12 Social Media Etiquette Rules for Businesses

Social media is a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their customers, promote their brands, and grow their audience. But it also comes with some challenges and risks, especially in 2023 when the online landscape is constantly changing and evolving. 

So, how can businesses use social media effectively and responsibly, without compromising their reputation or violating any rules? 

By following the right practices & social media etiquette!

Just as social norms guide our behavior in various social settings, social media etiquette governs our actions on different platforms. Each platform has its own set of norms and expectations, and understanding and adhering to them ensures that your actions are aligned with the accepted practices of that particular social media environment. 

In this blog, I will share 12 social media etiquette rules that will help you avoid common pitfalls, and make the most of your online presence. Let’s dive in!

1. Understand Each Platform’s Best Practices

Social media platforms are not one-size-fits-all. They have different functionalities, audiences, and norms. What works on one social media platform might not work for the other. 

For instance, Instagram is a visual platform that requires high-quality images and videos, while Twitter is a text-based platform that requires concise and catchy messages. Then there is LinkedIn, which works best for the B2B market where case studies and story-based posts seem to work the best.

To succeed on social media, businesses need to know the best practices for each platform they use, such as the best times to post, the best content formats, the best hashtags, the best captions, and the best engagement tactics. 

When you regularly keep an eye on such factors and implement them correctly, you are more likely to see growth in your content reach, relevance, and reputation on social media.

2. Share Useful, Valuable, Visual, and Informative Content

Content is the key to success on social media, but not all content is equally effective. To stand out from the crowd and attract your target audience, you need to share content that is useful, valuable, visual, and informative. 

• Useful content helps your audience solve a problem or answer a question. 
• Valuable content offers something that your audience can’t find elsewhere or that makes their lives better. 
• Visual content grabs attention and conveys emotions. 
• Informative content teaches or entertains your audience. 

Sharing this type of content that truly aligns with your audience and their pain points, will help you build authority, trust, and loyalty on social media a lot faster.

3. Use Hashtags Wisely

These days we see hashtags everywhere. Hashtags are a powerful tool that when used strategically can help you enhance visibility and reach on social media. 

They help you join relevant conversations, reach new audiences, and increase your engagement. However, using hashtags wrongly or excessively can backfire and harm your brand image. 

Research the hashtags thoroughly before using them. Find out which hashtags are trending on which platform and what posts are they trending for, and make sure they are relevant to your content and audience. 

Avoid using too many hashtags or abusing popular hashtags that are unrelated to your content. Create your own branded hashtags to promote your campaigns or products. Monitor the performance of your hashtags and plan them accordingly in your future posts.

4. Give Credit to Original Sources

Taking inspiration from someone’s work is perfectly fine. But, taking credit for someone else’s hard work is not okay.

Plagiarism is a serious offense on social media that can ruin your reputation and credibility. Imagine if your audience finds out you are plagiarizing someone else’s work how will they trust your brand? 

For this reason, avoid posting content in a way that can give the impression of plagiarism. Instead, if you use someone else’s content, such as images, videos, quotes, or statistics, you make sure you are giving proper credit to the original source. This shows respect for the creator and avoids any legal or ethical issues.

Ask for permission from the original source before using their content. Mention the source’s name and tag their account in your post. Link to the source’s website or profile if possible. Use quotation marks or other indicators to show that the content is not yours.
Moreover, tagging the source might also work in your favor if they reshare your post, and you can gain new audiences too.

5. Disclose Paid Promotions to Your Audience

Influencer marketing is a popular and effective way to promote your brand on social media. However, it also comes with some rules and regulations that you need to follow. 

One of the most important rules is to reveal any paid promotions or partnerships with influencers to your audience. Not doing so can be considered by many as a misguidance and effort to trick them into buying your products.

Moreover, disclosing paid promotions is not only required by law in many countries but also by the social media platforms themselves. By revealing paid promotions, you can avoid any legal troubles and maintain transparency and trust with your audience.

6. Respond to Audience’s Messages and Comments

Social media platforms are two-way communication channels that help you interact with your audience and build better trust and relationships. However, the number of messages across all platforms and comments you receive can be overwhelming, and replying to each can be time-consuming. 

To manage all this effectively without missing out on any interaction, you need to rely on technology and automation. There are social media management tools like Iconsquare that help you manage all your social platforms, posts, and conversations effortlessly. 

Iconosquare’ social media conversations feature helps you manage all your mentions, comments, and direct messages in one place. You can easily reply to your audience, assign tasks to your team members, filter conversations by sentiment or topic, and track your response rate and time. 

Ultimately, by responding to your audience’s messages and comments, you can show them that you care, increase their satisfaction, and encourage their loyalty.

7. Don’t Overreact to Negative Mentions

Negative mentions are inevitable on social media. You can’t please everyone, and sometimes you may encounter unhappy customers, trolls, or critics. 

However, how you handle negative mentions can make or break your reputation on social media. The worst thing you can do is to overreact to negative mentions by deleting them, ignoring them, or arguing with them. 

Instead, you should acknowledge the negative mention and apologize if necessary. Offer a solution or direct them to a customer service channel. Stay calm, professional and avoid escalating the situation. Try implementing what you learn from their feedback and improve your service or product.

8. Don’t Be Too Promotional

Posting about your business on social platforms does not mean it always has to be about purchasing your products/services. You should primarily focus on using social media to connect, learn, and have fun, not to be sold to. If you are too promotional on social media, you will lose your audience’s interest and trust. 

Instead of being too promotional, you should follow the 80/20 rule: 80% of your content should be educational, entertaining, or engaging, and only 20% should be promotional. By following this rule, you can balance your content mix and provide value to your audience without annoying them.

9. Don’t Post the Same Content on All Platforms

As we mentioned earlier, different social media platforms have different features, audiences, and expectations. Therefore, posting the same content on all platforms is a lazy and ineffective strategy that will hurt your performance and engagement. 

Instead of posting the same content on all platforms, you should customize your content for each platform according to its best practices. For example, you can use longer captions and hashtags on Instagram, shorter messages and emojis on Twitter, videos and stories on Facebook, etc. 

By customizing your content for each platform, you can optimize your results and reach your audience more effectively.

10. Don’t Post too Frequently and at Wrong Times

While it's important to stay active and keep your audience informed, posting too frequently can overwhelm them and lead to content fatigue. Instead, try to find a frequency that works for your specific audience and industry, and maintain a consistent and balanced posting schedule for better engagement.  

Equally important is posting at the right times. Sharing content when your target audience is most likely to be online increases the likelihood of engagement and maximizes your reach. 

To help solve your problem, Iconosquare offers a valuable solution with its social media scheduler feature. It not only allows you to plan and schedule your posts in advance but also suggests the best times to post based on your audience's behavior and engagement patterns. 

This way, you can optimize your posting schedule, ensure your content reaches your audience at the most opportune moments, and achieve better engagement and visibility for your brand.

11. Don’t Badmouth Your Competitors

Competition is healthy and inevitable on social media. However, that doesn’t mean you should resort to badmouthing your competitors or spreading false information about them. 

This unethical and unprofessional practice will damage your reputation and credibility. Instead of badmouthing your competitors, you should focus on highlighting your unique value proposition and differentiating yourself from them. 

You can also use competitive analysis feature to monitor your competitors’ performance and learn from their strengths and weaknesses. By doing this, you can improve your own strategy and stay ahead of the game.

12. Don’t Beg for Followers

Having a large number of followers on social media may seem impressive, but it doesn’t mean much if they are not engaged or loyal. That’s why you should never beg for followers or use shady tactics to inflate your numbers, such as buying fake followers, using bots, or participating in follow-for-follow schemes. 

These practices will not only hurt your engagement and reach but also violate the terms of service of the social media platforms and put your account at risk of being suspended or banned. 

Instead of begging for followers, you should focus on attracting and retaining quality followers who are genuinely interested in your brand and content. You can do this by creating valuable content, engaging with your audience, collaborating with influencers, running contests or giveaways, etc.

Ace Social Media With These Rules!

In the ever-evolving landscape of social media, adhering to proper etiquette is essential for businesses to thrive and build meaningful connections with their audience. 

By understanding each platform's best practices and following these social media etiquette rules, businesses can foster authenticity, build trust, and establish a strong online presence that resonates with their audience, leading to increased engagement, brand loyalty, and business success.

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