Social media can be, for a lack of better words, a real sh*t show. Every channel is different and swarming with users, and the audience is filled with critics in the front row. That’s where so many great sources come in, like CoSchedule, who’s bringing you today’s Read.
It’s always a good idea to brush up on social media best practices, especially when you’re manning a business profile. 27 might seem like a lengthy list, but it’s a highly digestible one. Some are more obvious than others, like posting when your audience is the most active and defining your social media voice and tone.
Below are 10 that stood out most to us:
- Sound human on social by… humanizing your content. Maybe with some fire jokes.
- Actually respond to your audience (and be genuine when dealing with negativity).
- Showcase who you are as a company with culture content and BTS moments.
- Mix up your content with community and industry news, gifs (OKAY), blog posts, branded content, etc. — 45% of people unfollow brands because they post too many promotional items…
- Research your competitors.
- Create a social media/PR disaster plan…we’re still looking at you, Pepsi.
- Claim your usernames on channels, even if you’re not active on them. You love your username, make sure it stays yours.
- Research your hashtags before using them. Now we’re looking at you, DiGiorno…Save yourself the PR nightmare and track conversations people are having around certain hashtags with Tagboard!
- Track and act on engagement data.
- Don’t feed the trolls. They just want to get a response/reaction from you anyway.