Social Media Do’s and Don’ts for Running Your Online Business or Brand Presence

In the digital economy, your brand doesn’t just live on your website. It breathes across screens. It shows up in reels, threads, DMs, carousels, captions, comment sections, and newsletter intros. Social media has become not only the first touchpoint but also surveys, knowledge base for customers and partners, surveys and customer support for B2B brands.and customer support line for B2B brands.

But with all the noise, trends, and algorithm changes, it’s easy to lose sight of strategy. You can have amazing products or services, but if your social presence is weak, sales leads will slow, opportunities will shrink, and your brand authority will fade. We help prospects get unstuck at any stage. 

Here’s what B2B businesses need to know — and avoid — to keep their social media presence purposeful, human, and generate revenue.

The Do’s: Build with Intention

1. Define a Clear Brand Voice

Your voice is the personality behind your posts. B2B doesn’t mean boring. Whether your brand is polished and authoritative or warm and insightful, it needs consistency. A 2022 Sprout Social report found that 34% of consumers say a distinct personality helps a brand stand out on social (Sprout Social, 2022).

That voice should show up in your captions, replies, LinkedIn articles, and even your emoji choices. If your tone shifts from formal on Monday to Gen Z humor by Friday, it creates cognitive dissonance. Consistency builds trust.

Pro Tip: Build a tone guide and keep it handy for anyone posting on behalf of the brand. 

We’ve developed everything from employee handbooks and creative manifestos to brand campaign playbooks tailored for local markets. Equinox Digital provides multilingual communications in English, French and Spanish, helping global teams show up consistently and convert with confidence.

2. Prioritize High-Value Content Over Virality

Chasing trends won’t help if the people viewing your viral reel never become customers. Instead, prioritize helpful, relevant content. According to HubSpot’s 2023 State of Marketing report, educational content consistently performs best for B2B marketers, leading to higher engagement and trust.

Answer the questions that lead your audience to the right solutions and product recommendations. Break down industry myths. Share frameworks, case studies, or client transformations. People will remember how you made them smarter.

Think: What pain points are you solving? What insights can only your brand provide?

3. Leverage Platform-Specific Strategies

LinkedIn is not Instagram. And TikTok is not Twitter. Each platform has its own native tone and behavior patterns. Research shows that tailored messaging improves engagement rates by over 40% (Content Marketing Institute, 2021).

LinkedIn is ideal for thought leadership, brand positioning, and connecting with decision-makers.

Instagram shines for storytelling, behind-the-scenes, and community building.

YouTube or IG Reels, TikTok are ideal for explainer content, FAQs, and showcasing your team’s expertise with a human face.

Respect the medium.

4. Use Data to Inform, Not Control

Lead with a data-informed strategy, but don’t let metrics overshadow customer insights. Social media insights, such as impressions, reach, saves, clicks, and DMs, can help you identify what’s working. But they shouldn’t override brand vision or core messaging.

A study by Deloitte emphasized that brands that balance data and human storytelling outperform their competitors in long-term customer loyalty and revenue (Deloitte Digital, 2022).

Track your top content, but build a long game.

5. Engage Like a Real Person

No one likes a brand that only shows up to talk about itself. Comment on other people’s content. Reply to DMs with voice notes. Re-share your clients’ wins. Engagement is not a one-way street.

Relationship-first strategies lead to better client retention and word-of-mouth growth, especially in service-based and B2B markets (Forrester, 2023). At Equinox Digital, we help clients listen smarter through social listening, media analysis, and brand monitoring, so they can show up where it matters. One of our clients, a government agency, achieved the highest share of voice among competitors in B.C., clear proof that their media outreach and high-quality news releases are driving meaningful impact.

Remember: People follow people, not logos. Humanize the brand.

The Don’ts: Avoid the Traps That Stall Growth

1. Don’t Treat Social Like an Afterthought

This is the most common mistake we see. Social media isn’t “just content.” It’s your brand’s front-facing engine of visibility, trust, and leads.

A recent McKinsey study found that 76% of B2B buyers now expect the same kind of experience they get from consumer brands: fast, friendly, and digitally fluid (McKinsey & Company, 2022). If your last post was two months ago or your visuals are inconsistent, you’re leaving money on the table.

Invest in it like a business asset, not a side task.

2. Don’t Post Without a Strategy

Content without strategy is like throwing spaghetti at a wall and hoping for Michelin stars. You need clarity around:

• Your audience personas

• Your content pillars

• Your call-to-actions (CTAs)

• Your content cadence

• Your lead generation flow

Posting just to “stay active” is not enough. Your content needs to be part of your conversion funnel, guiding viewers toward contact forms, calls, downloads, or signups.

Without a funnel? You’re just entertaining. Not converting.

3. Don’t Obsess Over Vanity Metrics

Yes, likes and shares feel good. But they don’t always translate to business value. A post with 40 likes but 6 inbound DMs or 2 discovery calls booked is way more powerful than one with 2,000 likes and zero leads.

Start measuring impact in more nuanced ways:

• Quality of engagement

• New connections or warm leads

• Time spent on content

• Inbound email or form activity

This helps your team focus on the right KPIs. It also keeps morale grounded when the algorithm gets unpredictable.

4. Don’t Ignore Visual Consistency

Even the best captions can’t save a feed that looks like a Pinterest board gone rogue. Brands with consistent visual design across channels can increase revenue by up to 33%, according to a Lucidpress brand consistency study (Bynder, 2021).

If your Canva templates are mismatched or your colors change every few weeks, people won’t remember you. Worse, they won’t trust you.

Actionable Fix: Use brand kits, locked templates, and a shared asset folder.

5. Don’t Over-Automate or Over-Outsource

Yes, automation tools are helpful. And yes, you can outsource social media. But too many brands disconnect from their voice and culture in the process.

Social media isn’t just a task to check off. It’s a relationship builder. The moment your posts start sounding like a robot, your trust erodes. According to Edelman’s Trust Barometer (2024), 67% of B2B buyers say a brand’s authenticity and transparency is more important than product specs when making purchase decisions.

You can’t fake human. Whether you automate or delegate, stay involved in the narrative.

Equinox's Strategic Framework: How We Do It Differently

At Equinox Digital, we don’t believe in content for content’s sake. Every post, reel, or caption exists to:

1. Elevate your expertise

2. Build long-term equity in your brand

3. Convert curiosity into clients

We use a four-pillar framework for B2B social success:

1. Visibility

Can your ideal clients see you? Are you showing up consistently and clearly on the right platforms?

2. Credibility

Are you building thought leadership through valuable content that teaches, not just sells?

3. Personality

Does your content sound like a human, not a corporate playbook?

4. Conversion

Do you have a pathway from discovery to lead? Is it obvious what action a client should take next?

This strategy sits at the intersection of growth psychology, design, data, and storytelling, and it’s how we’ve helped brands scale with integrity.

Final Word: What You Put Out Builds What You Get Back

Social media is not a silver bullet. It’s a mirror. If your energy is inconsistent, transactional, or inauthentic, your audience will feel that. If you treat it like a place to genuinely connect, teach, and share your mission, you’ll build a loyal community that becomes a client base.

The brands winning in 2025 aren’t the ones with the most followers. They’re the ones with the deepest resonance.

And that’s what Equinox Digital is here to help you build.

🔵 Book a free strategy session: equinoxdigital.ca/contact

References

Bynder. (2021). The state of branding. Retrieved from https://www.bynder.com/en/state-of-branding/2021/ 

Content Marketing Institute. (2021). B2B Content Marketing: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends. Retrieved from https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/

Deloitte Digital. (2022). The human experience: Quantifying the value of empathy. Retrieved from https://www2.deloitte.com

Edelman. (2024). Edelman Trust Barometer: B2B Edition. Retrieved from https://www.edelman.com/trust/barometer

Forrester Research. (2023). B2B Customer Engagement Trends. Retrieved from https://go.forrester.com/

HubSpot. (2025). State of Inbound Marketing Report. Retrieved from https://www.hubspot.com/state-of-marketing

McKinsey & Company. (2022). The new B2B growth equation. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/the-new-b2b-growth-equation

Sprout Social. (2022). Sprout Social Index: Edition XVIII. Retrieved from https://sproutsocial.com/insights/