Burger King’s mishap highlights the importance of having social media etiquette standards for your company and employees. And in this article, you’ll learn how to avoid poor social media manners and mind your manners online.”Women belong in the kitchen.” Unfortunately for Burger King, this tweet didn’t go down well on Twitter
Don’t over-promote the business
Balance your posts with caution
- Tell your audience beforehand and explain why you’ll be posting more, so they’ll be less likely to unfollow you during your promotional sprees
- Don’t overextend yourself
Respond Quickly
79% of customers expect a response within the first 24 hours of reaching out to your brand on social media. Respond quickly to positive feedback reinforces a customers’ liking of your brand.
Be a good company ambassador
Use good judgment when posting online
- Don’t post information like you’re posting on behalf of your employer
- Tell someone in charge of the posting who can handle the matter if it’s not handled by you
Don’t use social media on your employer’s time
Employer is paying you for your time, so act accordingly
- If you’re the social media manager, stick to the professional accounts
- Using that time to attend to trivial, personal stuff is unfair
Complete your social page profile
If people come to your page and see an incomplete profile, it gives the wrong impression and they’ll feel you’re not serious enough about engaging with them
Don’t overdo humor
Humor is subjective, and what’s funny to you might be insensitive or downright offensive to others
- If you’re not sure about how a joke would be taken, then it’s better to keep it locked away
- Another brand that’s hacked funny social media replies and posts is Innocent Drinks
What is Social Media Etiquette?
Social media etiquette refers to the guidelines that govern communication behavior on social platforms
- It encompasses the way you share ideas and takes into account how those ideas will be perceived by others in a digital space
- Poor social media etiquette can lead to terrible consequences for an erring company
Do Social Media Etiquette The Right Way
When you care about your audience and put yourself in their shoes, you can have a good culture of social media etiquette that will benefit your brand
Stick to your core values
Your core values should resonate in your content
Don’t use a bot for replies
Users are smart, and they can sense when a response is automated
Don’t write in all caps
Use all caps only when something is truly important (or exciting), and you definitely HAVE to call your audience’s attention to it
Don’t be desperate
Post valuable and authentic content to grow your follower count and get high-quality interactions that will attract even more people
- Fenty’s social media posts include testimonials from women of different nationalities and ethnicities, which is one reason for its rapid growth.
Use Hashtags Correctly
Displaying good social media etiquette will require you to use only hashtags that are relevant to the post.
Respect privacy and confidentiality
Social media isn’t the place to discuss sensitive company matters or disclose internal information
Don’t always want to be first
Doing so might come at the cost of losing your job
It helps you recover from fails
With good social media etiquette, you can recover from your mistakes
- For example, despite its fail, Burger King managed to turn things around, at least to an extent, with an apology that felt genuine
- No perfect brand, and we all stumble at times.
