5 Steps To Take Before You Post on Social Media

Keeping a steady stream of content available on your social media accounts is easier than ever. There are countless free tools you can use to keep social media from sucking all of the available hours out of your day. But before you start scheduling out updates, you need to ask yourself a few things before you post on social media.

5 Steps To Take Before You Post on Social Media

1. Read the article you are linking to.
Seems pretty obvious, right? Well, you would be surprised how many times people share articles without actually having read them. Sometimes the content has nothing to do with the description!

It does take an extra 10-15 minutes to actually read through the article you are sharing, but it’s worth it. If you don’t, you might be sharing a link to an article your company doesn’t even agree with.

2. Ask “Is this right for my audience?”
It’s really important to use social media to educate your customers and community with relevant information. Depending on the type of voice you have on social media, sprinkle in some fun information every now and then.

If you do post information from outside sources, make sure it’s in line with the content you are already sharing on social media. Here are some examples of how Twitter accounts can go awry.
3. Proofread your posts
While it does take some extra time, and sometimes an extra set of eyes, it is a crucial step to take before you post on social media. Grammatical errors and misspelled words only lower your credibility. If grammar isn’t your thing, have someone else in the office review your posts.
4. Test the links
It’s really easy to accidentally copy and paste the wrong link into a tweet, completely screwing up everything. It will also save you from being called out by your Twitter followers or Facebook fans.
5. Did you incorporate videos or pictures?
Visual content performs really well on social media. If you mention in your post to watch the video or get details from the image, you should probably include them or risk confusing the heck out of your followers.

When it comes to flubbing on the Internet, people have a hard time forgetting about what you did. You’ll be thankful you took those extra 10 minutes to think before you post on social media to save yourself from a lifetime of embarrassment.