How can you better ensure your social media efforts will help you reach your brand’s objectives in 2019?

Observe these dos and don’ts:

The dos:

1. Think before you post.

Think carefully about what you post on your personal social media accounts; this can affect how people view your company.

2. Let your voice be heard.

On your blog and social media channels, let your readers see your personality shine through.

3. Be real.

Show your audience that you have real people behind your logo - it will make it easier for them to relate to your brand.

4. Set realistic expectations.

Yes, it can help to build your brand reputation, generate awareness and increase visibility of your business.

5. Write for your readers.

Focus your content on what will help your audience and write it in a way that they will understand it.

6. Personalize your outreach.

Customers expect brands to tailor deals and discounts to their unique interests and needs. Consider embracing the potential of targeted advertising and retargeting campaigns on social media to cater to the demand for individualized content and offers.

The don’ts:

1. Don’t engage with haters, trolls, and other negative influences online.

Battling them is a lost cause. If you do, you’ll waste time, energy and creativity that you could be using to build your brand and better serve your customers.

2. Don’t try to be everywhere and do everything.

Not every social media platform will deliver results for your business. By trying to maintain too many channels, you’ll become overwhelmed and dilute your effectiveness on those that matter most.

3. Don’t post without proofreading.

If you publish posts with careless grammar and misspellings, it will reflect poorly on your brand.

4. Don’t ignore your followers’ questions, comments and messages.

Ignoring your audience is the fast track to creating hard feelings, missing opportunities and damaging your brand.

5. Don’t use AI as a substitute for human interaction.

Marketing automation saves time, but never use it as a replacement for person-to-person communication on social media. Your followers expect to develop a relationship with your brand, which can only be done if you’re genuinely engaged with them.

6. Don’t dwell too much on your competition.

Watching your competition is essential, but more critical to your success is developing your business and delivering excellent service to your customers.