Social Media Etiquette Your Business Should Know

Most of us know what it means to be polite in daily life. You say “please” and “thank you”, hold the door open for the person coming in behind you, and keep the golden rule of treating others how you wish to be treated in mind. All of these good manners and etiquette are just as important in business, especially in social media. When we are communicating via technology we must take extra care to be aware of what we say, how we say it, and who we are saying it to.

Keep these social media etiquette tips in mind when representing your business:

Practice good grammar. It’s important to practice good grammar when writing posts and compiling your profiles. This means you should check spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, and more. Try to stay away from acronyms and slang, and please, oh, please remember that all caps signifies that you are yelling in the digital world.

Don’t overpost. We know you’re excited about social media, we are too, but don’t post every ten minutes. You will not only flood your followers news feeds, you will annoy them and potentially push them to unfollow your business page. Remember that less is usually more, be strategic about quantity.

Talk about more than just yourself. You need to be aware of how much you are self-promoting yourself. Remember that too much self-promotion is very off-putting and your followers won’t think that you have any other value to provide them with. Keep the 80/20 rule in mind. This means only 20 percent of posts are directly about you or self-promoting.

Remember your audience. Always, always keep your audience in mind. Think about whether each post is providing any value to them, if not, don’t post it. Also, remember that everyone and their grandmother can see what you post to your business page. Don’t say anything that you wouldn’t feel comfortable saying to your boss, your grandmother, or your boss’s grandmother.

Respond to comments and criticism. Get involved in your social media community by starting a discussion, following up on comments from followers, and answering customer questions whether good or bad. Criticism is part of owning a business, you just can’t please everyone. Handle any criticism with a polite, positive attitude and remember that everyone can see what you’re saying.

What type of social media etiquette do you practice when posting on your business page?

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