We are often asked, “should we have a social media presence for our business?”

The short answer is yes, social media is about building connections with your customers and developing true business advocates.

As Erik Qualman said ‘We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we do it’.

So here are our five golden rules for any business or employee operating a business social media page:

1 – THINK BEFORE YOU ACT

Sounds simple…. but so many people allow emotion to take over when engaging on Social Media. When posting, commenting or responding to messages as the business be sure to stop and think before you do. Review what you have written and remember that what you say will be considered comments made by the business and will be in the public domain forever.

2 – HAVE A PERSONALITY

• Be authentic: share content that genuinely interests or excites you and speak with passion, this will excite your customers too!
• Be responsive: When your followers engage with your business via Social media it is important you respond and engage, this shows your followers that you are listening and that you care.
• Be consistent: Posting regularly increases your opportunity to connect with your followers and build trust for your business and brand.

3 – SPEAK LIKE A HUMAN

When operating social media channels you need to Exercise good judgement and play fair, be polite and considerate. Dont engage or pick fights… and no this doesn’t mean you can’t defend or protect your brand or business, do it respectfully. Stay tuned to future blogs on how to engage with your audience online.

4 – RESPECT COPYRIGHT / CONFIDENTIALITY

Make sure you always respect and obey copyrights and fair use. Copyright is tricky to navigate online, as a best practise we suggest you tag or acknowledge the owner of the content in your post, this allows the owner of the content to know you have used it and if they have an issues they will message, and if they ask you to remove the content you should of course respect and honour that request.

It is also important to be mindful of confidential and proprietary information. Use Discretion, take care and do not publish information that shouldn’t be made public. Confidential information is information such as internal business communications, franchise information, employee and customer information or any information marked confidential. Information can also be found in the images you post, so be mindful of your surroundings, especially if taking photos in an office.

5) REVIEW. REVIEW. REVIEW!

Double check before you post or comment. Always review what you have written and make sure to check your spelling and grammar, your professional credibility is inextricably linked to your comments.

Stay tuned to our blogs as we continue to give you handy tips, tricks and suggestions to help you navigate your Digital Advertising. If you have any questions about managing your social media, contact us and lets get you hoppin.