The rules of social media etiquette are unwritten. It can be difficult to understand them, because you don't know what rules even exist, which ones you should blindly follow, and which ones you can ignore.

Kevan Lee is an employee of the social platform Buffer. He has found that there is a set of basic rules for social media that most marketers agree with. Here are some of them.

1. As the saying goes: too much is not healthy. Share content several times a day, but take breaks of several hours. Thoughtlessly sharing several posts in a row will make your readers want to unfollow your page.
2. Try to respond to comments as soon as possible. In one study, it was proven that 53% people wait for a response within one hour.
3. The art of the hashtag or just know the measure. The Next Web recommends using 1-3 hashtags on average. This rule applies to different networks.

However, Kevan Lee's team has found that Twitter is best served with 2 hashtags; on Facebook, hashtags can even be harmful; on Instagram, people pay the most attention when a post has 11 or more hashtags.

Don't be afraid - feel free to experiment with the number of hashtags. This will help you determine the optimal number for you personally.

• The 80/20 rule: entertain and inform your audience first, and then sell.
• When talking about your brand, use the word "we". This is an effective strategy for companies. But if you are referring to a personal brand, it is better to use "I".

These are general rules that apply to all social networks. But now we're going to talk about specific rules for Facebook, Instagram, and Google+.

Rules for Facebook.

• Never like your own posts. This way, the content will reappear in the news feed, giving an unpleasant signal that indicates some kind of desperation on your part.
• Do not publish photos of your customers or employees without their written consent. This can be considered a violation of privacy.
• Do not tag people or pages that are not relevant to your post. They get a notification that they are mentioned in your post. Some marketers use this to draw attention to their content. Theoretically, this can work, but in reality, it's not exactly polite.
• Don't ask for likes, comments, and shares. Facebook takes this into account when choosing what to show in a user's feed. And believe me, it doesn't work in your favor.

Rules for Google.+.

• Always "like" users when you comment on their posts. This will help authors follow the conversation and is just a nice gesture.
• If you are sharing a post, it is better to add your own comment. It is a common practice for people to express their opinion on a particular topic and then share someone else's article under the horizontal line.
• Share in "circles" to target content. This is a way to share material with a specific group of people.

Rules for Instagram.

• Don't ask people to follow you and don't use hashtags like #ag for likes. This won't make your posts less popular, but it will make your brand look less professional overall.
• Don't post too much at once. People don't like it when their feed is full of posts from one user. There is no specific standard. Some brands post 1-2 times a day, while others notice an increase in user activity after sharing 10 posts a day.
• Use hashtags. Hashtags can help you increase the number of followers. It is best to use 11. One study showed that posts with 11 or more hashtags have the highest number of interactions. The data was obtained from users with no more than 1000 followers. This group consists of accounts of those who have recently started Instagram or small business profiles.