The 10 Commandments of Social Media Etiquette

Social media is now woven into our lives whether we like it or not.   That being said, there are rules, etiquette per se, that we must observe.

There are rules for everything – how to act at a business dinner, how to behave during a business meeting, how to act in an office setting – and so forth.

So why should social media be any different?  Shouldn’t we observe certain rules when conducting business via social media?

I would like to share with you my 10 Commandments of Social Media Etiquette…

1. Thou shalt not spam.

Please, please, please do not post your link(s) all over my Facebook page. If you comment with a link to your site unsolicited, I will delete that comment. If you continually tweet me on how to get more Twitter followers, I will unfollow you. If you continue to send me unsolicited LinkedIn messages telling me how you can better my business, I will sever the connection.

2. Thou shalt not abuse Facebook group rules.

A biggie is no self-promotion in most groups. I have it in mine, and in fact, I had to ban a member for continually abusing this rule after being asked to stop.  You can listed as a spammer if you continue to violate this rule.

3. Thou shalt not add people to Facebook groups without their permission.

Enough said.

4. Thou shalt not post picture after picture after picture on Facebook, especially when it has nothing to do with your industry.

Yes, inspirational stuff is great but when you follow 10 people that post them every minute, it clogs your newsfeed and you start unliking or hiding them.

5. Thou shall follow all Terms of Service on all platforms.

If you don’t, don’t be surprised when your account is suspended or deleted.

6. Thou shall respond.

People want to be acknowledged. I read at 85% of posts on business Facebook pages go unanswered. Talk about missing the boat.

7. Thou shalt not steal other people’s pins on Pinterest.

Yes, it happens and it happened last week to a friend of mine. Someone had taken several of her pins and changed the information to make it look like theirs. My mentor Kim Garst recently blogged about this. You can read that post here.

8. Thou shalt not air one’s dirty laundry online.

Yes, I know it could be a stress release to post what you really think, but once you do, it’s out there for everyone to see. And it doesn’t look very professional.

9. Thou shalt not use foul language.

This should be common sense, however people will curse, harass, insult and defame others online. For the most part we are all adults here. We need to act like it. There is no place for foul language. Use it and I know you will be one less fan.

10. Thou shall have fun.

It’s SOCIAL media after all!  It’s a place for business to be conducted and friends and family to connect.

I’m sure this probably ruffled a few feathers.  I will be honest, I have at some point, broken my own rules.  Hey, we’re all human!

What social media rules do you have?  Comment below with some of your rules of social media etiquette!