The 4 Social Media Rules that Never Change

We’ve all heard of Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube, but what about Reddit, Pheed and Medium? The social media landscape is constantly changing with the addition of new platforms, but the basics of social media remain the same. Here are four things you should be doing across all social media platforms:

Align profiles with brand personality.

Develop a brand personality to provide consistency and humanize a brand. Fashion the personality after someone your target audience identifies with and create content around that person’s interests and expertise. The personality should align with the brand’s interests and expertise as well. This makes it easy for users and potential customers to relate to the brand and find common ground to start conversations online.

Post content that drives engagement.

Ask open-ended questions and post articles that will pique the interest of friends and followers. Pay attention to trending topics and chime in when it’s relevant to your interests or areas of expertise. 

Be social.

It’s called social media for a reason. If you’re watching an awards show or major sports event, post about it. Many social media outlets see an increase in traffic and conversations during big events. Seek out content about events that are happening and join in the conversations happening to grow a following online. Conversations are a two-way street, so make sure to respond when it’s appropriate. 

Quality over quantity.

It’s better to be active and engaged on a couple of social media platforms than present on every platform but inactive. Choose platforms that cater to your interests and areas of expertise. For example, a techie may find more success sharing industry trends, articles and personal projects on Google+ than on Facebook or Twitter. This applies to content as well. Sharing a few engaging pieces of content is more effective than sharing poor quality content every day. 

Need a little more social media guidance? Read about ideal post lengths and creating an employee policy.

Blog Author: Mendy Sass, Former B teamer