If you are new to social media or have only used it for personal networking you might want to stop and consider the points below before you start business networking
- Have a purpose. Why are you posting? For example do you want to inform, initiate a response, gain followers, and promote yourself /your brand?
- Don’t just vent. Just because you are angry about something don’t just vent for several reason, mostly 1) others might not care about these things 2)You may say things that are offensive or that you later regret 3) You are unlikely to be objective
- Who cares? One of the comments I hear from people who do not use social media because ‘I don’t care about what celebrities are doing or what other people have had for breakfast’. So, before you post that update ask yourself who cares.
- Be relevant. If you post things which resonate, again ask yourself why people will read it and why
- Is it the right platform? There are many different social media platforms and it is important that you select the one which will reach the audience which you wish to reach in the format which they will engage with. E.g. if you want to engage businesses LinkedIn might be the best platform
- Is this the right audience? In order to ensure you are on the correct platform you need to think about whom your audience is and which platform they are using.
- Spell check, don’t use profanities, and don’t offend.
- Would you be embarrassed? Remember that once you post something you can’t ‘take it back’ and even if you post it on a ‘closed’ forum don’t post anything which you would not want anyone else to read.
- Don’t use abbreviations/jargon
- It is clear? – will people understand the point you are trying to make?
So now why not just have a go?
Catherine's Social Media Blog 