One of my favorite parts of my job is hearing the words “well I like what I hear, now put a fence around it”. I’d like to think that this is easier said than done these days as most people forget one essential truth when it comes to Social Media:
Social Media is really only beneficial to a company as an extension of their existing infrastructure.
I personally don’t think of it as a new marketing technique because, well, Salesforce advocates that marketers aren’t the only ones who can benefit from it. You can use it to help with customer relations, recruitment, product development, H.R., and the list goes on.
If we change the way we look at Social Media, we will be able to use it more efficiently.
Here’s a little list of don’ts to get you started:
- Don’t get a twitter account and follow 500 people right off the bat
- Don’t send an email blast out asking for diggs to your most recent post
- Don’t comment on a post just to receive the link back to your site
- Don’t post affiliate links on your favorite micro-blog
And here’s a little list of do’s:
- Be sincere
- Be original
- Be active
- Have a little fun
It’s not rocket science or the evolution of marketing and business … its just the way it should have been all along.
3 replies on “Using Social Media”
I liked your idea of “Don’t get a twitter account and follow 500 people right off the bat.” Start small and let the viral nature of the web take off. Far too often we dive into social networks with the intention of gaining popularity and following too quickly.
There is something to be said for gaining early adopters and using their talents, opinions, etc in order to build a stronger product/brand.
I agree, and it kind of falls into the concept that its about what you add to the web, rather than take from it. In other words, contributing your own insight, perspective, and quality content rather than loading up on pointless Facebook friends/Twitter follows just to gain status.
It’s neat because it becomes more of a real community that way, rather than a bunch of individuals trying to promote themselves to each other.
Some other key “don’ts” for a business oriented social media.
– Don’t tweet about your lunch – no one cares that you had a baloney sandwich; unless it’s a restaurant review – we don’t care.
– Don’t tweet about picking up your kids, or how Johnny or Janey have the sniffles. Unless it’s an article about H1N1 – it’s not news. Period. So keep tweets and stories about your sniveling Lilliputians to yourself, your personal twitter, and your family – not the business end of things.
– Do not incessantly tweet about crap that leads no where – unless you’re actually able to be humourous, intelligent and timely – in under 140 characters – it’s not worth it.
I have stopped following companies because they tweet non-business related items, such as “Friday Haiku” – I hate poetry and it was a local magazine site, so I struck this from my list uber fast. Then they post that they’re going to lunch, what they’re eating in their brown-bag lunch. Please save me from non-essential crap that we get inundated with. The reality is, when people sign up and follow, they’re expecting what you advertise – not generic personal stuff that has absolutely no newsworthiness to it.
All it will get you is unfriended, un-followed and ultimately left unwanted.