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What would you do if you were responsible for the social media activities of a multi billion dollar company?
The PR distasters that happened with some very big companies’ social media campaigns got me thinking. What would I do if I had to manage a big brand’s social media section. What kind of basic rules would I be setting? What guidelines would I give out to my team?
The list I came up with was very long so I broke it up in three parts.
Part one: The Ten Commandments for social media marketing
Part two: The Ten Commandments for the social media strategy
Part three: The Ten Commandments for the day to day social media operations
This post is the first part. I will publish part two and three in the next couple of days.
These are Ten Commandments for social media marketing. They are set in stone, they cannot be ignored or bypassed. If you do you will go to hell.
1. Be authentic
This is the one commandment above all others. People feel fooled if you are not authentic. If you think of brands as guidelines through consumers’ lifes, the guideline function is crushed if you aren’t autentic any more. The core value of the brand is gone.
2. Be interesting
Do not post stuff that is not interesting for your target group. Be entertaining. Don’t be boring. Try to tell a story.
3. Be relevant
In addition to being interesting: only tell stuff that’s related to your company (somehow). Create a profile for your social media activities that relates to your brand. Only post stuff that fits this profile. You can bend that rule from time to time but not as much as to dissolve your brand profile.
4. Be easy to share
The power of viral marketing. You don’t have to create super-fancy viral campaigns. Just take the usual measures to be easily spread on the web. That will do the trick.
5. Be first
You want to be the first to publish news about your brand. That’s a basic. You don’t want to be reacting to news about your brand that were told by other people. So tell your community what you’re up to.
6. Be communicative
Be talkative – but in a good way. Talk to your community, be open. Answer their questions and ask questions yourself. Make it easy for others to join in.
7. Do not sell
At least: do not sell bluntly. Social media is not about selling, it’s about valuable content for your readers. If you can deliver that people will buy your stuff. If you don’t deliver that people will leave you! They are following you for a reason! Obviously you can mix in some self advertising, but keep in mind: it’s all about valuable content.
8. Give people a positive experience
Your community should have a positive feeling when visiting your site. They should feel at home in your community. If you’re godd they even might become evangelists of your brand.
9. Be humble and empathetic
Basically: be a nice guy and be social. Be the perfect host. Don’t be arrogant, don’t be aggressive, don’t be geeky, don’t be Mr. Know-it-all, don’t be a smart-ass.
10. Post a lot
Post as much new stuff as you can deliver at the quality standards you set for yourself. In other words: be active, be creative. At least post regularly.
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