10 Social Media Best Practices

The advent of social media has caused a revolution in the world of marketing, and it’s not going to stop any time soon. It literally puts power right into our fingertips and when used wisely, it can produce extreme success and consistency in your business.

If you want to capitalize on this amazing marketing tool, it’s important to follow some best practices that will improve the likelihood of success. To get you started, we’ve outlined 10 of our favorites:

State Information About Your Business

You don’t want to be longwinded, but when you start up a social media account or campaign, make sure that everyone understands what type of business you are and the type of presence you plan to have on the site. You don’t have to be too specific; just make sure that you spark some interest.

Avoid Being All-Business

Show Consistency

This is where a lot of businesses fail. It’s not enough to simply create a Facebook account and post a comment once or twice a month. You need to be more consistent. Create a schedule and stick with it. This goes for each type of social media that you decide to use.

Include Everyone

The last thing you want to do when you design a social media marketing campaign is to exclude people who otherwise might be interested in what you have to offer. This is often caused by focusing efforts on only those who are already familiar with your brand.

Be Cautious When Using Hashtags

Hashtags are one of the newest trends to hit the world of social media, and it’s easy to overuse them. Many businesses have taken it upon themselves to add multiple hashtags to the end of every post or tweet. Only use these when they’re relevant and at least somewhat specific. Writing something like #water often won’t be very productive because it’s too general.

Spread Yourself Around

A great way to get your business out there is to avoid limiting yourself to a small number of social media sites. While Facebook and Twitter are two of the most popular, don’t rely on only those two for your marketing needs. In other words, don’t put all of your eggs in a pair of baskets.

Don’t Make Insensitive Remarks

A somewhat surprising number of people have gotten in trouble for making insensitive remarks in their marketing materials or through casual online conversation (Kenneth Cole, anyone?) Just remember that your audience is full of a variety of people. Making light of a serious situation that’s trending in the media, especially ones that you attempt connect to your business as a marketing ploy, could gain you a bad reputation.

Make Videos

It’s quite easy to make a video that advertises your business. You don’t need any fancy equipment. Many smartphones are high-tech enough these days to record a video that looks presentable. Add in software like iMovie, which allows you to edit the video and post it on YouTube, and you have a fantastic way of delivering information and advertising to a large audience.

Hop on the Bandwagon

Keep It Simple

Each post, comment, picture, video, etc. should be presented in the simplest way possible. If you make the information you’re conveying too complicated, you risk alienating your desired audience.