Posts Tagged ‘social networking’

First, I want to thank everyone for such a great conversation with my post “Who are you? And why should I follow you?” Looks like I wasn’t the only that gets either amused or frustrated by what is experienced on social networks.

Not having any guidelines to follow when I first started on joining social networks, I learned the below etiquette from people experienced in social media who guided me and from continuing to follow just good, common sense off-line business etiquette.

If Emily Post and Miss Manners were involved in all these social networking sites with us, I wonder if they would agree with the below etiquette tips…and what we’d learn from them.

People use social networks for different reasons and this is my personal etiquette list. Feel to let me know if you think this is an appropriate list, what you’d add, what you’d question and what you’d change.

Be real
This seems simple, right? Be who you are, let your personality shine through. But, the funny thing about being on-line is that the first reaction is to hide behind monikers, avatars, etc. And with the stellar security of the Internet, who wouldn’t consider it? It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there…findable, in public, permanently. As well, there have been more than enough posts on personal brand management to make those in the corporate world leery of being real on-line, which is also understandable. However, the more real you are, the more people will trust your presence. If you are engaging in social networks to personally or professionally network or engage with potentials customers or clients, the benefit of being real outweighs not doing so.

Be nice
This one is simple. Just be nice. Most people are inherently nice and if they aren’t being nice to you, well you can just unfollow/unfriend them. It’s not worth getting into snark wars…remember you are on-line and your comments are public (unless you choose for them not to be) and permanent. As well, comments found outside the context in which they were made can be misunderstood and misconstrued. So before engaging someone, even if they are attaching you, ask yourself, “is it worth it?” Most likely, it’s not.

Be respectful
We might not always agree with how people use social networks, what they say, how they handle themselves or what they share. But we should always be respectful of each other.

Listen then talk
When joining a social network, sometimes it helps to sit back, listen and learn. All networks have a culture and it makes sense to understand the culture before you dive in. The good thing is because you pick and choose who you follow/friend, you already have a sense of what the culture will be and how to join in-at the right time.

Give then take
Provide value to your community; let them know they can count on you for good information, genuine conversation, insights, sharing, fun, humor, etc.  Once you have earned their trust and respect, and then ask for what you need. Handle on-line relationships just like you would with new off-line friends, business acquaintances, etc.

Try to be consistent
When you join a social network, people get used to your presence. When you aren’t there it’s obvious. Everyone gets busy and social networks can be time consuming. Before you join a bunch of them, make sure you have the time to be involved.

Apologize when you make a mistake
We all make mistakes. If you state something publically that is wrong, admit to the mistake and move on to something else.

Say thank you
If someone spreads information you have shared, posts a comment on your blog, refers you, adds you to their blog roll, etc., say thank you. Let people know that you appreciate their time to do so.

Don’t broadcast
You can tell the broadcasters a mile away. They use social networks to broadcast about their companies, their posts, their daily activities. They never interact or respond back or interact. Conversation is key to social media and broadcasting, in my opinion, is just traditional one-way marketing using on-line tools.

Don’t stalk
Everyone gets excited about joining social networks. But, it’s a little bit aggressive to track down someone in every social network they belong to and follow/friend them. Take the time to get to know the person and then follow them where it makes sense.

It’s not a numbers game
The benefit of social media and social networking tools are the connections, conversations and engagements they provide. How can you really connect with 5,000 followers/friends? I would think it would be a challenge.

Don’t publicly or privately unfollow/unfriend
If there is someone in your social network that you no longer want to follow/friend, just quietly unfollow/unfriend them. It’s okay. And it happens all the time. It is natural that you may find there are people who just don’t work for you. What’s the point of embarrassing the person by publicly unfollowing/unfriending them?

Below are some insights from other social media folks. If you have any links to share, please do! We are all still learning.

• Considering Social Network Etiquette
• Etiquette in the Age of Social Media
• Etiquette For A Social Media World
• Miss Manners We Need You
• Rob’s Rules of Social Media Etiquette
• OMG! I’m adding followers faster on FF than I did on Twitter! Amazing!

[Photo: iStock]

Even More Goodness! Related Posts:

• Saturday Morning Reads: Do Marketers Need to Become Social Psychologists?
• The Social Media Unpanel
• Who owns your Twitter or Facebook Connections?
• The Four Faces of Social Media

A recent post by Kami Huyse and my own stream of followers prompted me to write this post. In Kami’s recent post, “Painting by Number: Bringing Blog Content to Life by Coloring the Canvas,” she lists the below rule:

Learn the rules and then break them intelligently: Every community has a culture, until you know and respect the culture, you can’t start breaking the rules.

I am not talking about blogging, but microblogging…sites like Twitter and Plurk. (We can debate the term microblogging another time.) I have learned from being on Twitter that the rules of culture and etiquette, among other things, for the most part, expect a reciprocate follow to a follower.

Well, I am breaking that rule…intelligently.

Here’s the thing, as more people and companies become aware of Twitter and Plurk, they don’t take the time to see what the culture is like. By not taking the time to do so, they don’t see that most folks on Twitter are real people with real names. And from now on I am not following them back.

Here’s why:

The other day, after checking out a follower’s profile (to make sure they weren’t a spammer, etc.), I followed them. Then response I received: “Thanks. You can check out my website here [link] to learn all about me and what I blog about.” What the…?!

Another favorite: “Thanks for the follow. Be sure to follow my company too. And check out our site.” Ah, sorry, no. How about we chat first?

And my #1 favorite: “Thanks. If you don’t subscribe to my blog, be sure to do so today via RSS.” What am I, just a number to you?

Today as I was going through my followers, I was greeted by all kinds of avatars (some creepy), crazy names, and one-line descriptions (if any). It was very enlightening.

Here are are some tips to people and companies who want to join the conversation on Twitter, Plurk, identi.ca, etc.

• Use a name, a real name, somewhere. If you don’t want to use a name, I suspect you aren’t ready to engage in social media or a conversation. I can’t have a conversation with “BugGurlz” (okay, I made that up, but you know what I mean.)
• Don’t use Susie234 as a name, spammers do that.
• Use a photo of yourself, not an avatar. Okay, well, I can deal with an avatar if I have other proof you are human and not a spammer (as in a real name somewhere and a description).
• Fill out the description. And not just a one-liner (“I am a blogger.”) Tell us who you are and what you are about; otherwise, why should anyone follow you?
• If you are a company, designate a real person to your Twitter/Plurk/identi.ca account and let them have a voice.

I feel at a disadvantage. You know my name, what I do, what I am interested in and all about me (or at least what I share on Twitter & Plurk). I am asking you to reciprocate. You might be a real person with whom I could have a great conversation with or perhaps a business relationship…but we will never know.

Trust me, being real will benefit you more than me—really.

Update 10/9/09: Matt J. McDonald over at A New Marketing has a great post that includes a checklist to brand your Twitter account. Be sure to check them out!

Even More Goodness! Related Posts:

• Who owns your Twitter or Facebook Connections?
• IABC Philadelphia Presentation: Writing for the Web
• My summer romance…
• Here a ping, there a ping…

Recently, Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer tagged Kipp Bodnar of Digital Capitalism and me to add on to Mitch Joel’s (Twist Image) meme on Best Practices in Social Media Marketing.

This is a great project to collect what is just the start of some best practices. And I say a start because some of us are still new to learning about social media and implementing social media marketing. That said there have been a lot of successes and that’s the best part of being involved in social media—we all learn from one another.

Here are just a few best practices that have been shared so far:

• Consistency (Mitch Joel)
• Embrace your Audience (Jason Falls)
• Listen and Add Value (Kipp Bodnar)
• Listen (Chris Brogan)
• Be Human (Kristie Wells)
• Reach out to others (Morriss Partee)
• Lift up others! (Drew McLellan)
• Honesty & Respect (Paisano)

The best practice that I would like to add is: Provide a Platform

Marketers are so accustomed to ‘talking at’ their customers instead of ‘talking with’ their customers. And typically when two-way conversation occurs, it happens infrequently at events, tradeshows, off-line forums, customer council meetings or during that once a year customer satisfaction survey.

Why wait for those limited occasions? Why not provide an on-line platform for your community that gives them a place to express themselves, interact and engage? (Remember the rule: two ears, one mouth).

Providing a platform could mean starting a blog or a new on-line community, but not necessarily. There are a lot of other great ways to provide a platform and you can always join one that exists.

Here are just a few:

• Twitter
• Plurk
• Ning (Social Networks)
• Forums
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• MySpace
• FriendFeed
• Second Life
• Interactive Webinars
• Blog

I am sure there are more ways to provide a platform. What would you suggest?

Once you have selected the platform that works best for your community, be sure to follow the above best practices! In the meantime, Chris Brogan offers some great advice for getting involved in social networking.

If they haven’t already been tagged, I’d like to invite Amber Naslund of The Brand Box and Paul Chaney of Conversational Media Marketing to add one of their best practices.

[Photo: iStock]

Even More Goodness! Related Posts:

• Are you stuck in a box?
• Is Social Media scalable?
• Gratitude
• Got a Blog? Help others in need: Blog Action Day 2008

Recently, Brian Solis kicked off his “The Socialization of Your Personal Brand” with this statement:

“…Practically everything we create and share online is open to public discovery, interpretation, and feedback—positive, neutral and negative.”

People can be very passionate about their politics and what they believe in is a major part of their personal lives. But when does a person’s politics start to affect their professional brand? 

Yesterday on Twitter there was a stream of outpouring against the nominated Vice President candidate Sarah Palin (“Little Known Fact”). Most of it was fictitious, but some verged on slander.

So as marketers (if you are marketing your company, business or non-profit include yourself) how does participating in politics on Twitter affect your personal brand, which in turn can affect your or your company’s professional brand?

As Brian Solis points out:

“…basically everything you contribute to the Social Web shapes and contributes to your personal brand and how people will most likely perceive it. Hopefully in most cases, it can promote and showcase your expertise, and sometimes, what’s representative online can and will be used against you.”

Regardless of your politics, keep in mind that months or years from now a potential hiring company, client or donator could find your political tweets—separated from the pack—only to be misunderstood or misinterpreted as a standalone, singular comment.

As marketers we know the rule of thumb: Perception is reality. We also know that we can’t control our brands—personal or professional—we can only manage them.

Are your political beliefs so strong that you would be willing to lose a potential marketing job offer, a large corporate client or donation that is desperately needed because of differing political views?

[Photo: iStock]

Even More Goodness! Related Posts:

• Who owns your Twitter or Facebook Connections?
• Personal Brand Equity: What’s it worth?
• Who are you? And why should I follow you?
• Saturday Morning Reads: Do Marketers Need to Become Social Psychologists?

Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. [Their] aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.

What: Poverty
When: October 15, 2008

This year’s Blog Action Day focuses on global poverty, but I am a firm believer in helping those at home first.

Poverty in the USA

From Wikipedia: …the most common measure of poverty is the “

poverty line” set by the U.S. government, which recognizes poverty as lacking those goods and services commonly taken for granted by members of mainstream society.[1] The official poverty threshold is adjusted for inflation using the consumer price index. Poverty in the United States is cyclical in nature with roughly 12% to 16% living below the federal poverty line at any given point in time, and roughly 40% falling below the poverty line at some time within a 10 year time span.[2] Most, 58.5%, of all Americans will spend at least one year beneath the poverty line at some point between ages 25 and 75.[3]

Today, there are 304,961,313 people in the United States. That means 121,984,525.20 will at one point be living below the poverty line once in ten years (let’s assume this includes children and/or their parents). And 178,402,368 people will be poor at least once in their adult life.As marketers and bloggers, we are fortunate to have the best and latest computers, phones and gadgets, access to the Internet—and a voice. When Blog Action Day has come and gone what can we do to continue helping and making a difference?

Here are a just a few ways:

• Computers with Causes
• Teaming for Technology
• Make-A-Wish
• Komputers 4 R Kids
• Dress for Success
• The Grameen Foundation
• The National Cristina Foundation

By helping out, just a little bit, we could just make a difference in someone else’s life and maybe, just maybe, give them a voice.

For now, I only ask you to consider joining me and 2,770 other sites and 3,967,559 readers! (as of August 24, 2008). Thank you!Do you know of any other ways to help? Let’s be sure to share them.

[Hat tip: Conversation Agent. Give Valeria’s blog a visit, she has a wonderful Blog Action Day video!]

Even More Goodness! Related Posts:

• You’re so vain
• The Ruination of E-Mail Marketing
• The Four Faces of Social Media
• Is Social Media scalable?