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7 Social Media Best Practices to Improve Your Online Presence

Social media is great but if poorly managed it can cause huge damage. Check out 7 social media best practices!

Hotmart

06/03/2022 | By Hotmart

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and all other social media networks are great communication tools that help us connect with people from all over the world. 

Despite being great channels to network and broaden your communication, many people don’t know how to properly manage their social media profiles. This can be dangerous for people who have an online business and want to become an authority in their niche. 

So, we’ve prepared a list of 7 social media best practices to help you navigate social media and improve your online presence!

VIDEO: How to grow your audience on social media | Carla Salinas at Hotmart MASTERS

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1. Don’t post personal content

It’s best to avoid posting personal content on business profiles. People follow brands for content that adds value to their lives and to stay up to date about products and services. 

If you want your brand to be recognized, talk as an entrepreneur and representative of your product or service. Posting images of your friends, family members, and even yourself performing non-business tasks isn’t a good idea. 

Instead, use your social media profile to provide your followers with engaging content, to advertise your products and services, and educate your audience. 

If you post personal content on your brand’s social media profiles, you may lose followers since that’s not what they followed you to see. 

2. Stay away from controversial topics

Posting your opinion about controversial topics isn’t a good idea for business profiles on social media. Especially if the topics discussed aren’t related to your business. 

If it is absolutely necessary for your business to issue a specific statement about something that you know might be controversial, remember to analyze the context very well. 

Remember that no matter which side you take, your statement will be seen by everyone who follows you on social media. 

So, as a social media best practice, always do some research on the national and international context before issuing an opinion about a controversial topic. This will help you maintain your business’ image.

3. Keep sensitive information confidential

Success stories and customer testimonials are great resources to advertise your business. 

However, it’s always important to get people’s permission before posting anything related to them. That’s why you should never post images, messages, or testimonials from other people without their consent.

And remember to keep sensitive information, like personal or financial information, strictly confidential. 

4. Avoid posting too often

The technique of posting lots of content on the same day or in short periods of time is known as overposting. A lot of people on social media overpost because they think it’s important to put out a lot of content, but it’s definitely not a social media best practice

It’s really frustrating for users when they scroll through their newsfeed to see lots of posts from the same account. And that’s what happens if you post too much, too often. 

Think about the user experience. When users log into Instagram, for example, they want to see diverse content from multiple accounts they follow.  

Like engagement and conversion, quantity is not the same as quality. Avoid overposting and maybe even consider the need to delete some older posts and repost them in the future. 

Read our post about creating an editorial calendar to learn how to schedule your posts. 

VIDEO: 5 tips to find the BEST TIMES for you to post | Hotmart Tips

5. Revise your text

With the exception of Twitter, text usually plays a secondary role on social media. As such, social media best practices involve keeping your text on social media short and simple, and revising it to avoid mistakes. 

People tend to view social media channels on their smartphones, which means they’re reading content on a small screen. Keeping your texts short and simple helps optimize them for mobile consumption. 

It’s also a good idea to revise your texts to avoid any grammatical mistakes. After you write, always read and revise what you wrote. You can even ask someone else to read it to get a second opinion. 

6. Always be professional

While people may think being professional is only necessary on LinkedIn, the truth is it’s a good practice on all social media networks

There’s nothing wrong with being informal or a little personal, but remember that anything you put out on social media will be seen by many people. Not to mention that social media is often the first impression people have of a business or brand. 

So remember to always behave professionally on social media. Treat your social media profiles like a professional work environment, and don’t do anything you wouldn’t do at work.

A business profile always needs to be transparent and clear about its field of expertise. Let your audience know exactly which services or products you’re offering when they get in contact with your brand. 

7. Engage with followers

Social media is all about engagement, so of course, a list of social media best practices wouldn’t be complete without mentioning it! 

When using social media, make sure to engage with your audience: answer their questions, respond to their comments, and reshare their content about you. 

Engaging with your audience makes them feel heard and can help you develop a strong relationship with your followers.

When someone gets in touch with your brand via social media, it means that they’re interested in talking to you. 

So, take some time to answer all their questions and let them know you care. This will go a long way towards turning followers into buyers and promoters of your brand. 

Taking precautions on social media

Social media is an excellent tool to prompt your business or brand. It can help you be seen by leads and find the right audience for your content. 

Just like any other marketing strategy, a social media strategy needs to be well planned and administered correctly. 

If you follow our 7 social media best practices, you’ll be on the right track to increasing your engagement and authority.  

If you’ve already implemented a social media strategy for your business, check out this article to learn how to define social media KPIs.

 

This article was originally published in 2017 but has since been updated to contain more accurate and complete information.