Here are 12 basic (but oftentimes overlooked and taken for granted) social media etiquette guidelines for the e-retailer, as outlined by Lydia Ramsey for BusinessKnowHow.com.
1. Make sure that your company profiles on these social media sites are complete and professional. Use your company’s logo as your profile picture.
2. If you have a personal account on the same social networking site, create a different account. This means that your personal account should be different from the name and profile listed on your business account.
3. Choose your friends. Do not just add people for the sake of making it appear that you have “lots of friends.” Do this by including in your profile the kind of people that you want to add to your network.
4. Provide valuable information. Once you have established a following, do not just post messages or tweet about your company. Make sure the communication between you and your customers is always a two-way process.
5. Do not randomly sell to strangers. Social media marketing is all about establishing rapport and building long-term loyalty and trust with your target market. Selling to them outright defeats the entire purpose of using social media as part of your business strategy.
6. Pick a professional user name, when applicable. For example, for your Twitter account, stick to your business name or something that is related to it. Avoid cutesy user names.
7. Do not use Facebook to send invites to games or applications that are irrelevant to your business. In the same way, do not use your professional Twitter account to post “personal” messages.
8. Do not post anything that you do not want seen by everyone. Future clients, associates and investors will have access to the things you post, so post carefully.
9. Remember the saying, “show me who your friends are and I’ll show you who you are?” This applies to social media marketing as well. Be careful about the Twitter friends that you follow and who follow you, as well as the people you add to your Facebook page.
10. When someone rejects your invitation to became your friend, accept it gracefully and professionally.
11. To avoid violating rule no. 8, avoid posting when you are tired, jet-lagged, intoxicated or overly emotional.
12. To be sure, compose your message in a separate document before sending them out. A minor grammatical flaw can look bad on you or convey the wrong message.
