The power that social media possesses is simply immense. The things that it can do for you and for your business are just so many. What makes things even spicier is the fact that you have so many options of platforms to select from. It does not matter whether you are into video and photography or you are all about literature- there is always a platform for you to take advantage of. The likes of Instagram and YouTube make for sites where you can post your videos and pictures. There is Twitter and Facebook. Opportunities abound- that’s all that can be said.

However, you need not be told that you should be careful on social media platforms. There are so many things that you need to train yourself on when it comes to the use of social media. There are rules and regulations that you need to abide by if you are going to be successful in using social media to market yourself. These rules might come off as a bit silly but with the internet, everything sounds casual until you discover how much weight it carries.

Abide by these rules

If you want to be successful in managing your social media marketing campaigns and such activities then you will make sure that you live by the following commandments:

1. Quality

Please make sure that your content is of premium quality. If you are posting a video on YouTube, make sure that it is of the best quality. Perhaps it is photographs that you want to upload on Instagram for your fashion blog, ensure that they are of premium quality. Quality is the mother and father of success on the world wide web. You can never get away with having poor-quality posts on social media.

It is not only about the social media posts, you have to ensure that the content on your website is good as well. Click-baiting is one of the worst things that you could possibly do. This is where you get people to click on your posts only to discover that they have been lied to. For instance, you might find a link on Facebook reading something like “Beyonce procures an abortion.” Surely this will get your attention if you are a huge fan of Beyonce. This is scandalously hot news and you click on the link only to find out that Beyonce is acting in a movie where she procures an abortion. You do not want to be murdered on social media now, do you?

2. Understand your online clientele

Understanding a bit of the psychology of social media users is of great importance. You do not want to go posting things online when people are not online. The best times to post items on social media are the hours between six and nine in the morning. At this time people are stuck in traffic heading to work and school. During lunchtime, they are looking for some amusement so you can post something else. When they are stuck in traffic on the way home you can post several items and share them on social media.

With companies becoming more serious about time people are limited to the amount of time they can spend online. There are awesome systems for employers to track employee time without manually recording worksheets and all. Clockspot is one of these systems. Since employees know that they are being tracked, they make sure that they spend more of their time actually working. Gone are the days when 99% of office time was spent on Facebook.

3. Give your posts some focus

You do not need to be told that people on social media are looking for straightforward information. It is more beneficial if you pay attention to one thing. Perhaps you have business goals that you want to meet within a specific time, this rule is the one you should attend to most. Since there is a time limit to be met it helps a lot if you maintain all your social media accounts on one specific thing. You will be able to get a lot more work done than if you become a jack-of-all-trades who gets nothing completed. You are not targeting all Twitter users. You are not selling everything and so focus is important for your posts to be successful.

4. Acknowledge others and reciprocate

If there is something you cannot afford to be on social media, it’s a snob. When someone sends you a personal message, even if it is not really associated with your products, it is important to acknowledge their online presence. Try as much as possible to build relationships and networks. This will help to boost your success on social media especially where marketing is involved.

Secondly, you should reciprocate what others do for you. This rule operates on the proverbial- do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Do you want people to share your posts but you do not share theirs? That will never happen. As a matter of fact, there is a habit on Twitter and Instagram- if someone follows you and you do not follow them back, they will unfollow you. Take a few minutes and share content that has been published by other people. A few moments of talking about what others have done online is going to help your social media marketing a lot.

5. Be accessible and be patient

Finally, you should be very patient. Social media users will take time to warm up to you. Do not expect that you will get a thousand views on your YouTube video after two hours. Even Madonna does not do that nowadays. However, with time this can be possible. Give people time to know that you exist. Be accessible by posting frequently and availing yourself of conversations (forums and inbox chats).

Conclusion

There are so many things that you can do to boost the health of your social media marketing campaigns. However, if you want to be successful there are some rules that you will have to live by. The above are the five most important rules of social media marketing.