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Writing for Social Media |
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We use social media to build relationships with MailChimp users and share all the cool stuff we do. But it also creates opportunities to say the wrong thing, put off customers, and damage our brand. So we’re careful and deliberate in what we post to our social channels. This section lays out how we strike that delicate balance.
MailChimp has a presence on most major social media platforms. Here are our most active accounts and what we usually post on each:
- Twitter: Product news, brand marketing, events, media mentions, evergreen content, “we’re hiring!” posts
- Facebook: Product news, brand marketing, events, media mentions, evergreen content, “we’re hiring!” posts
- LinkedIn: Product news, recruiting content, media mentions, evergreen content
- Instagram: Design outtakes, cool office visitors, life at MailChimp, cool stuff we made
These channels are all managed by the marketing team. We also have a few team-specific accounts on Twitter, Tumblr, Dribbble, and other platforms. The guidelines in this section apply to all of MailChimp's channels.
Our writing for social media should generally follow the style points outlined in the Voice and tone and Grammar and mechanics sections. Here are some additional pointers, too.
Some social media platforms have a character limit; others don’t. But for the most part, we keep our social media copy short.
- Twitter: 125 characters or less (this leaves room for a manual retweet and comments)
- Facebook: No limit, but aim for one to two short sentences.
- Instagram: No limit, but try to keep it to one sentence or a short phrase. Feel free to throw in an emoji or two.
To write short, simplify your ideas or reduce the amount of information you’re sharing—but not by altering the spelling or punctuation of the words themselves. It’s fine to use the shorter version of some words, like “info” for “information.” But do not use numbers and letters in place of words, like “4” instead of “for” or “u” instead of “you.”
Do your best to adhere to MailChimp style guidelines when you’re using our social media channels to correspond with users. Use correct grammar and punctuation—and avoid excessive exclamation points.
When appropriate, you can tag the subject of your post on Twitter or Facebook. But avoid directly tweeting at or otherwise publicly tagging a post subject with messages like, “Hey, we wrote about you!” Never ask for retweets, likes, or favorites.
- Yes: “We talked with @lauraolin about turning her awesome emails into a book. http://blog.mailchimp.com/how-laura-olins-emails-got-her-freelance-work-and-a-book-deal”
- No: “Hey @lauraolin, can you RT this post we wrote about you? http://blog.mailchimp.com/how-laura-olins-emails-got-her-freelance-work-and-a-book-deal”
We employ hashtags rarely and deliberately. We may use them to promote an event or connect with users at a conference. Do not use current event or trending hashtags to promote MailChimp.
Do not use social media to comment on trending topics or current events that are unrelated to MailChimp.
Be aware of what’s going on in the news when you're publishing social content for MailChimp. During major breaking news events, we turn off all promoted and scheduled social posts.