Remain human. To me, that’s one of the golden rules of social media. Too often, I see posts by individuals, companies, or organizations that are one-sided efforts to push their message. Even when it’s a company with a product, there’s still an individual or group that is behind the company—and it’s important to let that human element come through.
It’s never a good sign when you visit a company's Facebook profile or Twitter and there is zero interaction. I was looking at a businesses' Facebook page just the other day and noticed there was a decent amount of posts by individuals on a company’s page. Some were questions ranging from "What are your hours?" to "I love your store." Not one of these had a reply of any kind. Not even a like to acknowledge the post.
The individual behind the business's Facebook page had to see the posts when they logged on—the little red notification would have alerted him or her. It's also worth noting the individual behind the page has been posting daily about what's new in the store and the latest sale. So why wasn't anyone responding?
One theory based on their post history is that the individual is too focused on pushing the business. Nine out of ten posts were related to the product—and that’s bad etiquette. Every company has a product or service. Not every company shares their story and interacts with their audience. Too often, a company focuses too much on converting their audience into customers and not enough on the conversation.
So remember—it’s all about remaining human. No one likes to be ignored. It's sometimes impossible to respond to every interaction, but an effort to acknowledge the interactions should be made. This is how you truly build a following. And not just a following, but a following that cares about your offering.