What is social media etiquette?

With millions of people active on social media platforms daily across the world, users must keep to protocol standards when interacting.  Just like interacting with people face-to-face, it’s important to keep the same etiquette on social media.

Although social media interaction can be seen as a much less personal form of communication, it is no less important to be respectful and value other users online.  There are certain behaviours that you’ll need to avoid and others that should always be top of mind when interacting on social media.

To bolster online relations and keep your profile respected it’s important to make sure you fully understand the way things are done online whenever you’re communicating online.  Being aware of social media etiquette and ensuring that you always apply such behaviour online is key to enhancing your social media experience.  Even if you’re up to speed on all things ‘social media’ it’s always a good idea to complete a social media course to make sure you understand social media etiquette and apply it whenever you’re online.

How does having a good standard of social media etiquette affect communication?

As in person, if someone speaks with you, it’s common practice to answer and interact with respect. The same rules apply when it comes to social media.  The most common example of good social media etiquette is to not type in CAPITALS, which is regarded as ‘shouting’.  So, replying to a comment in CAPITALS is mostly avoided.  Another perfect example would be if you receive a comment from someone online, it’s common courtesy to reply, or at the very least, click the like or dislike icon.

Although we’re all only human, it remains vitally important to develop and maintain an acceptable social media etiquette style and to think carefully about the way you act when on any social media platform.  Having a good standard of social media etiquette allows people to be on an equal playing field and follow the same rules.

So, why does having a good social media etiquette matter?

Well, there are many reasons why it’s very important to think carefully about others when interacting online.  But let’s take a closer look at the main reasons and why they are important.

• Remember the human factor – Most untoward experiences online are simply because it’s easy to forget that we’re dealing with humans and all human interaction can be tricky at times. Keep top of mind that also you may not be interacting physically, you need to remember the human factor that’s behind all social media.
• Fix mistakes – Maintaining a high standard of social media etiquette enables users to bounce back from any negative interaction or mistakes that have been made. Again, the human factor needs to be kept top of mind as oftentimes people can forget their manners or make a mistake on social media.  It’s impossible for always communicate flawlessly either in person or online, but it is possible to correct any comments or mistakes that may have been made.
• Reach your goals – Social media etiquette keeps you focussed on reaching your digital marketing goals. By keeping all interactions civil and polite on social media, you’ll free up more time to focus on important goals, thus makes your efforts on social media more productive.

Tips to avoid creating a bad reputation on social media

As in life, we all want to put our best foot forward and strive to maintain a good reputation, this applies to our interaction on social media.  So, before you start your social media journey, let’s take a closer look at some actions to avoid.

• Failing to ask before tagging – Although it may seem inoffensive, tagging a friend or acquaintance on social media without their permission could in many ways cause problems for that person. Good social media etiquette means you should always request permission before tagging anyone.
• Posting too often – Social media is all about sharing, commenting and posting, but it’s always a good idea to have a gap between posts. Your followers will thank you pausing between posts, comments and shares.
• Avoid unnecessary negativity – Try to avoid unnecessary complaining on social media platforms. Although your complaint may be valid, it’s always good social media etiquette to not appear to be spreading negativity.

Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing

If you want to learn more regarding social media marketing and how it can benefit your business, we really suggest that you do a Social Media Marketing Course such as the one which we offer. Follow this link for more information.