15 Tips for Social Media Etiquette

Since many employers today search for applicants' social media profiles, it is important that your content is clean, appropriate and representative of yourself.  You should never publish anything that you would not be okay with everyone you know reading.  You never know who is looking at your profile and you must be aware of this when you are about to post something.  Once something is on the Internet it is there forever- so make sure you understand and think about that before you hit publish!

Here are 15 tips to help you maintain a positive presence across various social media platforms:

1. Never post in the heat of a moment, when you’re overly tired, upset, angry or intoxicated.  This is dangerous!  Never react when you are not in the right state of mind.  Give things some thought before putting it in writing for the world to see. 
2. When you are publishing posts make sure you are okay with the possibility that any one and everyone is seeing it.  In other words, don’t post anything you wouldn’t want employers or your boss to see.  
3. Do not use inappropriate, discriminatory or derogatory language.  This really discredits your character and not only does it turn off employers, it can offend your followers or friends. 
4. Only connect with people you know, not strangers.  It is more valuable to have people that you actually communicate with in your network. 
5. Don’t get too personal.  Some things should stay private and some things are better off left unsaid. 
6. Be truthful and fill out profiles to the fullest extent.  Never try to be someone you're not and always post information that reflects your own views.  Also, do not exaggerate your qualifications on LinkedIn. 
7. Use an appropriate picture that bests represents you.  Across all social media channels, you should have an appropriate photo.  No cleavage or alcohol in hand. 
8. Edit settings on Facebook for Timeline Review so that whenever someone tags you in a photo or status, you can approve or deny it before it gets shared for all your friends to see.  This helps stay in control of what is available for viewing by your friends and what you want to allow or not allow others to see. 
   
9. Use proper grammar and spelling on all sites.  Just because you're not writing a professional email or report does not mean you can write poorly.  Set an example and use proper grammar.  Posts will look cleaner, be understood by more people and help credibility and instilling a positive reputation.
10. Use hashtags well.  Do not use too many.  Only use hashtags that are relevant and helpful to your credibility, growth and recognition. 
11. Keep things positive!  Your tone is significant.  People don’t like negativity.  Use social media as a platform to be positive and engage in purposeful, fun conversations. 
12. Avoid posting about controversial topics or engaging in a conversation that may lead to an argument.  It’s obviously important to have your own views and strongly believe in them, but there is no need to put it on the web for the world to see.  It’s not worth it.  You never know, that one negative comment could go viral (which would not be good in this case)! 
13. Don’t over share or over post. People don’t want to see 20 tweets within two hours from you. If they do, they will most likely unfollow or unfriend you after awhile.  A few posts a day at most is ideal.
14. Be respectful. Treat people correctly.  If someone sends you a nice comment, reply and thank them. Exercise the same etiquette on social media that you would through email. 
15. Stay away from multi-channel connections/automation.  For example, do not connect your Facebook and Twitter. Facebook posts can be too long and tweets are too short and sometimes include mentions that do not convert well on Facebook.  They are two different sites for a reason so use them differently. 

Happy posting!