NET-tiquette: The Don’ts of Social Media for Business

Social media is all the rage these days. However, it’s not only teenagers and college students that are chin-deep in tweets. Business professionals of all ages are utilizing social media to promote their businesses. The downside is that some professionals are being less than professional about what they post online. Here are a few guidelines for getting “Webby” with it:

Grammar Hammer- Don’t forget to use proper grammar online. Just because we all live in a fast-paced world, doesn’t mean we should throw grammar out the window. The Web is a more informal place but this is no excuse for not using the correct punctuation and spellings. There is nothing more baffling than receiving an email from a respected owner of a company and it reading like this:

“hi, good 2 see u last night. lets talk sometime over coffee. ttyl”

This doesn’t seem that professional, does it? Many successful business people send emails like this all the time. No capitalizations, periods, commas, apostrophes, etc. It makes people look less intelligent. You should always use complete sentences, spell check, punctuation, and proof your professional emails before sending them. Chances are if you are too busy to write a decent email, then you might be too busy to get a new client.

Think Before You Tweet- Alright, so your cat is sick and it’s raining outside. This doesn’t mean that the entire Web needs to know this. For business, Twitter can be a great tool but only if used in a smart way. Using Twitter to announce a press release, a new product, upcoming event is genius. Revealing to the masses what you ate last night, not so much. There are many workshops and presentations on how to use Twitter for business. If you are using Twitter right now for business and you have been tweeting about your personal life, the weather (unless that is your industry) or how jammed the Parkway East was this morning, it is time to rethink your Twitter approach.

Picture This- Once an image is on the Web, there is no way to recover it. Same goes for videos, audio files, etc. If you are a business professional, remember this rule: If you wouldn’t show it to your grandma, don’t put it online. Reputations can be tarnished by pictures and videos that reveal less than desired acts. Remember that one time you drank a bottle of wine and thought you were a butterfly? Well, the next door neighbor’s son does too because he took pictures, posted them on his Facebook page, and tagged you. Then, your boss saw it and suspended you for making the company look bad.

If you are in situations where people post images of you in comprised situations, ask them to remove them or untag yourself. If you are a young professional, make sure there are no keg party pictures of you during Rush Week floating around out there still. HR managers will find it.

For more information about social media, check out our latest presentation Social Media Revealed on SlideShare. Also, if you have a group or company that might benefit from a presentation like this, contact Heather Jewell at 724-430-0490 Ext. 204 to find out about our workshop series.