Recently a good friend of mine and a long time client of Mysticmedia.com provided to me via email a list of "Do's and Dont's" for social media marketing and asked for my thoughts on each of the items. He also provided the list to 2 other members of his business's marketing team and asked the same from them. Of special value was the opportunity to see how each of the recipients replied to the items on the list. 3 marketing professionals all dedicated, skilled and successful in their respective business and each with unique thoughts on a basic list of social media marketing "Do's and Dont's".

Based on the experience, I am sharing the list and my thoughts with an eye toward the post being a catalyst for thought and perhaps for an exchange of ideas. Where the other respondents' thoughts were different than mine I have included them in Bold Italics.

✓ Do : Post frequently, ideally, at least once a day on most platforms. My Thoughts: Agreed - I recommend at least twice a day as a minimum, including re-posting others content that you believe to be valuable to your audience. Others' Thoughts - The other respondents thought it wise to post at most once a day or less ----------------------------------------------------- ✓ Do : Use each platform for their best use, e.g., LinkedIn for business networking, Facebook for social engagement, etc. My thoughts: Agreed. The top tier of Social Media platforms each has their unique intended use. An optimal campaign will leverage the differences. LinkedIn, for example is the wrong place for funny memes and office party pics. -----------------------------------------------------
✓ Do : Mostly post content that your audience cares about: your community, your people, your customers and solutions to common problems. My thoughts: Agreed -----------------------------------------------------
✓ Do : Use a ‘posting formula’ that emphasizes posting personal stories and items of human interest over self-promotion. My Thoughts: Interesting suggestion. We recommend 80% valuable information (soft marketing) and 20% hard marketing (and test the results). Personal stories can be valuable to businesses with specific personas. For some business to business professional services clients I recommend that the persona by emphasized in the style of the posts rather than via personal stories.
Others' Thoughts: No posts should utilize hard marketing -----------------------------------------------------
✓ Do : Post images and video frequently. My Thoughts: Agreed -----------------------------------------------------
✓ Do : Be ‘authentic.’ My Thoughts: ABSOLUTELY! -----------------------------------------------------
✓ Do : Attempt to engage your audience, occasionally asking questions or seeking opinions. My Thoughts: AGREED. As you may note from my blog stories and Quora responses, testing, including asking for audience feedback is crucial to a well planned and optimally delivered campaign. In addition, engagement communicates trust in your audience's thoughts and warmth in your relationship with them. -----------------------------------------------------
✓ Do : Commit to engaging on other people’s posts, e.g., liking, sharing, commenting. My Thoughts: Agreed. The company you keep, including what you like and share, is a demonstration of your values. -----------------------------------------------------
✓ Do : Re-purpose and re-share previous popular content. Change it enough to keep it fresh. My Thoughts: Agreed -----------------------------------------------------
✓ Do : Respond immediately and positively if you get a negative comment on a social site. My Thoughts: Immediately without question, what qualifies a "positively" may be subjective. This article over on Linkedin explains my thoughts on how to respond to negative feedback: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-should-our-business-react-negative-feedback-social-jim-moore/ -----------------------------------------------------
✓ Do : Make sure that whoever posts for you fully understands and represents your brand and values. My Thoughts: Agreed -----------------------------------------------------
✓ Do : Save time by using a social media scheduling app. My Thoughts: Agreed! I like Buffer the best of the application with which I have experimented. My daily task schedule directs me to buffer first thing in the morning :-)
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✓ Do : Consider using a ‘social media budget’ that allows you to test various forms of paid advertising and ‘boosting’ of popular posts. (Note: most marketers report a progressive decline in the reach of non-paid, organic posts on Facebook.) My Thoughts: Agreed -----------------------------------------------------
✓ Do : Experiment with existing and emerging features that you haven’t tried before, e.g., live video, etc. My Thoughts: Agreed -----------------------------------------------------
✘ Do NOT : Use social media to ‘sell.’ That’s not why your followers are on social platforms. My Thoughts: Somewhat agree. As mentioned above, I recommend not exceeding 20% hard marketing in SM postings. This another case where testing may reveal the optimum mix of hard/soft marketing (and it is all marketing) for a specific business. I recently asked a medical equipment client: "Do you intend to provide your audience value with your SM Posts?" He answered "Yes". I responded to him with the question "Do you believe that your goods and services provide value"? Others Thoughts: Agreed with the "Do NOT" and never utilize Social Media posts for selling. -----------------------------------------------------
✘ Do NOT : Try to trick your audience.
My Thoughts: ABSOLUTELY -----------------------------------------------------
✘ Do NOT : Set unrealistic expectations about getting new business or selling more insurance from social media. My Thoughts: Intend to provide value in every action including your social media activities :-)
Credits: The original "Do's and Dont's" list was written by Agency Revolution - a great independent insurance agency marketing platform.