1) Don\u2019t Take The Bait<\/h2>\n
We\u2019ve all seen them on Yelp, Twitter and pretty much every social platform where one can voice their opinion. Some people really just like to complain. So when someone posts a nasty or hostile comment regarding your brand, the knee jerk reaction is to call them out and defend your good name.<\/p>\n
Regardless of whether their comment is legitimate, it\u2019s important to take the high road. Just like your Mom always said, \u201cbe the bigger person.\u201d Responding negatively to reviews and comments will only reflect poorly on your brand.<\/p>\n
Use the opportunity to showcase how effectively you can handle the haters and calmly address their grievances. Lashing out and putting the commenter in their place will only make you <\/em>look bad – no matter how ludicrous the comment.<\/p>\n Just as it\u2019s important to not take the bait and avoid nasty online confrontation, it\u2019s also important to not simply delete negative comments and reviews. Do you really expect people to believe your 10 year old business only <\/em>has 5-star glowing reviews? No, and that\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important for people (aka potential customers) to see how your business handles negativity. So when someone posts that your restaurant is the \u2018worst ever\u2019 because you use Maraschino cherries over brandied ones, take a deep breath, acknowledge their claim and say you\u2019ll take their suggestion into consideration. Simple as that!<\/p>\n You <\/em>know this person is ridiculous and we <\/em>know this person is ridiculous. Don\u2019t delete the negativity, leave it up and live your truth.<\/p>\n As I mentioned earlier, it\u2019s important to keep your content on brand so that you\u2019re effectively portraying the personality of your business. You want to be sharing your business\u2019s latest and greatest but you also have to keep in mind that no one wants to be sold to all the time. <\/em><\/p>\n If you\u2019re constantly pushing your product or service, people are going to get bored. It\u2019s okay to have fun with your content and share things that are on-brand with your company or relevant to your business. Sharing news, stories or photos relevant to your target audience is a great way to up your engagement and garner legitimacy online.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s absolutely important to have fun with your social media presence, there are some <\/em>parameters. Posting a cute animal photo as a \u2018TGIF\u2019 has never maimed anyone\u2019s credibility, but aimlessly posting irrelevant \u2018top ten\u2019 lists or opinionated op-ed\u2019s may just do the trick. Your business and your personal social presence are two different things.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t assume that your target audience is totally like-minded and will find these gratuitous posts hilarious or interesting. Even though you spent all morning cracking up over a list of celebrities who look like animals, if it has no correlation with your area of business it may be best to not click the \u2018share\u2019 button. Don\u2019t let yourself become any one of these people<\/a>. Stay on brand and stay relevant (in a fun way.)<\/p>\n Posting consistently is good social media strategy 101. However, people may have differing opinions on what \u2018consistently\u2019 actually means. <\/em>Posting every day is a good rule of thumb to keep your business relevant and engaged with your audience. Alas, there can be too much of a good thing.<\/p>\n An even better rule of thumb is to try and limit your posting to one or two posts a day. We all have that friend of family member who posts too much, shares too often and this often leads us to unfollow their updates or even unfriend. The same goes for businesses, if you clog the feed you\u2019re going to turn off and overwhelm your audience. Sometimes less is more!<\/p>\n The advent of automated publishing platforms has been a godsend for businesses and agencies alike. However, the luxury of being able to \u2018set it and forget it\u2019 a month or even more in advance is both a blessing and a curse. Having your content solely automated has the tendency to come across as cold and even tone deaf while ensuring that you\u2019re engaging in real time and creating additional ad hoc content will breathe life into your business\u2019s personality.<\/p>\n Being on top of trending topics and hashtags is a powerful tool in proving your relevancy to your target audience since automated responses and posting can make even some of the biggest and most respected companies in the world look like fools. Don\u2019t believe us? Check out some of these<\/a> horror stories. Remember, social media is just that – social. <\/em><\/p>\n A good way to determine how well your content is going to perform is whether it\u2019s inherently positive or negative. Scrolling through your feed you\u2019re more likely to engage with posts are positively oriented. Even if the content is relevant to your business or ideal demographic, try to avoid sharing content that\u2019s negative, mean or morbidly oriented. Stay positive and ignite conversation based on happy, positive matters!<\/p>\n While all of these are excellent guidelines to keep in mind, there is no concrete right <\/em>way to handle your social media. No one knows your business and ideal audience better than you do! Need help finding your voice and curating your content? Leave it to us! Learn more about how we can help you, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n2) Don\u2019t Delete Negative Comments And Reviews<\/h2>\n
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<\/a><\/h2>\n3) Don\u2019t Constantly Promote Yourself<\/h2>\n
4) Don\u2019t Post Controversial Content<\/h2>\n
5) Don\u2019t Clog the Feed<\/h2>\n
6) Don\u2019t Automate Everything<\/h2>\n
7) Don\u2019t Be A Negative Nancy<\/h2>\n