SOCIAL MEDIA BEST PRACTICES

FoodShare SC should manage dayto-day social media content as well as responding to users in a timely manner.

Don’t

■ Guess on an answer to a question — it’s better to take your time to find the correct response than post the wrong one quickly.

■ Avoid negative responses; it is important to address every negative comment with a detailed response.

■ Say “I,” always say “we.” You are speaking from the voice of FoodShare SC.

■ Use poor quality images or video.

Do

■ Monitor social media daily.

■ Post content with an established cadence to engage the community. ■ Engage with (like, comment, share) users who post positive comments. ▷ You can do this daily or more, depending on volume of interactions.

■ Address any immediate complaints or inquiries. ■ Use an honest and grateful tone. ■ Use insights to track engaging content. ■ Hide and/or delete any inappropriate content or comments on your page. ▷ It may also be beneficial for FoodShare SC to post a policy regarding hiding and deleting content or comments on its website.

▷ For example: Comments posted to our social channels containing inappropriate content such as: violence, vulgarity, hateful content, profanity, sexual content, defamation, or any other comments FoodShare SC deems inappropriate. are subject to be removed from our page. ■ Identify trends to use for future content. ■ Triple-check grammar.

SOCIAL MEDIA BEST PRACTICES

Facebook: is best used for sharing status updates along with photos and videos. As the largest social media platform, Facebook is a great resource for advertising and lead generation that can be highly customized to specific audiences. It is also good for building relationships and turning leads into loyal followers and guests.

Facebook Best Practices:

■ Encourage open-ended conversation and draw out responses to boost engagement. ■ Use a photo or video in posts to garner engagement. ■ Hide and/or delete any inappropriate content or comments on your page. ■ Respond to inquiries as soon as possible with clear and concise responses. ■ Check-in on notifications to see who has been liking or sharing posts. ■ Comment, like and share posts from community partners who mention FoodShare SC. ■ When posting, use a full link to a specific page of the website (for example, “For more information, visit

FoodShare SC.org/plan-your-visit/”) Instagram: is an aesthetic platform used primarily for photos. Photos pleasing to the eye with a clear visual identity will get the best engagement on this platform. Instagram stories and live videos have also become popular on the platform.

Instagram Best Practices:

■ Stay mindful of the photos posted, “authentic” curated photos tend to gain more engagement. ■ Look out for visitor-tagged or user-generated content to share on FoodShare SC’ social media channels.

■ Always ask for permission and credit the original poster in copy. ■ Engage with any user comments. “Heart” and/or comment back to the user.

■ Follow community leaders and partners. ■ When posting, don’t include full links. ■ Instagram does not let you click on links in captions. ■ When needed, include the link in your profile’s “bio” and include “For more information, click the link in our bio.”

SOCIAL MEDIA BEST PRACTICES

Twitter: is a platform instrumental in keeping up with the latest trends and conversation related to a target audience. It also enables a brand to keep in direct contact with their audience making it easy to have interactions like answering questions or responding to feedback. It’s most beneficial for a brand to maintain an active presence when using this platform.

Twitter Best Practices:

■ Limit to 1-2 hashtags per Tweet. ■ Be conversational in your copy. ■ Keep your copy short and sweet. ■ Use images, GIFs and/or videos whenever possible. ■ Look out for mentions with user-generated content to share on FoodShare SC social channels. ■ Always ask for permission and credit the original poster in copy. ■ Engage with users, ‘like’ tweets and respond to mentions. ■ Follow community leaders and partners. ■ Retweet content about FoodShare SC. ■ Pin important tweets you want visitors to your profile to see first.