Social media marketing is a great asset to any B2B marketing plan. But, if you’re just getting started – or even if you’ve been plugging away at it for a while – you may notice that it’s kind of the wild, wild west out there. And by this we mean that there are an awful lot of businesses on social media who are making up their own rules as they go along.
While the medium may be a newer form of marketing, there are still rules and acceptable etiquette behaviours that businesses need to live by to avoid plunging into social media hell.
And so, regardless of your social platform of choice, we give you the 10 commandments of social media marketing.
1) Don’t sell. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again and again, you will lose social followers by trying to use social media channels as an avenue for free advertising.
2) Know your audience. Understand who your followers are and what they like to better target your posts.
3) Be yourself. Be a human in your social media posts, not a faceless corporate voice. No one will connect with a bot.
4) Remember your brand. Follow command number 3 but remember that you’re still representing your company’s brand. Always be professional and consistent in your posts.
5) Use humour. Obviously it needs to be appropriate humour, otherwise you’re breaking commandment number 4; but the right type of humour goes a long way towards creating an engaging and conversational tone.
6) Keep it interesting. Share articles or links that you find interesting; if it interests you (and by default, your business), it’s more likely to interest your followers as well.
7) Add value. It’s not good enough to simply click share to fulfil commandment number 6; add value by providing your company’s viewpoint, thoughts or ideas on the subject.
8) Inform without preaching. No one likes to be told how to think. Use commandment 7 to offer your editorial opinion but do so without propagandizing.
9) Talk about people not just business. Social media is an opportunity for followers to glimpse behind company walls; share feel-good celebratory or community news with your customers.
10) Did we mention how important it is to NOT SELL! Just in case you forgot, we’ll say it again and again and AGAIN. Save the hard selling for paid advertising.
