The rules of etiquette of social networks are unwritten. It is difficult to understand them, because how to know: what are the rules, which of them should be blindly followed, and which can be ignored.

Kevan Lee is a member of the Buffer social platform. He researched that there is a set of basic rules for social networking, which most marketers agree with. Here are some of them.

1. As people say: a lot is not great. Distribute content several times a day, but take breaks for a few hours. Thoughtless distribution of several publications in a row will provoke your readers’ desire to unsubscribe from your page.
2. Try to respond to comments as soon as possible. One study found that 53% of people waited for an answer within an hour.
3. The art of hashtag or just know the measure. The Next Web recommends using an average of 1-3 hashtags. This rule is suitable for different networks.

But Kevan Lee’s team investigated: for Twitter it is optimal for 2 hashtags; on Facebook, hashtags can even hurt; Instagram pays the most attention when there are 11 or more hashtags in the post.

Do not be afraid – feel free to experiment with the number of hashtags. This way you will determine the optimal amount for you personally.

• Rule 80/20: first entertain your audience and inform them, and only then sell.
• When talking about your brand, use the word “we”. This is an effective strategy for companies. But if you mean a personal brand, it is better to use “I”.

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

Rules for Facebook.

• Never swear at your own posts. Thus, the content will reappear in the news feed will give an unpleasant signal that indicates some despair on your part.
• Do not post photos of your customers or employees without their written consent. But this can be seen as a violation of privacy.
• Don’t tag people or pages that aren’t relevant to your post. They receive notifications that they are mentioned in your post. Some marketers use this to draw attention to their content. Theoretically, this may work, but not really very politely.
• Do not ask for likes, comments and distribution. Facebook takes this into account when choosing what to show in the user’s feed. And believe me, this is not in your favor.

Google+ rules.

• Always “plus” users when commenting on their posts. This will help the authors to follow the conversation and besides it is just a good gesture.
• If you share a post, it is better to add your comment. It is a common practice for people to express their opinion on a certain topic and then spread someone else’s article under a horizontal line.
• Share “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 #tegdlaylaik. This will not make your publications less popular, but the brand will generally be perceived as less professional.
• Don’t teach too much at once. People don’t like it when their feed is completely in one user’s posts. There is no specific standard. Some brands fast 1-2 times a day, while others notice an increase in user activity after distributing 10 posts a day.
• Use hashtags. Hashtags will help increase the number of subscribers. It is best to use 11. One study found that the largest number of interactions in posts with 11 or more hashtags. Data is received from users with no more than 1000 subscribers. This group consists of accounts of those who have recently started Instagram or small business profiles.