Social Media Guard Rails

14 Do and Don’ts

www.whatstheidea.com

So what is social media?

1. Don’t sell.

It’s unbecoming. Think of it as telemarketing at dinner time.

There are 340 million Tweets a day and many more

Facebook posts. “Value” and things of “interest” get noticed.

2. Be interested in what your target is interested in.

Castrol found out its usersindex high for motorsports. It funded original contentcreation around racing(hiring photographers, videographers, etc.) and gained new relevance in a low interest category.

3. Use all forms of media.

Photography, video, audio files are shared and clicked through at higher rates than text.

4. Have a motivation.

Like a good actor who knows his/her motivation a social media participant should have an agenda and stay true to it. Cybil’s (multiple personalities) need not apply.

5. Break new ground.

The two most common commercial applications in social media are promotions and customer care. They are getting tired.

6. Rock the hashtag.

Aspire to create new hashtag topics that trend big. Be creative. Make sure your hashtags support the motivationand brand idea.

7. Think social and be social.

Don’t be a half duplex (one-way) broadcaster. Be in the “we” and “you” business, not the “me” business. Don’t be boring or pedantic. Funny is good.

8. Posters beget Pasters.

According to Jakob Nielsen and Charlene Li, about 8% of social media participants are Posters or original content creators. Target Posters and Pasters will follow.

And don’t forget to post on other people’s blogs.

9. Don’t ask for the order.

Many social media curators and managers ask visitors to “follow” or “friend” them. It’s tacky and needy. It is okay to ask for program participation, so long as it doesn’t feel self-serving and the cause it right.

10. There’s more to share when you are mobile.

Social media will increasingly become mobile.  Encourage it, enable it.

11. Be fresh on Twitter, discuss on Facebook, blog to have skin in the game, and push people to your website.

Don’t give all your trafficto Mark Zuckerberg.

12. Manners matter.

Listen more than you talk. Thank people for their retweets, views, follows, posts and suggestions.

13. Be a stalker. It’s okay.

Get smart…on smart people. LikeMind opinion leaders can be real-time Princeton professors.

Follow, admire and it’s okay to touch.

14. Monitor and Analyze the Chatter.

Listen to learn…but analyze for action. Engagement data (clicks, retweets, likes, friends

and views) do not ROI make.

Random Thoughts.

Conversation monitoring thoughts.

• Don’t anger the angry. • Correct misinformation immediately, but be

beneficent.• Allow people their opinions. If offering to help, be

human not an office drone.• When engaging customers and prospects humble

is better than cocky.

Why Users Quit

Facebook: •Company authored too many posts (44 percent);•Their wall became glutted with marketing (43 percent);•Messages were repetitive and boring (38 percent);•Posts were overly promotional (24 percent);•Content was irrelevant from the start (19 percent).

Why Users Quit

Twitter:•Messages were repetitive and boring (52 percent);•Tweet stream became inundated with marketing (41 percent);•Company tweeted too frequently (39 percent);•Tweets were overly promotional (21 percent);•Content was irrelevant from the start (15 percent).

Thank you slide.

www.whatstheidea.com