We use social media to build relationships with Synergy users and the broader AEC community. Social media 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.
Basics
Synergy has a presence on most major social media platforms. Here are our most active accounts and what we usually post on each:
- Twitter: blog posts, industry relevant content from media channels, product news, employer brand content, life at Synergy, brand marketing, events, media mentions, evergreen content, recruitment posts.
- Facebook: some blog posts, employer brand content, life at Synergy, recruitment posts, major product news, events.
- LinkedIn: blog posts, industry business and technology news, product news, recruitment posts, media mentions.
- Instagram: employer brand content, our cool office, cool blog graphics and images, life at Synergy, events.
- Pinterest: Infographics, blog imagery mash ups, imagery calls to action for blog content, life at Synergy.
This activity is all managed by the marketing team.
Product-related enquiries from users and prospects on Twitter and Facebook are managed by the support team.
The following guidelines apply to all channels Total Synergy may use.
Guidelines
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.
Write short, but smart
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). Always try to include a link and an image.
- Facebook: no limit, but aim for one to two short sentences.
- LinkedIn: One or two sentences to set up the article. Often a strong quote is good to present a point of view.
- Instagram: no limit, but try to keep it to one sentence or a short phrase.
It’s OK to include one or two emoji if that’s your style and it’s appropriate. Don’t do it if it’s not. No more than 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’. Never use numbers and letters in place of words, like ‘4’ instead of ‘for’ or ‘u’ instead of ‘you’. It is OK to save characters by using single digit numerals instead of written numbers.
Engagement
Do your best to adhere to Synergy style guidelines when you’re using our social media channels to correspond with users. Use correct grammar and punctuation — avoid exclamation marks — use only one if you have to.
When appropriate, you can tag the subject of your post on Twitter or Facebook. 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 favourites.
- 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’
Hashtags
We employ hashtags deliberately. We use them to create searchable topics, to promote an event, or to connect our tweets with an event we’re at. Never use more that three hashtags on Twitter of Facebook. It is OK to use multiple hashtags to improve visibility of Instagram posts. Do not use current event or trending hashtags to promote Synergy.
These are hashtags we use deliberately:
- #MoreTimeForDesign — our core value proposition.
- #TeamTotalSynergy — our employer brand and team activity tag.
- #SynergyAEC — our conference and event tag.
- #SynergyTips — related to product tips.
Trending topics
Do not use social media to comment on trending topics or current events that are unrelated to Total Synergy.
Be aware of what’s going on in the news when you’re publishing social content for Total Synergy. During major breaking news events, we turn off all promoted and scheduled social posts. With international offices, our local country managers are responsible for ensuring this happens locally and globally as required.