Social Media Best Practice for Brands 2014

A survey by Disruptive Communications in the UK developed this Infographic which defines some strong guides for Social Media strategies. They surveyed obvious disconnects, what not do in social communications. However the responses provide some depth to these well known bugbears. Insights include updates shouldn’t be focused solely on “Sales”. Social media is a two way communication in real life, it is not a trade show. Personality means the introduction of product or services should be natural, not obvious. Also avoiding poor spelling and grammar – a clear sign not to outsource your social media posts overseas. However, this isn’t their first concern for 18-24 year olds (the twitter / SMS / invent your own sub-cultured acronyms to save characters and time… TL;DR (To Long ; Didn’t Read)… This age group is more concerned about frequency of brand posts, they want to stay connected to a brand they are following; Needy? Yes – but don’t over reach with your posts, keep them on brand character. Interestingly this demographic is picking up on spelling, but also they don’t want you trying too hard to be ‘funny’. Gender wise, all these factors came out about even in priority, showing irrespective if we are buying into stilettos or sneakers, our brands need to be communicating at the same level we would expect from our social circle.

The Survey listed what was most likely to damage a brand socially?
– Poor Spelling or Grammar
– Updates are too ‘Salesy’
– Trying to hard to be ‘Funny’
– Post updated too often
– Posts not updated often enough

Infographic from Distruptive Comms and their insights below;

“A lot of people talk about the need for brands to be less formal when they communicate through social media, but this survey shows that there is a danger in letting standards slip too far” – Lance Concannon, director of Disruptive Communications