Social Media is such a part of our lives today, that sometimes we forget how we should behave.  So here’s a simple review of how to behave using social media, including email.

1) Send that Email

If someone sends you an email – respond. One of the worse things I find about communicating through email is how many times people DON’T respond back.  Let people know you received the email, first, and secondly if they send you a proposal, acknowledge!  The worse excuse people use is the common, “I’m just so busy!”  Hey, everyone is busy these days, but respect people’s time.

2)#Easy #on #the #Hashtags

Hashtags started with a specific purpose – to be able to search for and find posts relevant to that topic. For example, you’re looking for tweets on social media, searching #socialmedia brings up not only the tweets tagged with that hashtag but also user accounts and top news about that subject.  Stop trying to create your own and spamming posts using a ton of these annoying hashtags.

3) Share The Right Content

What you post matters as much as where you post it. It’s perfectly okay to share some personal highlights, but it’s a mistake to go overboard with them.  Also there should be nothing about politics, social issues, and religion on any business account.  You really should also limit it on your personal account as well.  You’d be surprised just how a customer or client can be turned off these days by your personal opinion.  So, just don’t go there.

4) Don’t Over Interact

There is such a thing as being overly active online. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, don’t like it when folks comment way too many times so they have a system in place to delete comments without warning and put a negative mark next to your account.  It’s good to be social, not to be a wallflower, but don’t over do it.  Know that there is a balance and you should know what that balance is.

5) Don’t advertise your business on someone else’s business page- EVER.

This really is the unwritten rule of social media and so many folks try and break it by advertising themselves as comments, or asking social media managers to tell customers that they created their content, etc.  If you are a business, you are to act like you would offline when you are online. Social media is not a free-for-all as some may think it is.  It’s not a free business card that you can put yourself anywhere and everywhere, you do have to play by the rules.  And when you do play by the rules, you win. When you don’t, you lose much more.

Remember, if anyone sends you a communication online, whether it is through direct messaging, text messages, or emails, respond back. No one likes it when they are ignored, disrespected, and also treated like their time and effort didn’t matter.  Be kind online, it’s the only way to be!