When you run a business and use social media as part of your overall marketing strategy, there’s specific social media etiquette for business owners and managers to follow to ensure you don’t rub people up the wrong way.
Don’t add family and friends to your business page on Facebook. It’s important to keep your business and personal life separate, although it can depend on the nature of the business.
This is because they may write things that aren’t appropriate to be seen on your business page and may offend your customers. Remember you’re creating a brand/image and it must be professional.
If your employees invite you to add them to Facebook, Twitter or any of the other social media sites, that’s another story because they would theoretically respect the boundaries.
Don’t post inappropriate photos or posts on your profile pages because that will only present a bad image to your customers as well. You can be human and friendly without going overboard.
When writing posts, don’t only write them about your business with a view to making sales. Talk about upcoming events, social events, feedback from customers and other things that are related but aren’t simply shoving your products down the readers’ throats.
Never write a post ALL IN CAPITAL LETTERS because that’s actually regarded as shouting and is bad manners. Respect everyone you deal with on social media sites because you just never know who they are and how they may benefit you in the long run.
Be honest in everything you do. Lies are easy to forget and you have to remember what lies you tell to who and you can easily get tripped up. People want to get to know you as a person as well as the business you represent.
You never know who may refer you to their friends if they like what they see so fill out your profile in complete detail. Offer as much information as possible about yourself and your business.
Remember that social media is all about networking. Share your knowledge with others freely. It’s a give-and-take relationship when you’re on Facebook, Twitter and the other sites. People want to share and aren’t interested in those who only want to take, take, take.
Givers usually reap far greater rewards in the long run because if you give without any expectation of receiving, you often receive when you least expect it.
It takes time to develop a social network profile with substance. It’s not an instantaneous process so you should be prepared to invest the time because it will reap great rewards.
If you follow the social media etiquette for business owners and managers, you’ll find that your success will inevitably be far greater than if you chose to break the etiquette rules.