In the wake of the ‘How to be cool on Instagram and Snapchat, according to Teens’ article, I wanted to share a few tips on keeping a brand or business’ Social Media voice relevant for today’s audience.

1. Check your ratios

If you’re following 2,000 people on Twitter and have the same or less followers, it doesn’t seem genuine. However, the worse faux-pas here is if you have tweeted 11k times and only have 200 followers. That means nobody is listening and you talk too much. Refine your messaging and figure our who you’re trying to reach with your content.

2. No More TBTs

Nobody cares about ‘Throwback Thursdays’ anymore. They don’t offer any value and they’re boring.

3. Only Share the Highlights

If you’re at a work event, 1 post is plenty. If you’re hosting or speaking, get someone to take a really nice photo of you. If it’s blurry or the audio is bad, don’t post it. Photos of an over-head projected slide looks pretty lame. Take a moment to make your own text-over-graphic image to provide shareable content.

4. No Flash-Mobs, Harlem Shakes or Mannequin Challenges

Ok, let’s start with the Flash Mobs. The ‘random’ groups of people who would jump up and start dancing in a public place was fun back in the early 2000s. Now it’s not only unoriginal, but the amount of social media before hand tell everyone it’s going to happen. Doing these kinds of ‘viral events’ make your brand look desperate to stay in-touch. It’s not why your customers follow you.

5. Be a Force for Good

If you want to do something worth talking about, make a change for the positive. Have a company-wide initiative to help a cause or give to charity. Maybe single someone out who deserves a leg-up or a little help and make their day.

Companies like Nature’s Path Foods, with their support of the organic food industry, and WestJet with Christmas Miracles show that customers will get behind a brand that genuinely cares about the world and share the beliefs of their customers.

6. Share Other Content

Share content that your customers would find interesting and that represents your brand. Do you have like-minded brands in your conversation? Get some. They’re not your competition, they’re talking to the same people who are intelligent enough to see that a brand who share other brands’ content are confident enough in their product to share the limelight.

7. Know the Networks

Should you be using hashtags here? Are your images showing up in the right format or getting cut off in the preview? Each network has an entirely different audience, so cater your content to each one. For Instagram, share high quality, carefully arranged photos of your product or people using it. For Twitter, share links and quick updates.

8. Avoid the Stocky Stock Photos

Most stock photos, especially those with ‘young professionals’ stick out like a sore thumb. Nobody believes that those photos are a representation of your company, so don’t use them. Pay the money for better quality, or even better, take your own photos.

9. Use Real People to Sell your Products

Influencer marketing is huge. However, it can be easy to get people who endlessly post product photos to share a pic, without actually using it (I’m looking at you, KimYe). Use people with smaller, but real audiences. It creates a more trustworthy and genuine experience. Plus, your new brand advocates will be happy to talk about you and your brand beyond their social networks.

10. Be Real

Be transparent with your followers. If they ask a question, give the full answer, not a canned response. If you look like a bot, or reply with a copy/paste, customers will feel unvalued. Give the people who take the time to follow you and become potential customers or brand advocates something to believe in. Your social media is the voice of the company, treat it well and it can do amazing things to improve the bottom line.