Social Media Management Part II: Do's and Don't's

1. Create a posting schedule—Plan what days you want to post, the content you want to post and how often to post. Keep your schedule up to date prior to posting days. If you’re not sure what kind of strategy to apply, check out your account insights to see which days your followers are online. Social media accounts provide excellent data to make posting and content decisions, so use it to your advantage.
 

2. Stay consistent with your posting schedule—Once you establish a following, people will be looking for your posts, so don’t disappoint them. If you post a daily lunch special, make sure to do so every day. Plus, the more you engage with your followers, the more you will show up in newsfeeds.

3. Focus on select networks—Stick to the ones your customers are on the most. Typically Facebook and Instagram are the most popular, but depending on your industry, you might consider Pinterest or YouTube. You can certainly establish a presence on all of them, but to make the most of your time, focus on the ones your customers use the most.

4. Experiment with different post types—Remember the above list of content types. Keep your followers interested by varying the kinds of content you post and maximize engagement by prompting them to comment, like or share. Periodically check your insights to see which kinds of posts get the most attention and then adjust your posting schedule accordingly.
 

5. Interact with your followers—Respond to comments and messages and get to know your audience. The more comments and engagements a post has, the more it will be seen by your followers.

6. Add a photo or video to a post to increase engagement—Most followers enjoy the visual aspect of social media, so take advantage of their interest by jazzing up your posts.

7. Keep your profiles up to date with your hours, description, bio, phone numbers, etc—Try to fill out every section and avoid leaving any blank if possible. When searching for your information, followers will likely check your social media pages first because they tend to be more up to date than websites. It’s easy to keep this information current, so make sure you do so.

8. Respond to both good and bad reviews positively—It’s easy to get defensive about your business, but remember that you’re not only responding to the disgruntled customer—you’re representing your brand to everyone else reading the response. Do your best to turn lemons into lemonade by apologizing, emphasizing your commitment to customer service and providing a number for the reviewer to call to speak further.

1. Post the same content on all your social sites every time—Often you will have the same followers on multiple social media sites, so keep them interested by varying your posts. Sometimes it’s necessary, say if you’re having a sale or closing early for a holiday. But for ordinary, everyday posts, plan different posting schedules for each site.

2. Only post sales promotions—These are important, but they’re not all you’re about. Remember social media is not simply free advertising. It’s a place for your customers to get to know you, so be social.
 

3. Ignore your followers—Rather, listen to what they want. If they’re asking you for information, respond. And then adjust your posting schedule accordingly. Social media sites are great places to gauge what your customers want from you, so pay attention and engage with them.
 

4. Use poor grammar or spelling—Proofread your posts or ask someone else to review them before hitting “post.” Nothing says unprofessional like a poorly written post.
 

5. Excessively use hashtags—Hashtags tag your posts. They’re not simply for entertainment, so use them when necessary, but don’t overdo it. A good strategy is to come up with one that you always use for your business and stick with that one. Then when someone tags you in a post, hopefully he or she will remember to use your branded hashtag.
 

6. Force it or post just for the sake of posting—You want to stay in news feeds, but you also need each post to be engaging and encourage interaction with your followers. Just because you post all of the time doesn’t mean you will stay in front of your customers. If your posts aren’t interesting or helpful, your followers may “hide” you or worse...unfollow you.
 

​​​​​​7. Write long posts—Save those for blog posts on your website that you can then link them to your social media page. Linked blog posts will increase SEO on your website, drive traffic to your website and keep your social media page nice and clean.

8. Get into an argument on a post or review—Remember, everyone is watching and what you say is public. To deal with a highly critical or disgruntled follower, send a private message asking for a phone number and give him or her a call.