Online social capital is becoming a highly sought out asset, particularly for those seeking to market themselves and/or their services using social media. Based on my limited experience on the receiver’s end, here is a list of do’s and don’ts of social media:
10 Do’s of Social Media:
- Do comment on others’ blogs
- Do respond to comments on your own posts
- Do reciprocate comments with comments on commenter’s blog
- Do link generously to others’ posts
- Do answer emails/DM from your readers – I don’t care how important or how busy you are
- Do share parts about yourself that resonate with others
- Do make others feel better about themselves after they read you
- Do gift others with valuable information, offers of support, spontaneous acts of random kindness
- Do facilitate relevant connections amongst your readers
- Do answer others’ requests for help – signing of petitions, joining of causes, small donations
10 Don’ts of Social Media:
- Not responding to comments on your posts
- Not responding to others’ online communications to you
- Engaging in excessive self-promotion
- Making others feel bad, or even worse non existent
- Boasting about your 5,000 friends – frankly, I don’t give a dam
- Being a fake
- Pushing a product or a service
- Using others, for your personal gain only
- Sending automatically generated messages – this is supposed to be social
- Harassing others with too many asks
Easier said than done. Particularly when dealing with multiple channels and significant numbers of ‘friends’. I have found the time required to be a good ‘friend’ an ongoing challenge. Consistent with HP’s Twitter Research quoted in Jeremiah Wang‘s blog, my coping strategy on Twitter, has been to relate with ‘friends’, in concentric circles, starting with a core of people I have an ongoing relationship with, then going into circles of decreasing interaction frequency. In the blogging department, I have had phases of intense dedication, when I followed my own medicine to the letter, followed by periods of neglect, as happened recently before I relaunched this blog.
I wonder, what else would you add to those two lists, either from a user or a producer’s perspective?
Thanks for making such a succinct list of Do’s and Don’ts. Hopefully I’m doing more Do’s than Don’ts!
A good list. Thank you.
I admit I am not very good at finding time to visit other people’s blogs. Just the ones I have on feeds – and not even those, always.
It is easier with the social networks, but the only networks I am meticulous about are the three I created myself, since those are the ones in which I feel an obligation to be a ‘good host’ and make sure all my members are getting their needs met and enjoying themselves.
Although following rules can be nice if doubt your intuition will be correct, I think it’s worth focusing more on why you think your intuition would be incorrect. I think the primary reason is your emotional state.
For example, a lot of people are hurried all day, or hurried when they’re online. Being hurried, they won’t be appreciative of others as much as they would if they would be totally relaxed, and mindful of the meaning of other people in their lives.
For the irony: Right now, I’m writing this in a hurry. Do as I say, not as I do.
Also, sharing yourself means requires being comfortable with yourself. But being comfortable with your self implies a feeling of comfort. So if you don’t feel comfortable, you might want to work on that first.
So instead of stressed out following of rules, I suggest to be sure you take it easy at least some part of the day, and then do whatever you like. Unless you’re truly evil or you don’t understand a thing about other people, it’ll be probably something good, whether this action is online or offline.
Marian, just left a comment on your blog. Love the work you are doing with older women. So much to be done, and social networks could make such a difference, if not so intimidating for women past a certain age.
Wendy, not to worry . . .:)
Meryn, I get your point. At same time, there are some very real time constraints that one faces. I am hearing a lot of folks shrinking down their networks, to go for more quality, as opposed to quantity of online friendships. That’s probably wise.
Seen on Twitter: Jesus only had 12 apostles . . .
I like this list. You do see a lot of #3 and #7′s (from don’t list), and sometimes you can feel the #4 (don’t list).
I need to get better at #10 on the do list. I get bombarded with so many Facebook causes, that I have stopped picking and choosing, and have been ignoring them all. It’s common sense, but with all the noise we subject ourselves to, we need these refresher courses and reminders every once in awhile. Thank you.
Marguerite, true.
Maybe a good one to add is then: Don’t try to manage to many relationships, go for quality over quantity.
The game changer of social media is of course broadcast. You might choose to only engage with a few people directly (by commenting on their blogs, or sending them tweets) but you can always blog and tweet to “the public”.
Bryan, thanks! Like you, I have also stopped answering the never ending requests for karmas or Causes on Facebook. I am a lot more receptive however to requests on Twitter, when they FEEL personal, and also petitions that are supported by some compelling copy in blog posts.
I really enjoy your blog by the way!
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Marguerite,
I like your list–it really boils down to the golden rule, treating others as you would like to be treated. I just wrote a list of social marketing do’s and don’ts and thought I might provide the link here in case you or any of your readers were interested: http://marketinglab.bnj.com/2009/06/ten-dos-and-donts-of-social-marketing/ Thanks for your time.