If you are an entrepreneur and you do not know anything about social media, please don’t shout it out on the streets. Better still, act like you know something about social media for business and be ready to learn whenever the opportunity presents itself. Today, even school going children are all over social media, and that is just an indication of how popular this platform has become.
There are millions of social media users around the world and so leveraging such options as Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and the like as a business owner is not an option. The reason is that social media opens the door for your enterprise to tap into the potential that exists therein.
However, if you are considering adopting a social media strategy for your business operations, there are specific do’s and don’ts you should call to attention if you do not want to burn your fingers. Here are some social media for business best and bad practices you should beware of before you embrace the idea.
The Do’s
1. Consider Sharing Stories on Your Social Account
Every brand has a story. Unfortunately, if you rely on packaged advertising every other time, you may wear out your target audience over time. How about spicing things up with a story? Social media is the right tool for you when you want to share the story about your brand with your audience.
Both potential and existing clients appreciate details about what goes into the development of your brand and the journey from the start to where you are at the moment. Also, note that every message, image, and anecdote you share on social sites should make your audience feel part and parcel of your brand’s story.
So, avoid boring packaged advertising and opt to share stories with your social connections and check the turnaround effect of the same.
2. Post About Your Team
Working with a great team of employees does not come easy. Additionally, if your customers enjoy your products or the kind of services they get from you, they will appreciate every effort you make to introduce your team to them. That mostly applies to entrepreneurs who own online stores, which suggests that there is limited or no interaction between your staff members and customers.
In that case, if your brand is already on social media, you should not shy away from going behind the scenes to talk about your team. That way, your audience will gain a better understanding of who they are dealing with, and that will promote transparency too.
3. Focus on Maintaining A Single Voice
Maintaining consistency when promoting your brand is a prerequisite you should not overlook. When your audience discovers that the information you share on your business site and social platforms is somewhat contradicting, they may take you for a clown.
Additionally, your audience will not find it prudent to share details about you with their networks if the information you post on various online platforms is confusing. As such, if you want to realize a desirable outcome from your social media strategy, you should focus on maintaining a single voice when promoting your brand in public, on social platforms, and your website as well.
4. Prioritize Your Customers
As much as promoting your brand is critical, you should not prioritize that over your clients. You can gradually become a nuisance to your customers if you are always posting something about your brand on your social channels. The implication, in this case, is that becoming overly promotional about your brand can deal a blow on your social media strategy.
You also need to appreciate the fact that your clients are your brand ambassadors. In that case, prioritizing the tastes and preferences of your customers is not an option when using social platforms to promote your brand. The bottom line is that your social media strategy as an entrepreneur should focus on your customers at all times.
The Don’ts
a) Avoid Duplicating Information on Different Social Channels
If you are a fan of copy and paste as a business operator, then social media is not your place. The reason is that using the same words to share a story about your brand on various social platforms may not yield the results you expect. There are many ways to explain the same thing or tell the same story using different words.
So, even if you want to share the same details across different social platforms, consider tweaking the information on each social channel to generate interest and engage your audience better.
b) Do Not Automate (Everything)
Eliminating the human element from your social interactions is a surefire way of setting your social strategy on its death bed. The people you are targeting through various social channels value every effort you make to humanize your brand. So, even as you automate such things as instant feedback on social channels, ensure you maintain the human element as well.
Remember that the absence of face-to-face interactions on social media is not an excuse for eliminating the human touch from the same. Humanizing your brand on social channels will yield a better outcome than automation.
c) Sharing Relevant Content from Elsewhere (Without Your Perspective)
As you surf the internet, you will most probably find something worth sharing with your social connections, and you may eventually opt to do so. But wait a minute! Did you take time to consider your opinion regarding what you are sharing on your social channels from elsewhere?
Your social media audience cannot view you as an industry expert if you do not interject your perspective when posting the details you find from another source on your social platform. For that reason, whatever information you find interesting out there and worth sharing on your social channels, do not forget to include your opinion about the same.
Conclusion
The social media etiquettes above are instrumental for business owners focusing on achieving success through their social media strategy. Do not forget to have fun as you engage your audience on social media. Social platforms are not for professionalism only anyway.
For a full breakdown of how to leverage social media for business, check out this video presentation.