Social media has become one of the primary tools to communicate online. The growing community on social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram already reached millions or even billions. However, we also need to consider some steps on how to get respect from readers through social media etiquette. It is very important to mind the messages we post on the Internet.
12 Steps Checklist For A Good Social Media Etiquette (Part I)
I was able to impart this discussion with my fellow bloggers on a one-day seminar about basic tips on blogging and social media to achieve online success. Hence, I am now sharing with you the checklist I have collected about this topic.
But before that, please be reminded that these steps are the basics and might be simple for others to follow as the discussion is focused more on beginners. I also wanted to add up that this will be posted in two different parts. This is the first part.
1) Target a specific audience with the message. One of the things we need to consider in sharing our content is to identify the demographics of our readers (or our audience in general). There are tools available on how to get the report. A good example is the Insights on your Facebook Page (if you have one).
This blog is primarily about blogging tips, tech reviews, travel, food and some random stuff. These things are carefully planned out before I decided to launch the blog online. I even have little talks on fashion as one of the topics to feature due to the demographics report.
From the image above, it shows that 60% of my followers on Facebook are women. The 39% are men, and the 1% are possibly men but inactive or disengaged. However, even though there are more women followers, the men under ages 25-34 are those who are more engaged (do more actions on the page: clicks, shares or likes).
With the Insights tool on my Facebook Page, it helps me identify the distribution and sequence of my published posts.
Thus, I have concluded to have the need to balance out and alternate the contents I post. I need to publish topics that are relatable to both men and women readers.
2) Let your audience care about your message. My primary reason why I started blogging is to do what I love doing: writing; then came the add-ons of sharing positive information and good news and vibes. We also call that “social good”.
When we blog about things, always remember that we can build a community of online followers in the future. It may start with a small group of people (usually family members and close friends), but along the way, it will reach a lot of readers whom you don’t know personally, but will know things about you once they follow you online.
No matter what niche you have on your blog, it’s a must that we always think of the welfare of our readers. And besides, what we write will reflect who we are as a blogger and as a person. If we always post negative things online, it is not always true, but it can be seen as who we are.
Share something that people will love to read and will motivate and inspire them to do good things to others. We can also write something that can give something new to learn.
Of course, this is not only applicable to our blog post, but also with the messages we post on social media like Facebook and Twitter (since this is the main purpose of this discussion).
3) Avoid offending your audience with your content. As the saying goes, “Don’t judge them, you have no idea what their journey is all about.” This is very true to the majority of what we are surrounded right now. Well, in the social media, people thought they have all the right on what to say to other people. As a blogger, a beginner or a pro, probably we do the other way around.
Our readers are people, too. We might get “electronic” interactions, but behind the likes, shares, repost, and retweet are from readers who have human emotions, someone who has a journey that we have not been into. Not yet.
We may have the so-called “freedom of expression”, but this does not give us the freedom to hurt other people, especially our readers, through the ideas we share or post on our website/blog. Always make it to the point that our blog should be the source of something positive and motivating.
4) Consider if the message is appropriate to be publicized. It might be exciting for us to share everything with our readers online. Since our website/blog is our diary on the Internet, we have the tendencies to spill out confidential stuff. But always remember that the Internet is an open book and we don’t want random people to know things that should be kept hidden.
There are some things that we should not post on social media like home address, telephone and mobile number (unless they are being used for business), and other things. We don’t want people to stalk us and follow us back home, do we?
From the time I was able to build a huge number of following on my social media accounts and for my other blog, cebufinest.com, I have some experiences that I am hoping won’t happen to you. I have discussed that on my previous blog post (Read: The Pros And Cons of Being A Blogger)
Just remember that your readers will still love you and read your blog even though you don’t give them your home address. Trust me.
5) Mind the frequency of your sharing. It really depends on how often you post a new entry on your blog. But if you really wanted to have your readers interact with a specific post on your website or on your Facebook Page, you need to at least give them time to read your most recent post and let them discuss what they think about it through commenting or sharing on social media.
Keep in mind as well that for readers to be notified of your latest blog post, they need to subscribe. These notifications will be displayed on either their accounts or in their email. You don’t want to flood them with notifications because of that.
If you schedule your publishing, it gives your readers time to wait and would also let them wait for excitement. But then again, it really depends on you and for any advice, just let them know that you are a “daily blogger”.
6) Spellcheck. This is also important in so many ways. You also need to be considerate with spelling and grammar. When you check your spelling and grammar before finalizing your content and publishing it online, it gives an impression to your readers that you really have spent enough time to think about your post and you are serious about what you are doing as a blogger.
I have a short discussion about minding your grammar on your blog from my previous post.
ALSO READ: 3 Easy Tips To Achieve The Ultimate Blogging Goals
I am currently using an app from Grammarly.com to help me check my grammar and spelling. You can install the plugin for FREE on your Google Chrome browser. Once activated, it checks your grammar and spelling while you are typing and it’s real time.
That’s the end of Part I of Episode 3 of our Blogging 101 Series. Please check my blog from time to time for the continuation and the last part of this discussion.
If you want to read the other parts of the Blogging 101 Series, check the menu tab on the top of this website or click here.
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