Social Media Marketing: The Dos and Donts

Although the digital space is open to a lot of things, it doesn’t mean that you can do anything you want on it. To maintain order and peace between different users—who hail from different parts of the world—administrators of different websites and platforms implement rules and regulations.

When it comes to marketing online, it’s no different. Brands who want to penetrate the world of digital business should also follow established guidelines, especially when it comes to social media marketing.

This is something that social media management agencies in the Philippines follow religiously. After all, one slip-up can potentially cost you everything—and you definitely don’t want that to happen at all cost!

To avoid being canceled and boycotted online, you must always be mindful of what you post, share, and create.

If you don’t know where to start, we’ve prepared a list to help you! Read it below!

The Dos

• Keep it visual

With social media becoming a staple in people’s everyday lives, we’re constantly bombarded with content. This has resulted in the shortening of people’s overall attention span, which is now allegedly less than that of a goldfish!

However, the human brain is capable of processing images at an unimaginable speed, making it the ideal form to communicate with your audience in a fast-moving environment like the internet. In fact, posts that are visually appealing garner ten times more engagement from online users!

With that said, you must put importance on producing quality content that you should support with equally captivating visuals.

• Post consistently

While some may think that having a social page is enough to draw in an audience online, it’s simply not the case. For your brand to get noticed, you have to regularly post content on your page.

However, don’t just post whatever comes to mind. Make sure that it’s something that adds value to your business and offers information to your audience.

• Be social

If you plan to bring your brand to social media, one of the main aspects you should focus on is interaction. Allow your brand to become a breeding ground for healthy conversations between consumers, potential customers, and you.

And of course, don’t just talk all the time. Listen to the pulse of your audience—take into account what they want, what they need, and their feedback.

• Separate the Personal and the Professional

Meshing your professional and personal life never ends well. However, this doesn’t just apply to life because this is also the case for businesses on social media.

Many business owners struggle with this because they want their brand to be associated with real people and not be ‘faceless.’ However, from the audience’s point of view, this could be disruptive.

It could also cause conflict since customers will think that it’ll be okay to lodge their queries about your products and services on your personal account, which you won’t be able to answer since that’s the reason you created a page for your brand.

The Donts

• Don’t respond to trolls or provocation

As a business with a reputation to uphold, it’s important that you act with a professional mindset at all times. Always remember that people look up to you—meaning you always have to act properly, especially when it comes to your attitude and actions towards offensive or trolling comments.

You can also opt to delete these inflammatory jabs and report users who continue to leave disparaging comments on your business or products without evidence or proof.

If you choose to approach them with retaliatory comments, which is exactly what they want from you, you’re gonna put your brand’s image in jeopardy.

• Don’t go crazy on the #hashtags

Although hashtags are a good way to highlight the core message of your post—be it text, video, or image—you should not abuse it. After all, being over the top with it will make you look desperate, amateurish, and inauthentic.

Overusing hashtags will also attract bots instead of people, which is something you don’t want.

• Avoid grammar/spelling mistakes

Though this is something that should be a given, many online businesses are still guilty of committing these mistakes.

As a business, you should make sure to deliver only the best—and that includes text or copies that are free of mistakes and errors. You owe it to your audience to give them quality content at all times. If you don’t, you’ll appear sloppy, off-putting, and even untrustworthy. Double-checking and proofreading are not hard to do so put in the extra effort!

• Don’t overpost

While it’s important to constantly be present on social media platforms, it’s not an excuse to bombard your audience or followers with content. It’s best to deliver content on a regular and timely basis.

Don’t just release materials for the sake of being noticed. Focus on bringing value to your content and teaching your consumers a thing or two.

Conclusion

Social media indeed opens up a lot of opportunities for brands and businesses to expand their influence and become more recognized, however, it’s not without its downsides.

By becoming more exposed, you also go under greater scrutiny. This means your mistakes will become public discussion, which may make or break your brand. For this reason, you must familiarize yourself with how social media platforms work, specifically how potential consumers and patrons will react to the content you’re releasing online.

And when online, ‘content is always king.’ With that said, you should always put your best foot forward. Create content that matters, is engaging, and adds value to your brand. Don’t just put out content for the sake of being present or noticed.