Social media survives on human qualities – act out or throw your weight around and you’ll soon be cast out from the ‘in crowd’. Social media can help you build your Google CV, but let’s look at some social media etiquette tips first:
Be Helpful: A great way to engage with the crowd is to offer answers, advice and interesting information wherever possible, although there is a definite need for balance when engaging with your audience.
Micro-blogging platforms such as Twitter are great for this type of one-on-one interaction, but you might not want to send out daily articles from your Facebook group as the constant barrage in a personal space will more often than not annoy members.
Never Lose Your Cool: Like on the road, anger on the internet gets you nowhere. View all criticism as constructive and avoid a thread of bad publicity by handling any squabbles in privacy or with tact.
Publish your comments in response to criticism whenever possible to ensure that it is shown that negativity has been attended to, but only look to remove negative comments under extreme circumstances – no one likes to be censored and doing so will probably only provoke more negativity.
Blog: When it comes to promoting content and being social online, don’t only publish your own, but highlight the noteworthy work of others. Spend some time reading interesting blogs, commenting on them and linking back to yours – but don’t just comment for the sake of link creation.
When blogging about others, link back to them. This way, they not only receive a link, but are also aware of the comments made about them.
By giving as much as you receive, and making your content valuable, you’re able to earn your position, along with respect and credibility.
Aggregators and Social Bookmarking: Social bookmarking and content aggregators are great ways to spread your articles and news, but avoid the temptation of only submitting your own content. Submit the content of others in your networks, and create a mutually beneficial approach to seeding content.
Go too far with creating links of no interest to anyone but yourself and you’ll soon be known for bad social media etiquette, if nothing else.
Avoid the Dark Side: eMarketing is known for its ‘spy vs. spy’ code of morality. White hat methods, the good and trustworthy practices of eMarketing, are not always discernable from grey and black hat techniques, but if something doesn’t feel right it probably isn’t.
Avoid covert methods such as creating fake accounts to approach the competition or defend against negative publicity – this is not only morally questionable, but is often extremely obvious.
Remember, you don’t have to be active on social media sites if it isn’t inline with your brand identity, but you do need to claim your space before someone else does. Above all, find the balance between using the media for releasing information, creating an online presence and improving your brand transparency.
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