Etiquette is defined as “the customary code of polite behavior in society among members of a particular profession or group.” This means that there are unspoken rules that everyone knows about. At a fancy dinner party, do not be the person who uses the salad fork with your entree. That is called, “fine dining etiquette.” While we are not a fine dining restaurant, Omaha Media Group is a creative management firm that specializes in social media marketing and here are the top social media etiquette rules!  

Interact with followers

As Buffer states, “social media marketing is the use of social media platforms to connect with your audience to build your brand, increase sales and drive website traffic. Social media marketing first started with publishing. Businesses were sharing their content on social media to generate traffic to their website and hopefully sales. Nowadays, businesses use social media in a myriad of ways.” 

As stated above, the whole point of social media is to be social! It is important that a company interacts with their followers on a daily basis! It can be as simple as social listening efforts to see what followers are saying to leaving an emoji on an image that someone tags you in.  

Stop auto DMs 

Omaha Media Group is here to tell you, from professionals and company to another, please stop the automated DMs once someone follows you. As consumers, decision makers and a company, we follow like-minded individuals in our industry for related topics and conversations. And in regards to that, we already think your content is unique enough to follow you back, so stop sending us spam DMs each and every day. 

If anything, we typically unfollow these people because we get excited that it might be a lead and then it is a spam message.

Respond to all comments

One of the biggest tips when it comes to social media etiquette out there is to respond to ALL comments. As User Generated Content continues to skyrocket on social media platforms, a consumer wants to see the good and the bad. 63 percent of consumers say it’s important for brands to provide them with a personalized experience. This personalized experience can range from content to personalized messages. 

A company who does not handle their comments, negative reviews and upset customers s showing others that this company does not care. 

Be hashtag friendly

A critical social media etiquette tip is hashtags!  Hashtags are all about getting your post out to a larger audience than your current following on social media platforms, but when it comes to social media etiquette, there are hashtag rules for each platform! 

Stop putting 30 hashtags on Facebook. Hashtags are cool and vital to any social media marketing strategy that is being created, but they can also become distracting and target the wrong audience without research.

HootSuite suggests the following amount of hashtags on social media platforms: 

• Facebook- one or two

• LinkedIn- one or two 

• Twitter- one or two

• Instagram- nine to 15 

Research is a big part of this social media marketing etiquette because even if a company uses one to two as recommended by experts, the wrong hashtag is still as useless as 15 hashtags. 

Just because it SEEMs as if it is a hashtag, does not mean it is the best hashtag. 

Business pages ARE business

Entrepreneurs, start-ups and small business owners: Please stop sharing personal information on business pages UNLESS it is very relevant and professional. There are moments where a personal experience can be beneficial on a business page but do not share memes from your personal page to the business page. 

Keep it classy and professional. 

Give credit when it is due

In our personal lives, we have all been here a time or two. You spend the majority of the time working on a paper, presentation or other important work just for someone else to claim they did it all. Don’t be that person on social media. 

Are you taking content and writing a new tease? A simple “@” the company can make all the difference. Are you writing a blog surrounding a different company's research or a backlink to their research? Don’t be the experts or company who uses content and ideas from others without a bit of credit here and there. 

These are our top social media etiquette tips! For any more information or help with this, give us a call.