Back to all articlesSocial media is an amazing outlet that lets you voice your thoughts and promote your products, either as an individual or as a business. Whether you’re on Twitter or Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, there are factors you need to consider when setting up and utilising your business social media channel.
Here are our top do’s and don’ts when using social media for business.
Do:
Plan ahead
By creating a weekly content calendar, you can plan out what your week will look like on all of your social media channels. If you write out and draft your posts a week in advance, it means that you don’t have to worry when it comes to the Monday morning, as your calendar has everything you need to kick start that week online. Do your research, think of your business goals, and get planning!
Consider all channels
Most businesses favour one form of social media over another, but you’ll find that they also utilise others, even if it’s on a smaller scale. However, it’s important to understand which social media is best for you and your business. For example, a plumbing business could use a more text-based social media such as Twitter or Facebook for advertising, but might not use a photo app such as Instagram. We suggest trying to use all major social medias, as then you can get a feel of what works and what doesn’t work for your business.
Schedule content
Scheduling all your content means that you don’t have to worry about quickly writing and publishing a post there and then. Instead, using your planned content calendar, you can schedule all your posts on the Monday morning and let them roll out throughout the week. This also allows you to post in busy periods, when your posts are most likely to get attention and interaction.
Be active
Be active on your social media channels, but make sure you don’t over-do it. This means that you won’t miss anything, and can respond to customers easily, but posting too much content means that the things that really matter can get buried within followers newsfeeds, never to be seen again.
Share information
As a business it’s important to share information on what services you provide or what products you sell, so that your customers and clients understand what you can do. This is the perfect opportunity to add some personality into your posts, which makes for good business. No one wants to be talking to a robot!
Provide customer service
Social media is an excellent way to connect with customers and clients. It’s easy to use, and means that you can talk to your customers, give advice and help with any queries they may have. By creating a friendly “happy to help” attitude, your customers and clients are more likely to stay loyal to you and your brand. Use this feature to your advantage.
Don’t:
Only self-promote
You’re most likely using social media to promote your business and its products and services, which is great. That’s what it’s there for after all! But make sure you don’t only post about yourself. Self-promote from time to time, but don’t forget to engage with customers and support other businesses, as it gives your business some personality and people are less likely to get bored of your repeated posts.
Spam
Nothing is more annoying than seeing the same thing repeated over and over on your feed! Do this too much, and you’ll instantly lose followers. It doesn’t look good on your profile and makes your company look bad. It’s definitely something to avoid!
Follow/Connect with EVERYONE
It’s great that you want to be friendly to everyone, but just because they followed you, it doesn’t mean you have to follow them back. It fills your feed with non-business related news, meaning you might not be able to focus on what’s really important. Additionally, people who view your profile can usually see who you follow or connect with, and so, for example, if you follow spambot accounts, this won’t look good on you or your business.
Over-share information
Avoid sharing too much information online as it could end up damaging your business. You want to promote your services in a way that it gives your customers the general information, and can enquire within if necessary. Don’t disclose personal information, or employee details if they haven’t consented to it.
Neglect social media
Avoiding or neglecting social media is one of the worst ideas, and could damage your business. You’ve worked so hard to build up and promote your brand, and suddenly you’ve disappeared from everyone’s radars now that you’re no longer on social media. This could end in being forgotten about, and just in general it’s a shame to let such a good marketing platform go to waste!
Ignore comments/customers
Social media is THE place to engage with your customers and clients. If you simply ignore their questions or comments, they’ll think that you don’t care, and think less of you because of it. Don’t ignore them, instead use the opportunity to interact with them! It will leave a positive message, and they could be more likely to come to you for business.