23 Important Social Media Rules You Should Always Apply

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23 Important Social Media Rules You Should Always Apply

Effective social media marketing is no straightforward process. Over time and through a lot of trial and error we have realised that there are a few major rules that always seem ...

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Effective social media marketing is no straightforward process. Over time and through a lot of trial and error we have realised that there are a few major rules that always seem to apply.

We’d like to save you the blood sweat and tears we paid with to learn these rules, so we compiled you a nice little cheat sheet you can go to whenever you’re doubting any decision.

The 23 Rules That Always Apply in Social Media

Rules for any social network

  1. Consistent sharing is important for users but especially important in the eyes of the algorithm of the platform you’re using.
  1. Sharing consistently does not mean spamming. Space your posts out appropriately.
  1. Don’t use too many hashtags. Less almost always is more.
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  1. Always provide value. Provide 80% value for every 20% of self-promotion.
  1. When referring to your company always use first person plural (“we” or “us”), when referring to your personal brand use first person singular (“I” or “me”).
  1. Respond to comments as soon as you can. Statistics show more than 50% of users expect a response within an hour.
  1. No begging for engagement (likes, shares or comments).
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Facebook rules

  1. Tag spamming is really looked down upon. Only tag people/pages that are super relevant.
  1. Liking your own post is embarrassing, people always see.
  1. Always ask for permission and give credit when posting other people’s content.

Twitter rules

  1. Keep posts short enough so there are characters available for a comment when people retweet.
  1. Automatically direct messaging followers can come off as spammy because well, it is spammy. Best is to make it seem as real and natural by waiting a while before messaging a new follower.
  1. Buying followers is always a terrible investment.
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  1. As with fake followers, keyword stuffing is easier to spot than you think and will leave a sour taste in your followers’ mouths.
  2. Using a competitor’s hashtag to get exposure is almost always a bad idea.

LinkedIn rules

  1. Adding a personal message to a connection request makes a pleasant first impression.
  1. Follow up new connections with a short and sweet welcome message.
  1. Ease your way into groups you have just joined. Remember the 80/20 ratio mentioned in tip 4.
  1. Linkedin is meant for professionals, so act like one by adding a more professional tone to any communication.

Instagram

  1. It’s more acceptable to use a little more hashtags here, the sweet spot seems to be eleven according to Quicksprout.
hashtags

  1.  Instagram users are the most sensitive to oversharing, make sure you leave enough time between posts.
  1. Your brand’s hashtag is the most important and should be used in most cases.
  1. Posting hashtags in the first comment of a post is more effective than posting it in the caption.

Summary

The above list of rules is constantly changing as all platforms keep tweaking the way they work.

Instagram’s new algorithm is set to be implemented sometime soon so that will definitely add a few changes to the Instagram section.

In general, these are the rules that seem to have stood the test of time, a list we always go through before any post goes live. If you have any suggestion for rules we haven’t mentioned please feel free to discuss that with us in the comments below.