The Top Social Media Rules You Should Never Break

Everyone has had an experience with “one of those users” – people who are annoying, obnoxious, or just plain clueless. But, if you’re not careful, you might end up as one of them. Here’s how to avoid all that, and get the traffic and respect you deserve. Follow the social media rules we’ve prepared for you!

Respond To Every Comment

If you post a comment on social media, respond to the comments you get. Every single one. Why? Because, when people bother to comment on a thread, they’re usually looking for feedback. When you don’t provide it, it sends them the signal that either you don’t care or that you’re just looking for attention. Neither of those things are good, and they’re especially bad on public figures pages or company profile pages.

Entertain First

Entertain people first, make them laugh, then ask for the order. It’s much harder to say “no” while you’re laughing. In most cases, people will be more open and friendly if you’re non-threatening, and there are fewer threatening things in this world than humor.

Schedule Your Posts

Schedule your posts so that they publish when your target market is on the social platform you are on. This will happen at different times of the day, depending on the platform, and even between user segments. So, older people might be on in the middle of the day, if at all, while younger people will be on in the morning, night, and on weekends.

If You Send People Off-Site, Have a Stellar Blog

You probably shouldn’t be sending people off-site too often but, when you do, send them to an amazing site. If you’re sending them to your blog, make sure it’s absolutely breathtaking.

Use Hashtags On Twitter

Hashtags on Twitter are more important than ever. They help users sort information by relevancy. At the same time, there’s an overuse danger. #No #one #wants #to #read #excessive #hashtags.

Try to tie into an exciting theme or category or, if you’re branding, pick a hashtag and stick with it. You’ll politely insert yourself into the Twitterverse that way without being obnoxious. It’s not that you can’t make waves with a new hashtag or start a new trend. It’s that you should be mindful about real invention vs clutter.

Read: 3 Easy Methods to Follow Hashtags on Twitter

Keep It Short. The Shorter, The Better

This holds true on almost every social media platform. The shorter your message, the more it will be read, shared, and acted upon. People are super-busy these days. On twitter, don’t use all 140 characters. Only use what’s necessary to get your message across.

Likewise, on Facebook, try to keep it short enough so that people don’t have to click “see more” to read the rest of your post. Most people won’t.

Images and videos tend to do best, and short captions output longer ones. None of this should be terribly surprising. Think about the types of things you regularly share. Odds are they are short, witty, and by virtue of that they are impactful.

Create Pinnable Images

Pinnable images are images that are either practical, tie in with some kind of practical action people can take, or are immediately useful in some way. For example, the reason DIY and home decor niches do so well on the site is because they show people things – things that people can do right now.

Humor also does well, and the reason should be obvious. Humor entertains people and most people live dreary “9 to 5 lives.”

Food and drink photos also do well. Why? Because they tie in with something that’s incredibly valuable and practical: recipes. If the food happens to be exceptionally tasty-looking, it will attract even more attention.

Try to follow suit. If you’re on Pinterest, either enter a niche that’s already successful or make your photos practical or immediately useful in some way.

Janet Rock is a social media campaign manager. She likes to share her insights by posting online. Her articles can be found on many tech and computing websites.

Chceck: Twitter Hashtag Analytics: A Complete Guide