Here at Social Soda, we know how daunting it can be to introduce your business to the world of social media. We also know how tempting it is to go in all guns blazing when you have free reign over your social media accounts.

When used properly, social media can help boost brand awareness for your business, drive traffic to your website, grow your customer base and even increase revenue. However, there are some basics you need to know before you get started.

Take a look at our list of social media ‘dos and don’ts’ to help you get the most out of your social media business accounts.

DO – Set clear goals and objectives.

If you’re looking to achieve a strong ROI from your business social media activities, setting clear goals and objectives is a must. These should complement your business goals and strategy and can range from driving conversions and building brand awareness to highlighting products or simply offering a platform for customer service.

Setting goals and objectives can also keep you focused and avoid you from diverting off the track. You don’t have to set loads; 2 or 3 are good to start with - you can always build on them as your confidence and page grows.

DO – Analyse and track activity.

This is an absolute MUST and if you’re currently not doing this, how are you measuring performance?

Analytics can track everything from engagement (clicks, likes, shares, comments) to referral traffic, assisted conversions and revenue, plus a whole lot more! They can also help you drive future content, as you can see through analytics which type of posts your audience are engaging with more. A blog on basic analytics to use is in the pipeline, so watch this space!

All platforms have their own built-in analytic tools to use free of charge or social media management tools, for example, Hootsuite, Sprout Social etc. also offer them, however some may charge.

Measuring activity is the most crucial ‘DO’ in using social media for business, therefore it’s worth investing some time and money in this area.

DO – Keep your branding consistent.

This is one of the most common mistakes we see through business social media pages, where business have visual inconsistencies with their branding.

Have you ever tried to search for a business on Facebook and come up against several accounts with the same name and being completely confused as to which page it is you want to follow, because you’re met by a completely different colour scheme, logo or slightly different name? You could be missing out on a whole new bunch of customers, just because your branding is inconsistent.

Make sure you maintain brand consistency across all your social media platforms. This includes logos, names and colours. It’s also worth keeping the kinds of images and assets that you share across your pages consistent too, where possible.

DO – Share valuable content.

Sharing valuable content is a no brainer. This is the only way to keep your customers engaged and coming back for more. If you’re sharing poor content and meaningless updates, you’ll lose momentum, and your followers will start dropping off.

DO – Keep your messaging consistent.

If you’re new to social media for business and managing multiple channels, it can be easy to wander off the path with your tone of voice and messaging. Each social media platform has a different purpose and a different audience; therefore, it is important to ensure your overall brand messaging and tone of voice is as consistent as possible, so you don’t confuse your customers.

DO – Give credit where its due.

Staying on the right side of social media etiquette by attributing the author or photographer when you share their article or beautiful image is key. Find the handle/account responsible for the original post and include it. Also, be sure to thank those who mention or retweet you. You can make some great connections when you play nicely! DO – Make good use of social media advertising.

There are two ways to use social media for business: organic (which is free to use and publish) and paid.

Paid social media is an extremely cost-effective way to promote your business. By advertising you can significantly boost the reach of your social media posts and content and ensure that it is seen by the right people at the right times and in the right places. You can also grow your page following and drive conversions. We’ve published two useful blogs on advertising: Should I Be Advertising on Social Media and Let’s Talk Facebook Advertising. Check them out on our website!

DON’T – Overdo it.

You don’t have to post on every channel three times a day, seven days a week, despite what people may tell you! Posting too much content on your social media pages can be just as harmful as not posting enough. By saturating a customer’s page with post, after post, after post, you risk them unfollowing you.

Not sure how often to post? This depends on the channel and the content. If your pages are brand new, posting once a day will help build up your audience. If you don’t have enough content to post this regular, 3-5 posts are week is acceptable. Remember, on platforms like Twitter, the average lifespan of a post (or Tweet) is approximately between 15-20 minutes, therefore you can post more often on this channel.

So, you know what you should be doing on your business social media pages. What should you not be doing?

DON’T – Use all social media platforms because you can.

When starting off on social media, it’s so tempting to want a bite of every cherry; however, it isn’t always necessary. If you’re a business that rarely has any valuable visual content, why bother with Instagram?

It’s ok that not every platform will suit your business, that’s just the way it is. Take some time to look through the different social media platforms and decide which ones are going to best fit in with your business goals and objectives. You can always add platforms at a later date.

DON’T – Use engagement bait tactics.

If you have a personal Facebook account, the ‘like, share and post to win [x] prize’ posts are all too familiar.

Up until recently, these types of posts have been used by businesses as a way to boost followers and engagement metrics. However, Facebook has begun cracking down on this type of engagement bating, following complaints about ‘spammy’ posts.

Therefore, if you were thinking of planning some of these types of posts into your content plan…DON’T! Facebook will demote any posts and pages that use these tactics and the last thing you need is a negative impact on any future social media efforts.

DON’T – Use poor grammar and spelling.

A massive bugbear, but one that happens all too often is businesses making grammatical and spelling errors on their posts.

These types of mistakes reduce your credibility and can also lead to negative comments being left on posts. To avoid this happening, we strongly recommend creating your social media content plans in a document or spreadsheet which can be spell checked and proofread before posting content on social media platforms.

DON’T – Share the same post repeatedly.

Sharing the same post again and again, becomes monotonous and can negatively impact your social media presence. It’s also very lazy! If you do need to share the same message, think of different ways you can communicate this – it’s time to get that creative hat on!

Twitter is an exception that can handle a few repeated messages due to the lifespan of a tweet, which we’ve mentioned previously in this blog.

DON’T – Ignore comments or questions.

It is so important that you maintain good community management across all channels. If someone comments on a post – negatively or positively, respond! Not only will this build customer loyalty, it will also show that you are on-point with your social media and care about your audience. Our blog, Why Community Management on Social Media is Key is well worth reading to help with this.

DON’T – Get hung up on numbers.

This is quite a common trait with people…getting too caught up on numbers.

How often have we heard people say ‘but I have 10,000 followers and only 3 people are liking my posts’? This is where quality over quantity comes into play.

Those 3 people liking your posts could be the 3 people that purchased your product that day. That’s why analytics are important, as this is where you really see the results from your posts.

DON’T – Get disheartened.

If you’re new to social media, don’t get disheartened if you don’t have 30,000 followers and impressive post impressions in your first month of being active.

Pages take time and effort to grow. Remember that old saying by writer John Heywood: “Rome wasn’t built in a day”? Well, it’s true! Keep chipping away and the results will come alive, it just takes time.

Now that you’re a bit more clued up on the best practices of using social media for your business, it’s time to get started!

If this is your first time dabbling in this type of marketing, the social media world is your oyster; or, if you’ve had business pages for a while, but you’ve never really known what you should or shouldn’t be doing with them, now you do!