Blogging 101: Online Etiquette and PR Skills

Something that I keep coming across on social media is that some bloggers and creators lack online etiquette which can alienate other creators, a possible audience and brands. Online etiquette is mostly unspoken about rules which people have adopted online, such as typing in CAPS is seen as shouting and rude in some contexts. But for blogging there’s also expectations for behaviour which are usually not talked about when you read those “How to use Social Media to promote my blog” and “How to talk to PR/Brands”. So as an Influencer Manager in my day job, I’m here to give some helpful hints on how to improve your online etiquette and PR skills.

Online Etiquette on Social Media

First up we’re going to talk about how to act on social media. I’ve kept it quite broad to fit across Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and others depending which platforms you use.

Engage

The most important thing about social media is that you’re using it to enage with others and you’re not just advertising yourself all the time. People often choose to follow because they’re creating content that they enjoy and they can interact with, and there’s only so much interaction that can happen on links to your latest blog post. So add value to your content and your own brand by creating content for a platform which allows you to improve engagement with others on the platform too.

For example, Instagram is a visual based platform and so taking good photos with an interesting caption is more engaging than a screeshot of your latest blog post and “link in bio” being the caption.

You should also aim to follow up with those trying to engage with you on social media. If someone is asking questions, letting you know their thoughts or just responding to your content you should see if you can reply back to them (within context of course, girls – if a creepy guy keeps messaging you, you don’t need to reply!). Ignoring your audience can create a negative perception of you, which may reduce your following and audience for your blog.

Overall to engage you should aim to be transparent, honest, and postive where posssible – show you value your audience, encourage positive responses to you by engaging positively, keep momentum with timeliness of responses, do research on all the facts, try not to post facts that may be false, use a familiar tone of voice.

Professionalism

Whether you use a personal account or a blog/brand account for social media, you should be aiming for a certain level of professionalism. If you wouldn’t want an employer or a family member to see what you’re posting, why is that? And really question whether you should post it. This may also depend on your personal circumstances and your niche, if you’re reviewing smutty romance books then yeah you might not want your dad to see, but it’s not because the the content is bad. So use your best judgement.

Professionalism may also mean using the right language to fit your audience and those you work with, for example if your audience may include kids then you shouldn’t start swearing or use offensive language. In general offensive language may be harmful to your brand reputation, and as seen by many creators using it can come back to bite you even years later.

You should be respectful of other creators and always seek permission if you’re using another person’s work, and ensure credit and reference to the OG creator is given. If they don’t give you permsision, don’t use it. This is an extremely common online etiquette rule that I see missed, Pinterest and images from google are included in this.

Then finally, if you’re working with brands and sponsors you need to ensure you’re meeting guidelines on social media to disclose that to your audience. If you’re gifted a product, you need to disclose it, if you’re paid, disclose it and if you’re working with affliate links, promo codes or anything that links you to the company then disclose it. If you’re in the UK, read up on the ASA guidelines for creators before you work with brands.

Poor Etiquette

I’ve talked about what you should be doing on social media but here’s just some of the things you should NOT do:

• Spam links in replies
• Be abusive or prejudiced towards others
• Like all of someone’s posts in one sitting to get their attention
• Share sensitive information (doxxing is illegal)
• Follow and then unfollow when you don’t get followed back… and then following again
• Using the reply function with a completely unrelated blog post/product
• Be aggressive or bully others

PR Skills Over Email

Getting your online etiquette perfected means that if you want to work with brands, they’re not gonna red flag you and not work with you. So I wanted to quickly give some tips on how to act when you email brands too because having a basic understanding of PR skills is always helpful.

First up, if this is your first time speaking to a particular person then format your emails accordingly and keep it formal. Different PR people have different ways of working, so if they respond more casually you can tone down the formality later, but going straight in with casual and familiar may be inappropriate.

For emails you should also prepare a signature which gives your key details (name, website) but also links out to other platforms you use prominently like Twitter or Instagram. This makes it easier for the person on the other end to immediately find out who you are without having to go looking for those links. The amount of emails I’ve recieved where they haven’t put any links or even the name of their website or channel is shocking.

Then a continued relationship with a brand should stay professional. Don’t spam or pester someone if they don’t reply straight away, their jobs consist of a lot of moving parts which may keep them from their emails for a few hours or even a whole day at times. It’s okay to send a follow up email if you’ve not had a response in a few (working!) days, but don’t spam their inbox.