Social Media Marketing Etiquette: How To Be Successful, Not Annoying
What kind of social media personality are you? Are you a listener? Are you a continual retweeter? A super sharer? A thought leader? A social media expert? Or, are you just an asshole?
But seriously, it’s good to know what your fans and followers enjoy when it comes to their time on social networks, as well as what they want to see, hear, share and respond to. It’s also important to be aware of the faux pas that lose you fans, or result in negative or no engagement. I’ve noticed a handful of things that really seem to work, and others that don’t.
What People Like
- Posts with photos. It may be an obvious one, but its worth reiterating that photos are shared a lot more often than links and status updates, especially on Facebook. Links with eye-catching thumbnails attached to them also perform better than those without.
- Longer posts, within reason. Short and sweet isn’t always the best. This article shows that longer posts or status messages on Facebook are often seen as more valuable.
- When you interact in a genuine and human way. People naturally can sense when you’re being even slightly impersonal or self-serving.
- When your purpose is to inform, entertain or help your fans, without asking for anything.
- When you talk about them. Shane Snow says the best influencers focus on other people.
- Talking about yourself, all the time, and nothing else.
- Auto-posting the same content to every social profile you have, without formatting the content to fit the network you’re re-posting to. The key here is making sure the message makes sense in the context of the social network.
- Saving up content and then posting five times in a row like a machine gun. People don’t like it when you hijack their feed.
- Complaining about your personal life from a professional account.
- Asking questions that are too open-ended or are too obviously attempting to cast out a big net looking for conversation. Who really answers a question like, “What food do you like to eat when it rains on a Thursday?” No one. Your question must elicit responses that show passion or opinion and make your fans feel like they can respond with substance.
- Retweeting every mention or compliment you receive.
- When you title yourself the “king,” “ninja,” or “guru” of anything. Whether it’s true or not, calling yourself an “expert” is even pushing it.