Facebook | Pinterest |Twitter | Instagram | Klout | Youtube | LinkedIn....the list goes on.

But whatever platform you're using, it's important to remember a few do's and don'ts, when social networking for business (and for personal!)....

DO YOUR HOMEWORK-

You need to know your audience or target market. If you are posting for a company you will probably know about the company and who it targets. But you also need to keep in mind what kind of people each social media site attracts so you target the right people and don't waste your time on a site that won't really gain you a sizeable audience. Trying to attract a variety of followers will hinder targeting efforts.

DO INTERACT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE-

Involving your audience gives your brand more of a personality. This is really important as it means more people will interact with you and then their audience will also see this and get involved which will gain you more followers.

DO CREATE AN ALL ROUND IMAGE FOR YOUR BRAND-

Repeatedly using the same logo on all of your social media sites will help create brand awareness. Phrases help people recognize brand traits and helps with building a personality for your brand. Using the same colour scheme and imagery throughout will also help your audience recognize your brand.

DON'T NEGLECT YOUR PAGE-

Your audience need to see regular activity on the page otherwise they will lose interest. I would recommend that a dedicated team member runs the social media page as social media takes up a lot of time and uses a lot of creativity. Simply posting when you feel like it will not do the job. A rota is always a good start. Giving yourself something to stick to is easy and it means your activity on the page won't slowly start to decrease. For example you may decide to tweet 4 times throughout each day.

DON'T ASSUME EACH SOCIAL MEDIA SITE IS SIMILAR-

All social media platforms are unique and so users have different experiences with each. For example, Twitter requires short, punchy statements as you have a letter limit, Pinterest and Tumblr revolve around images and Facebook is pretty much an all rounder but also great for event and campaign promotion.

DON'T GET TOO PROMOTIONAL-

If you only self-promote these posts will start to become ignored. Your audience don't want to feel as if you are forcing them into buying your product. Dedicating a certain amount of posts a day or week to self-promotion will help you maintain that need to tell the whole world how amazing your product is.

Happy Posting!!