150% more retweets, 89% more likes, and 18% more clicks (with that in mind, see #4). Video continues to be the superhero of social media—not only does it boost organic SERPs, but most marketers now proclaim video to be the medium with the best ROI. Since this is a lesson in etiquette, only use images and videos that are relevant to the post and of interest to your audience.
