Social media etiquette

Social media etiquette refers to the guidelines that companies and individuals use to preserve their reputation online.

As social media channels have evolved to become one of the primary ways people communicate in the modern world on a daily basis, typical social rules are finding their way into digital environments.

Just as social etiquette dictates how people behave around others in the real world, social media etiquette revolves around online guidelines to follow.

The basics of social media etiquette

The demands of social media etiquette differ from one platform to the next. For example, reposting someone’s content on Instagram requires much more care than retweeting someone on Twitter.

On the flip side, there are some basic dos and don’ts that essentially apply to all platforms:

Why is social media etiquette important?

Organizations can’t just delete messages that generate poor reactions anymore. A single mistake can make or break a business.

Social media etiquette is often baked into the rules of a social media policy for modern brands. This policy usually shares a complete code of conduct for anyone who interacts with a social channel: