Social Etiquette – Let’s Be Polite

So here we are again, now you’re going to say I got my social on, and now you’re adding rules. This social media education just keeps coming; enough is enough… or is it? Well, here are a few social etiquette rules for social media that should help you.

I’ve written previously about my perception that Facebook’s on a slippery slope when marketers can’t get their message out to their followers (unless they pay of course) and what’s worse is that users can’t see the posts of pages they like and follow (as Facebook’s new process puts paid ads in your stream, but not the posts of advertisers you want to see). The point is nobody is getting what they want or what they signed up for. As a reminder, you might recall a social media site call MySpace … Facebook’s path in my mind.

In any event, if you get the opportunity to have a post show, (i.e. 57 people saw this post, which you can increase if you pay to boost it’s exposure) it’s a good idea to have some etiquette. Here are a few pointers for you and your posting.

1)   Give your customers a voice, ask them some questions, ask them to share, ask them for feedback.

2)   Listen; allow them to provide feedback – both positive and negative. When someone makes a post, make sure you respond.

3)   Respond to questions, comments and feedback.

4)   Stay in the stream, ensure you are posting regularly, ensure you are on the appropriate social sites, and keep current, don’t let the page go stale.

5)   Creative, be creative in your postings, comments, creative and replies. After all, anyone can be boring.

There are many social networks, but at Raven5 we suggest these are the main sites you should be considering (not in any specific order, but based on your goals):

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Google+
• SlideShare
• YouTube
• Tumblr

It’s our opinion that social should be part of every marketing program and a daily communication and awareness tool. As such, it’s a good idea to be careful with your posting, be consistent, be thoughtful, be inventive, but most of all, just be polite, not different than you would in any other social circumstance.

Michael Bickerton, Raven5 Ltd, Oakville, Ontario, January 2014

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