10 Social Media Rules Worth Breaking

I didn’t set out to be a social media rule-breaker. I’ve always been more of a teacher’s pet type, honestly. But the more I get to know what some in the social media industry are pushing as doctrine, the more rebellious I get.

Social media guidelines are nice, but there’s no reason to accept them as gospel. Your brand isn’t average, so the average social media plan isn’t going to cut it. What works for a local brand may not work for an international one. What works for B2C may not work for B2B. You get the idea.

So with that in mind, here are 10 social media rules worth breaking – and what to do instead.

1. The best time to post is …

Plenty of studies will give you a “best time to post” figure. The best time to tweet is 5 pm because you’ll get the most retweets. No, it’s noon so you can get a higher click-through rate. And depending on which studies you read, you should either be posting on Facebook every 3 hours or every other day.

Instead of running around trying to plan your posts for industry averages, you’re better off determining the right timing for you. Experiment with Facebook posts of similar content at varying times on (try for the same day of the week if you want to be slightly more scientific about it) and then compare your traffic back to site, virality rate and engagement rate. Do similar exercises for frequency. Heck, on Twitter you can even post the same thing twice at different times and see which time sees a higher click-through rate. But now I’m skipping ahead to No. 7.

2. Be on every social network

Really? That sounds like a recipe for cross-posting disaster to me. While I’m all for using a service like KnowEm to lock down your brand name on services that matter to you, that doesn’t mean you have to be spending time on all these networks. Instead, get to know your customers and where they’re hanging out and talking. If they’re all on LinkedIn, why are you spending all your time on Pinterest? Good social media monitoring tools will let you find relevant conversations wherever they’re happening so you’re not chasing your tail on the wrong networks.

3. Respond to every comment and mention

I’m all for engagement and lively conversation, sometimes it’s important for a brand to know when to keep its virtual mouth shut. In cases where you’re getting abused or berated online, stay out of the fray for your own well-being as well as your brand’s. But the happier flip side of that coin is when you’ve built such a strong community that members are able to answer each other’s questions and drive the conversation on their own. If you’re lucky enough to be in that situation, you may find stepping back sometimes makes your community even stronger.

4. Follow everyone who follows you

Some people say this Twitter quid pro quo is just part of being polite online. I say there’s plenty of ways to use Twitter and while I respect anyone’s right to tweet Foursquare checkins all day long, that doesn’t mean I have to sign up to read them all. Social media for business is just that – for business. Follow accounts that provide you useful information and don’t apologize for it. Or if you really feel you must reciprocate, at least make liberal use of Twitter lists (don’t forget private lists, too!)

5. Ask for the action

You hear this all the time: If you want people to like the post, ask them. If you want them to share, suggest it. While I’m not opposed to this in moderation – say, asking Facebook fans to share a really important announcement – be careful with how often you’re doing it. Then make sure you balance it out with fun stuff and conversation with no ulterior motive. The same way you’d get fed up with a friend who’s always asking for help without giving you much in return, fans will get fed up with a brand taking lots and giving little. Don’t be that brand.