Alisha here! Let’s talk about grammar. We have all seen the grammar Nazis that prowl around the internet waiting to figuratively cross out bad words and correct spelling. That’s not really what I want to do today, but I do want to talk about the importance of good grammar in your posts on social media – not just grammar, but capitalization and punctuation as well.
One of the biggest ways to build respect in an online presence is to sound professional. If a page or post is loaded with askew apostrophes and missing punctuation, it is a major repellant to clients, customers, and fans on social media. There are many rules, but for today’s post, I am just going to spell out a few:
- Quotation marks are to be used only when actually using quotes, not to emphasize certain words. Excessive quotation marks can mislead an audience to believe that the post is fake or mocking the subject. It adds a sarcastic tone which might not be the intended message.
- Capitalize the correct words. The only words that should be capitalized are proper nouns, first words of sentences, races, nationalities, events, geographical locations, and titles. Capitalizing random words in a sentence just to bring attention to the word just looks silly.
- Punctuation. I’ll admit, I’ve sent a text without periods before. But in a business or Facebook setting, the correct punctuation means everything. Excessive exclamation marks can also ruin your online reputation, so be careful with those. Without punctuation in sentences, meanings can get confusing or lost. Besides, no one likes a run-on sentence. Too much effort.
- There, their, they’re. These three are the most confused words in the English language. Here’s an easy refresher course: There – a place. Their – that person owns something. They’re – they + are. Boom. Done.
- Last, but not least, spellchecker. Use it. If you can’t spell a word, Google the closest thing you can. The internet can help get you there.
Sometimes my fingers fly too fast, my brain moves to the next sentence, and my eyes blur at the computer screen – I know nobody is perfect all the time. But proofreading as well as you can is something that can really improve your online reputation – for you and your business.