14 Dos and Don'ts for social media managers. (Digital strategy precepts.) Written many years ago, see how well they hold up.

1. Social Media Guard Rails
14 Do and Don’ts
www.whatstheidea.com

2. So what is social media?

3. 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.

4. 2. Be interested in what
your target is interested in.
Castrol found out its users
index high for motorsports.
It funded original content
creation around racing
(hiring photographers,
videographers, etc.) and
gained new relevance in
a low interest category.

5. 3. Use all forms of media.
Photography, video, audio
files are shared and clicked
through at higher rates
than text.

6. 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.

7. 5. Break new ground.
The two most common commercial
applications in social media are
promotions and customer care.
They are getting tired.

8. 6. Rock the hashtag.
Aspire to create new
hashtag topics that trend
big. Be creative. Make
sure your hashtags
support the motivation
and brand idea.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 10. There’s more to share when you are mobile.
Social media will increasingly become mobile.
Encourage it, enable it.

13. 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 traffic
to Mark Zuckerberg.

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

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. Random Thoughts.

18. 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.

20. 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).

21. 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).

22. Thank you slide.
www.whatstheidea.com