{"id":1537,"date":"2019-11-08T15:53:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T15:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=1537"},"modified":"2023-10-18T17:35:36","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T17:35:36","slug":"how-to-stay-updated-on-social-media-best-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/how-to-stay-updated-on-social-media-best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Stay Updated On Social Media Best Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Before you walk through the door, check behind you to see if you should be holding it open for the next person. When you haven\u2019t received a response to your email message, your followup should begin with a gentle \u201cjust following up.\u201d If you need to reach out to a brand new customer or prospect, start the phone call by making it clear who you are and why you\u2019re phoning.<\/p>\n

These are all ways of communicating in which the etiquette or norms for demonstrating professionalism are already well established. On social media, however, things seem to be constantly changing, to the point it\u2019s not always easy for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to know how they\u2019re supposed to behave. <\/p>\n

Even though it\u2019s just one marketing channel among many, the stakes for getting social media best practices<\/a> wrong are high. The way you interact with customers and prospects on social media could have a bearing on how they perceive your brand \u2014 in good ways or bad. That, in turn, might influence how they respond to various attempts to capture them as leads for the sales team<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The other factor to keep in mind is that social media is not just a marketing channel. Services like Facebook and Twitter are also increasingly seen as a place where customer service issues can first come to light<\/a>, and where certain segments of your customer base expect to see their questions answered and their problems resolved. If you\u2019re not up on the latest social media best practices, retention rates may suffer and churn may increase. <\/p>\n

Although it would be great if every SMB could hire its own dedicated full-time social media manager, the reality is that these duties can be just one facet of several people\u2019s jobs. That means it\u2019s not just a matter of continuing to study social media and understand the most appropriate ways to use these tools. You also need to make sure other members of the team are kept up to date and trained as well. <\/p>\n

Thankfully, the information you need is often right in front of you: <\/p>\n

1. Become a subscriber, not just a customer<\/h2>\n

Whether you\u2019re spending hard cash on a social media service or not, you can still act like a paying customer by taking advantage of the many resources platforms often offer to encourage best practices adoption. As soon as you finish reading this post, for example, you should: <\/p>\n