BEST PRACTICES IN USING SOCIAL MEDIA

FOR BUSINESS

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Create company-specific guidelines for social media use

Conduct research on the best social media platforms for your brand

Create an editorial calendar, weekly posting plan, and content marketing

strategy to guide your social media efforts across all platforms

Take time to learn each social media platform and become familiar with their

features and restrictions

Assign a quality control person who can regularly assess whether the content

shared on the company’s official accounts are up to par with quality standards

and in compliance with company rules

Think about whether you need to hire a social media consultant or manager to

handle your accounts

Conduct a monthly assessment of how well the company’s social media pages

are doing in terms of taking the company closer to its objectives

Make sure that all employees are aware of the company’s social media guidelines

Facebook

Make sure to provide complete information about the

company (such as physical location, operating hours,

and contact numbers)

Consistent and targeted posting

Utilize the Boost Post feature for significant updates,

contests, or special offers

Write and share engaging and compelling content

Follow a posting plan

Make use of Facebook’s built-in analytics features to

monitor how successful the current strategy is

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Include photos in your posts

Use hashtags, but don’t overuse them

Update your cover photo, ideally every month or during

special holidays

Monitor trends on the platform

Twitter

Limit tweets to 90 characters to accommodate links

Consistent and targeted posting

Write witty and engaging tweets

Share timely updates and news

Retweet other tweets that may be relevant or interesting

to the company’s target audience

Create unique and meaningful hashtags that people are

likely to search for

Do NOT ride on the success of preexisting hashtags,

especially if they have no direct connection to the type of

service or products the company offers

Schedule your posts in the afternoon

Use lists to sort contacts

Follow relevant Twitter accounts; don’t just follow for the

sake of getting followed back

Monitor and partake in conversations related to the brand

or products

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LinkedIn

Use the InMail feature to contact a user regardless of

your connection

Manage Endorsements, making sure that the ones on the

page are relevant to the brand’s trade, specialty, or industry

Join LinkedIn groups and participate in discussions relevant

to the brand

Make sure your profile is complete and updated

Content in the Job Descriptions and About sections should

be 200-300 words with relevant keywords

Use the Advanced Search feature for industry- and

title-specific searches

Use the Tags feature to group your connections properly

Google+

Have your Page verified

Make sure that social extensions within AdWords

are enabled

Claim a personalized URL and add the G+ badge to

your website

Add managers to your page

Grow your follower base by posting interesting and

relevant content

Actively engage with your followers

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Instagram

Use hashtags, but don’t overdo it

Engage with your followers

Follow back

Understand your brand’s audience

Create a theme for your content and adhere to it

consistently

Use photo editing software to enhance your photos

Post only once or twice a day; don’t spam

Make your content compelling enough to make people

want to follow you

Connect your other social media accounts to your

Instagram

Hold photo contests every once in a while to increase

engagement

Pinterest

Add a watermark to your original Pins

Be mindful of copyright rules

Insert links to your website via your captions

Post between 2 PM and 4 PM daily, ideally

Put thought into which images and Call-to-Action to use

Create infographics for posting and sharing

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO ELIMINATE OVERWHELM AND MANAGE YOUR SOCIAL

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Apply SEO principles

A call to action must be present after every video

Link to your website to drive traffic

Upload interesting and engaging content that treads the

balance between natural and scripted

Create a visually appealing channel header

If you’re aiming to develop trust or thought leadership,

make sure that you’re in most of your videos

Make quality content - don’t just promote yourself

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