The Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media Networking

Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook provide valuable opportunities to establish and strengthen your professional relationships and personal brand. Used strategically, they allow you to display your knowledge, skills, and achievements to a wide audience, connecting with potential mentors, partners, clients, and employers.  

However, without the right approach, social media activity can easily tarnish your reputation and hurt your chances of building beneficial contacts. Tact and discretion are key—you need to promote yourself with confidence and respect.  

Follow this essential etiquette guide covering the major dos and don’ts to network effectively online:  

Do: Craft a Strong Profile Summary  

Your LinkedIn headline and summary offer precious real estate to make an excellent first impression. Succinctly showcase your value proposition for your target audience using key achievements, skills, strengths and expertise. Display your unique personal brand with care–this section will set the stage for all further connections and opportunities.  

Don’t: Overload on Buzzwords  

While highlighting relevant key skills and competencies attracts opportunities matched to them, overdoing it with trending terms and buzzwords will simply dilute your true talents. Find the appropriate balance to reinforce your key abilities.  

Do: Expand your Connections Strategically  

Connecting to more profiles, especially decision-makers and influencers within your target industry, dramatically increases the power of your network. However, generic invitations en masse come across as insincere. Customize meeting requests to existing connections and new ones, referencing shared affiliations, interests, or contacts.  

Don’t: Aggressively Sell Directly  

Avoid overt product or service promotions and unsolicited sales pitches. Social networks foster relationships and community—not hard closing deals. Share useful insights, advice and news to provide value. Subtle mentions of your capabilities sprinkled organically over time receive better reception.  

Do: Join Targeted Groups  

Joining related industry or interest groups lets you monitor sector developments and trends closely while interfacing with highly relevant new connections. However, refrain from spamming groups with self-serving messages. Instead, share interesting articles, pose thoughtful questions and provide helpful answers to establish credibility.  

Don’t: Overpost Just For Numbers  

While increased activity and posting does boost impressions and metrics like your Klout score, less is often more regarding quality over quantity. Being everywhere constantly becomes more noise than signal. Restrict higher frequency posts to your core professional expertise and passion topics to strengthen perceptions of your knowledge depth.  

Do: Promote Your Published Content  

Publishing and sharing well-written articles, blog posts, white papers, videos, podcasts and presentations that provide valuable insights perfectly complements a social network presence. It verifies your subject mastery and thought leadership. Promote this solid evidence of your capabilities confidently across all networks.  

Don’t: Neglect Other Platforms  

While a rock-solid LinkedIn presence remains essential, exposing your brand on Twitter, Medium, Quora and niche networks expands reach exponentially. Just ensure branding and messaging consistency across networks—also, leverage options to redistribute existing created content easily across platforms.  

Do: Follow Industry Leaders  

Following recognized authorities, experts and influencers gets their attention while keeping up to speed on emerging developments—invaluable for staying professionally competitive. When possible, commenting on their posts intelligently highlights your capabilities to them and their extensive followers.  

Don’t: Stalk or Harass  

If someone does not reciprocate follows, connections, or messages on one or multiple attempts, avoid ongoing pestering. Balance reasonable persistence with consideration of networking etiquette and individual preferences or constraints. Heed signs you’re perceived negatively as a stalker!  

Do: Express Gratitude Publicly  

When colleagues, connections, or mentors support your initiatives, congratulate your achievements, or share your content, recognize their contributions publicly. Tagging and thanking them for endorsements nurtures reciprocal appreciation and loyalty in relationships – everyone values acknowledgment.  

Don’t: Burn Bridges  

Controversial hot takes, sarcasm and criticism have no place in cultivating beneficial professional relationships. Such posts online are extremely risky, nearly impossible to ever fully erase and permanently affect how others perceive your judgment, temperament and character. Vent frustration offline only.  

Mastering social media’s unwritten rules of tactful engagement leads to dramatically more fruitful networking. By showcasing your strengths with credibility while respecting boundaries, your connections expand exponentially. Implement these keys to effectively enhance your reputation and opportunities without digital disgrace.