Everyone loves a list on the social medias. It’s the current trend, fad, best thing to do.

So why not a list of the things to consider that you might be doing right, or not? Let’s face it there will be days we don’t do everything right, but it’s social media and we are human and so that’s OK. Of course, if we have half an inkling, we’ll have half a chance. So, here’s a refresher list of things that will help you work the social medias (would love your feedback of how many you are doing right, or not):

1. Be Social. Did I need to state the obvious here? Yes. Many businesses forget. So, let’s get it over with.
2. Listen First. As in, don’t always be the first to answer. Don’t pounce on a person after a single comment, see if the community takes over the conversation. And secondly, if conversation starts, let it go. Let it develop of its own accord.
3. Be Transparent. Use a picture of your face. Show the real you.
4. Focus on Content. It will help your SEO (search engine optimisation) to use keywords relevant to you or your business and it will give you better results for your efforts.
5. Don’t talk about what you ate for lunch, when you went to the gym, or how much you love your life. Well, OK, occasionally. But seriously, not all the time.
6. Don’t tag me in your business images. It’s rude.
7. Don’t make long videos. And get your message out in the first 3 seconds or honey, I’m so gone (skip that ad).
8. Don’t expect instant results. Oh, you want 10000 likes and engaged users and sales immediately? Oh OK. Can you please pay me and my 50 best friends to work for you. Great, thanks… Oh, and we’ll need to run an offline advertising campaign on Nova 919 as well… OK.. got it? Cool.
9. Be Consistent. Use similar content copy across the various social media platforms. Tweet quotes from your blogs and speak in a fashion that shows a consistent voice. Your voice will become recognised and it really does help your SEO.
10. Use Scheduling Wisely. Hey, I’m all for scheduling status posts and updates to make sure I hit a certain time of day, but there is something very clinical and cold about it. What’s that? Un-human you ask? Yes. That’s right, Social Media likes to keep us human.
11. Email is not dead.
12. Monitor your analytics and insights like they are your bible. Know your stuff.
13. Don’t let an intern to run your social media campaign.
14. Add share buttons to your blog.
15. Share little gems from your day. Let people get to know you as a person. Let them know you are human.
16. Go where your customers are. Chat on Facebook as your page (on other pages). Yes, this is timely… so consider doing it, say, once a month.
17. Explain who you are. Add your bio to your blog AND your Facebook page.
18. Keep your LinkedIn Profile detailed, succinct and sometimes absent. Think about the profiles you are most intrigued by… the ones that say much less. Of course, provide a means to provide more ie link to company page or website. Let your WORK speak for itself.
19. Don’t beg for invites but it’s OK to ask for stuff ie like help or answers.
20. Focus on people. OK, so we are all different. But trying to make a connection and a friendship online is as simple as a like, a comment or a well timed and appropriate reply. It means you care about what they are saying as much as what you are doing.
21. Don’t use profanity. Or bleep it out. But really… it’s a tad off putting seeing major brands use swear words.
22. Have an opinion. There’s nothing more bland than a person who has nothing to say other than “LOL” “Thanks” ” Great idea” or “Cheers”. You are a person. You have feelings thoughts and ideas in that head of yours. If you are talking on behalf of a company its true you must be sensitive to that environment however there is always something light hearted and relevant that you can interject with. Think about it.
23. Stay Humble. Explain your sources and acknowledge others when they contribute. Everyone has a nice feel good moment when that happens.
24. Use Hashtags. Don’t let anyone tell you they don’t work. They do. They provide a great tool for searching content. You don’t want your content to be overlooked do you?
25. Don’t worry about your competition. Focus on you and your own business.

There will be another 25 I’m sure. This will do for now. Happy digesting.

Oh and PS Long form blog copy is a delight to the search engines. Use lots of keywords in there and let them munch away.