Social Media Sins: Are You Guilty of These 11 Online Capital Vices?

Posted on Apr 8, 2011 in Marketing, Social Media Marketing | 3 comments

Christine Perkett

By Christine Perkett, Founder, PerkettPR

Social media seems like it should be so simple—just be social, right? But if you’re using it for business, there are a few rules to live by to ensure success—and an effort that positively contributes to your company’s bottom line. Many companies are jumping in the deep end without first learning a few basic strokes.

In other words, be sure that whoever you charge with your social media and community management understands why you are using social media, how it relates to other areas of the business (marketing, sales, customer service, etc.) and what results and return on investment are expected. Otherwise, you’re just treading water and not getting anywhere.

Some social media sins to avoid:

1. Thou shall not forget your business goals. First and foremost, have a strategy and understand how social media activity will support these goals.

2. Thou shall not stream—without purpose. We can get your news on your website. Talk to us. Not at us. A great example: @SonyElectronics

3. Thou shall not share meaningless content. Post with purpose. A viral video of your cat is… just a funny video that a lot of people enjoyed. A viral video of Jennifer Aniston that gets 7m+ views in a week and countless brand mentions of Smart Water? Priceless.

4. Thou shall not be vague. Entice action through the content that you post—what is it that you want your community to do, say or share as a result of your activity? How does such activity relate to your business goals?

5. Thou shall not forget to review, evaluate and update/change course—often.

6. Thou shall not forget manners. Remember how your mother always told you to put your thoughts down in a letter and sleep on it? Sometimes you should consider that with your blog, Twitter and Facebook updates, too.

7. Thou shall not BS—you’ll get caught. Be yourself, that’s who we want to know. If you’re a brand, learn to communicate more openly—what’s your brand personality? Infuse it, use it, embrace it.

8. Thou shall not fail to apologize when you’re wrong.

9. Thou shall not stand against the wall and hope for a date.

10. Thou shall not stalk—twitterati, people. Come on. Perspective—get some. Understand influence as it relates to your business—all influence is not created equal.

11. Thou shall not fail to have a clear policy that employees understand.

Really, social media isn’t all that different from real life. You’ve probably heard it said to treat it like a cocktail party or think of it as a golf course—act as you would in real life in the way you interact with and treat people. It’s not complicated. Problems arise when people think the Internet is some kind of golden curtain and they can speak how they want without consequence.

However, on the other hand, the world is demanding that companies—brands, especially—get real. Take the recent Chrysler Twitter debacle. A young employee tweeted something that wasn’t all that offensive coming from an individual—but he accidentally sent the tweet from Chrysler’s account instead of his own. As such, the brand felt it wasn’t conducive to their image, and fired him. Should he have been fired? Was it that bad? Which hurt their brand more—the tweet, or firing him?

Only you can decide what’s best for your company—but do so, and make it clear to not only your social media manager, but the staff in general. Consider what your brand has been, what you want it to be—and how communications across different channels support this. Is it okay to lighten up a bit on social media channels? Will it open up a new audience for you? Should it? That’s up to you—but make it clear from the start what you’ve decided and why, so your employees can be sure to not only avoid the sins above, but to follow your own company’s commandments.