Social Media Marketing Do’s for Brand/Company :

1. Know your customers: Your social media pages should be tailored to your consumer base, not

based on your own personal interests. To be honest, you consumers don't care about you. They

care about what YOU can do for THEM. Post stories that they can relate to. If you work at a

bakery, post recipes and tips and tricks of the trade.

2. Be active but don't over-do it: Be active on your social media, but don't post too many things.

This could lead to 2 problems: 1) Too much information can cause your followers to stop following

your posts and 2) Your posts can get lost within their newsfeeds and they won't see the posts that

could be really important to them.

3. Time does matter: Pay attention to analytics. Find out when your followers are most active on

social media and post your information during those time frames.

4. One voice: Social media is great for sharing, but make sure your message is the same across all

channels: website, public, social media, etc.

5. Share: We've been taught to share since we were young kids and some things never change.

This is one of those things. Share information!

6. Checklists: Checklists are great for many aspects in life. Social media works well with checklists.

Sure, it sounds simple, go on Twitter or Facebook, type up a post and hit share. Not exactly.

Make a checklist to ensure that your message will be understood, check for any grammar issues,

make sure the information your sharing can be shared, check the time-will your readers see it?,

and make sure if you are linking a site that the link is valid. These are just a few examples but

paying attention to your tweets can save you time and trouble later.

7. Be original: This is pretty self-explanitory, take a chance to be creative with your posts and stand

out from your competitor's. Who wants to blend in? Especially when your main goal is to bring in

customers. Stand out, make them remember you!

8. Customer Service: Great customer service can make or break a company. Customers are more

likely to come back and keep coming creating a loyalty to your brand. Not only will these

customers be loyal to you but they will be your best brand ambassadors by word-of-mouth

advertising, which serves as free advertising for your company.

9. Having a personality: Dull and boring posts will bring dull and boring results. You have to be

excited about your company, your product and the services you can provide your customers. If

you aren't excited and don't love what you stand for neither will your clients. 

10. Understanding which social media platform(s) are best for their business: Just because

everyone seems to be on Facebook doesn't mean you need to be. Social media isn't a one size

fits all. If you are wanting to improve your SEO, then Google+ or YouTube would be your best

choice. If you want to drive traffic to your site, or improve your customer engagement then

Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are going to be your best bet, according to Social Media Today. 

Social Media Marketing Don’ts for Brand/Company:

1. Liking your own posts: Of course, you like your post, you posted it! Don't "like" or "favorite" your

own material. It just makes you look bad. Encourage your employees, however, to share and like

the material that is posted. Your employees can be the brand's greatest ambassadors.

2. Neglect: Use your social media! Just because you have a Facebook page or Twitter account

doesn't mean that is enough. You have to use the accounts to make them work.

3. Share too much: Be careful of the things you share, don't share too much information. This one

goes back to having a checklist. If you are premiering a product and post hints or pictures too

early it could destroy the whole product launch that others worked so hard on.

4. Connect with everyone: Just because someone follows you, doesn't mean you have to follow

them back. Think of it at choosing who you surround yourself in real-life. Before you follow back

think of how it will reflect on you, is this someone that would represent you and your business in a

good way if consumers saw that you were associated with them?

5. Forget to Network: Just as you would in real-life, to make connections and grow your brand you

need to network and build relationships. Social media isn't any different. If your impression is

good enough you might be able to work in a few word-of-mouth shoutouts.

6. Privacy Settings: Don't forget about privacy settings. You use them on your personal profiles, do

the same with your business. Remember once you share something on the internet, it doesn't go

away. Sure you can delete the post, but you don't know who may have seen the post and saved

the information before you deleted it. Never underestimate anything. Taking care of the privacy

settings also includes protecting your passwords. Only give passwords to those a select few and

choose a password that would be hard to guess. Also, use capital letters, numbers and

characters within your password.

7. Don't be spammy: Nobody likes spam, whether it be email or social networking, just don't do it.

This goes back to over-doing things. If you are constantly posting and posting the same

information you could get reported and your site may be shutdown. You can also lose part of your

consumer base.

8. Deleting negative comments: Acknowledging the problem not only can make a customer

happy, but prevent the company from a PR disaster later. This also shows the company is pro-

active in resolving the issues to make the customer happy. 

9. Not responding at all: It is vital to engage with your customers, with no engagement they may

feel as if you don't care about their question, comment or concern. It all comes back to customer

service, with good or bad, posts by consumers should be replied to. 

10. Too much automation: You lose the personal touch with customers if it sounds like a computer

is speaking to them. "Human-ize" your brand to make the engagement experience for the

customer more personable.

Social Media Marketing Do’s for Employees :

Do…

1. Encourage positive stories about employees, customers, and projects. Make sure you aren’t violating privacy, but sharing the positive creates a great vibe for your business.

2. Create anticipation. Hints from your staff that big things are coming can often be more valuable than leaking secrets too early.

3. Publicly praise your employees. Telling an employee “good job” is nice. Telling them on your Facebook page and tagging them so their friends and family can see demonstrates your pride.

4. Share lots of pictures. Snap shots and even short videos are great ways of expressing the personality of your company. Again, be sure to respect privacy, but putting faces in front of your customers is a great way to connect.

5. Plan a social media strategy. Put the power of social media to work, and any good marketer knows that planning is essential. If you’re going to use social media, think ahead, and tie it into your other marketing efforts.

6. Discuss the do’s and don’ts with your team. It can harness the power of social media and also create accountability. Your employees need to know exactly what to share and what to keep quiet.

7. Advise employees that there is no expectation of privacy when they use company equipment, including computers or other electronic devices. Employees should be made aware that the company has and reserves the right to monitor and review

all use of company-owned equipment without notice, including posts or comments in social media.

8. Define terms, provide examples, and use approved language. By using defined terms and providing examples of prohibited conduct that is not protected, employers can prohibit the use of disfavored language by employees in social media.

9. Protect confidential information and trade secrets. Every company needs to protect confidential information and trade secrets. No organization wants employees to post such information on social media sites.

10. Encourage internal communications. Although threatening discipline if an employee posts a workplace concern on social media instead of communicating about it internally could violate the law, employers should still encourage the use of internal communications and procedures for resolving concerns. A social media policy should still urge (but not require) employees to use available channels within the organization, rather than social media, to resolve disputes.

11. Consult with counsel to develop appropriate language. While a “boilerplate” disclaimer, even one that includes comprehensive and detailed language, may be insufficient to cure overbroad and vague language in a social media policy, language that complies fully with the law can be crafted. Carefully drafting a list of specific limitations or examples in the language of a social media policy can ensure protection of company interests while also protecting against claims of illegality. Walking the fine lines created by the constantly developing landscape of technology and law in the arena of social media is challenging. However, an effective and lawful policy is possible.

Social Media Marketing Don’ts for Employees :

Don’t…

1. Share proprietary information. Every company has some information they would rather keep from the public and/or their competitors. Make sure your employees know when specific pieces of information are not to be leaked.2. Share private information. Discussing financial information or contact information can severely irritate clients, employees, and others. Discussing health information can sometimes be a criminal offense. A good rule of thumb is never to share information that isn’t about you.3. Make derogatory comments about employers or their practices. Everyone wants to vent about workplace situations occasionally, but negative comments can get you fired. Negative comments that are untrue can get you sued.4. Make derogatory comments about customers. Funny customer stories happen daily, but sharing online, even if it can’t get back to the customer makes others feel like your company enjoys gossip.5. Make derogatory comments about the competition. Friendly competition is healthy. When it becomes unfriendly, however, it can create a lack of trust with your community and retaliation by a competitor. Even if a competitor attacks publicly, taking the high road will nearly always prevail.

6. Gossip. Office gossip always gets back to the source. Banning gossip is critical to healthy working teams. Today with 24/7 access and the anonymity of the web, gossip is thriving and more dangerous.7. Use vague, subjective, or undefined terms. No company wants employees to use obscene or vulgar language about the organization in social media posts or comments. Use language restricting employees’ rights to discuss wages and other working conditions8. Require employees to resolve workplace concerns internally instead of using social media. It may be tempting to have a policy requiring employees to keep workplace concerns private by discussing them internally instead of posting them on social media. However, a provision that threatens discipline for “going public” might violate the law.