Top Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media

Recently, I was a co-host of a workshop for my local business association about how to be successful on social media in 2023. My co-hosts and I (who were both fantastic by the way!), talked a bit about the rights and wrongs of social media. I’ve talked a lot about consistency, targeting your ideal audience, and repurposing your content (because there is NEVER enough time to keep recreating all the things.) so today I’m putting together my best practices/dos and don’ts!

Do set goals. You have to know what you’re working towards - is it brand awareness? Lead generation? More speaking opportunities? Whatever you want to get out of your social media/marketing efforts, you need to be working towards something.

Do measure your progress towards your goals regularly. Are you trying to reach more people? Are you building brand awareness? How’s your reach? How’s your following? Social media is a long game but reviewing metrics regularly helps show the progress you’re making. Look at the increased reach and the increased engagement. Maybe you’re still waiting on traffic to increase but remember, first comes the audience, then comes the engagement, then comes the conversions.

Don’t focus on vanity metrics. What are vanity metrics? Likes. Views. Look at the meaningful engagement metrics like comments, clicks, and shares. Stop caring about how many followers you have, and look at how many profile views you get and how many people you’re reaching. Sure these metrics are good to look at it but they’re just one measure of success. Don’t base the success or failure of your marketing efforts on these metrics alone.

Do know who your audience is. You have to know who you’re marketing to before you’re marketing. Speak to them, their unique challenges, their pain points and add value. You need to give them the right information to help them make a decision.

Do plan your content. utilize a social media scheduler - whether Meta’s Content Studio or a tool like Loomly or Buffer, align your social media calendar with your other marketing efforts (emails, blogs, etc…) so you

Do be consistent. Post regularly. Whatever regularly looks like for you - whether it’s 1x per week or 5x per week. Choose your consistency and stick to it.

Do test things out. See what performs and what doesn’t. Platforms are constantly evolving, so experimenting with different tactics and content pieces can help engage your audience.

Don’t compare yourself. Listen - your competitors are NOT really your competitors. Chances are they have different audiences, different resources, or they could be at different places in their business. Comparison truly is the thief of joy so focus on YOU, your brand story, and your value, and be authentic!

Do use hashtags. There are a lot of “are they still relevant” questions going around. Instagram has said 6-10 hashtags is “optimal” however, you can still use up to 30. Hashtags are also a great way to join industry-relevant conversations. Utilizing hashtags helps, in the long run, increase exposure to not just new potential customers, but also industry peers.

Don’t post and ghost. Engagement is key! This helps create relationships and trust and helps gather valuable feedback! Respond to comments, answer questions, and share other content that could be helpful to your audience!

Do vary your content types. If you always do reels or static posts, try a carousel. If you’re constantly doing carousels, try doing a reel! Always do blogs? Take your blogs and turn them into an infographic or carousel post. We know that some content types perform better than others - reels get amazing reach and engagement, carousels typically get great engagement, but sometimes, keeping it short and sweet with a static post might be really impactful. You’ll never know unless you don’t vary your content types - repurposing content can help with this!

Don’t expect results immediately. Like any marketing, social media takes TIME. It’s a long game and with consistency, I tell my clients that we can start seeing results within the first 3 - 6 months. What do those results look like? Follower growth. Expanded reach. Engagement and eventually traffic and customers. Success does not happen overnight, nor should you expect it to. Even if you have a reel that goes “viral”, remember that’s not a marketing strategy.

Want to show up consistently online? Download our Free Content Planner to help you map out your social media content so you show up consistently and with a purpose to start getting real results from your social media.