Often when I’m designing training and speaking to clients, they ask me to include the dos and don’ts of social media. What can you do and what can’t you do. The answer:
WHATEVER YOU WANT!!!
Ok. That is slightly extreme. I would definitely advise against being discriminatory, offensive and any other kind of nasty approach. And some of the platforms do have their own regulations. Like no pornography for example. But I’m sure you weren’t planning that…!
But we can often become too obsessed with what we should and shouldn’t be doing. And as a result, we end up doing exactly the same thing as everyone else and just blending in to the background.
I’ve seen approaches on social media from businesses that use bad language. I’ve seen funny videos of staff messing about in the office. I’ve seen humour shared in every post. And lots of other things that break the ‘professional’ norm.
I’m not suggesting you have to do all that. But there are two things you need to think about when it comes to deciding on your approach.
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The Personality of Your Brand – Brandonality
I’m always banging on about brandonality (mainly because I invented the word!!). But personality is so important on social media. Figure out what your personality is and then put that across on social media. I hope you agree that you see my personality coming through in these blog posts, in my online videos, in my posts, and in everything I do on social media. I don’t try to pretend to be something I’m not. And I only want to work with businesses who enjoy my personality!
2. Your Audience
The other thing you need to consider is your audience. If you are going to lose lots of business by swearing on social media, then it’s probably advisable not to do it! Know your audience and what they’d like to see from you on social media. Paddy Power get this perfect with their football related humour on their Facebook page (go take a look when you’ve got a spare few minutes by clicking here). Their audience are going to relate more to football humour than constantly hearing about the latest odds.
So, this might not have been what you expected when you saw the title. But don’t get hung up on the dos and don’ts of social media. Instead, create your own dos and don’ts. Because your approach should be completely unique to your business.
Good luck!
