Social Media Best Practices to Keep in Mind When Getting Ready to Post

1. Keep Your Posts Short and Sweet

Reading online is a very different experience from reading a book, newspaper or magazine. Most people actually just scan information online. This is especially true for social media posts. So, the shorter posts the better they are for the way people engage with social media.

Here are some guidelines for keeping it short and simple.

• Twitter: 71 – 100 characters
• Facebook: 40 – 119 characters
• Google+: 60 characters per headline

Sticking to these character counts will get you more retweets, likes, and comments.

2. Include a Link

Keep you social media audience asking for more by including a link with every social media post.

Social media platforms are great for driving traffic to your website. However, make sure the content you are linking is relevant and matches the context of your post. Also, have an easy way for your viewer to share that piece of content directly on the page—through a tool like AddThis Share Buttons—so that they don’t have to backtrack.

3. Pictures Are Worth a 1000 Words

We’ve all heard that pictures are still worth 1000 words! That applies to your social media posts. Posts with a photo are much more likely to grab the attention of your followers. According to Search Engine Journal, studies show engagement jumps when you include a picture or other visual with your post.

4. Be Social on Your Social Media Networks

Social media is all about being social which means it has to be a two-way effort. How do to do this?

• On Twitter, follow your followers and respond to their mentions.
• On Facebook, like and share posts of followers who frequently like and share your posts.
• On Instagram, respond to comments and @ tag friends on photos that are relevant to them.
• On LinkedIn endorse your connections and offer recommendations.

Keep in mind this is about building relationships. The takeaway here is treat social media as a way to interact with your community.

5. Posts Can Have More than One Life

Did you know that the average lifespan of a Facebook post is approximately 14 hours? A tweet has an average lifespan of just over 4 hours. And an Instagram photo’s lifespan is approximately 21 hours.

We know that posts die quickly on social media, and not all of your followers see all of your posts.

What does this mean to you? It means you can experiment a bit with your posts. Share the same article or graphic more than once but chance the message or the call to action. Also, try posting at different times of the day and on different days of the week to see what type of engagement you are getting.

Social media is a very dynamic environment so it’s the perfect environment for experimenting with your posts.

6. Post Consistently With Different and Interesting Information

Make sure that you’re leveraging the right social media channels for the content you plan on sharing. It’s just about selling, it’s about sharing diversified information that will be of interest to your audience.

Post regularly and consistently and mix it up with a combination of conversational, personal posts and promotional posts. Don’t be afraid to experiment and change up your posts. With time you will figure out what your growing community is interested in and you will nail the right combination.

By following these six simple best practices you’ll be on your way to becoming a social media expert, growing both follower counts and engagement levels.