Rules for Using Social Media for Business

1. There are no rules.

2.  See rule one.

Social media is the dawn of a new day in
communications. Control is
virtually absent and a new way of communicating has formed: connecting with
strangers based on mutual similarities and common interest.

Many voices are making what I believe to be a futile attempt
to impose rules on the wild frontier that is social media. Rules don’t exist here. There is no right or wrong. There are only things that work and
things that don’t work. Those who
make their own rules will find the things that work.

On the other hand, there is evidence that good manners and
common sense should predicate participation. Certainly social media is not going to help a spammer make
it big—because nothing will.
That’s just common sense.
In fact, just this morning, I unfollowed someone on Twitter who was
posting repeatedly (10 posts in one minute). I have no tolerance for it so I don’t accept it into my
community. That’s the great thing
about social media. Nobody can
infringe on your personal space unless you let him or her do so.

My issue is the imposition of rules on companies who are
innovating fresh new uses for the social media tools that we all have access
to. If you disagree with a certain
practice, by all means don’t adopt it in your own social media practices. I happen to disagree with the assertions
that you have to respond to every tweet on Twitter or acknowledge every friend
request if you just want to accept it and get in touch later. There is also a lot of negative talk
about “ghostwriting”, which is a hot topic right now. There is a stigma about using a ghostwriter for Twitter
because doing so is not transparent or authentic. I would make a case that there are opportunities where having
a hired hand to keep the updates flowing makes perfect sense. I have seen several examples of
companies that are doing it right.
The key is, don’t be someone you’re not. Be authentic.
Be transparent. And if you
have someone making updates to your social media accounts for you, be sure to
let people know that.

The value in social media and following people who interest
us is really in the information that they share. If the CEO of my favorite brand had someone else making half
of his or her posts and I liked what I was hearing, I would still want the
updates.

Social media relationships are being forged across the globe
with people whom we know little about, but really enjoy hearing from them and
vice versa. We’ve begun to
recognize people and even look forward to hearing their updates. While it is very difficult to establish
connections like this in public, connecting through social media makes it much
easier. Everyone is accessible
now. People who were strangers to
us yesterday become our friends and customers today and our ability to help
increases because the barriers to connection are much lower than they are
without the help of social media sites.
We provide help, value and camaraderie within the communities we are a
part of. As we give to these
communities, we mobilize the law of reciprocity. You become a trusted resource—then and only then opportunity
becomes available. This is why you
need to be connected via social media for business purposes. The rules are up to you. As in real life friendships, the
following will help you improve your social media connections: share often, be
interested rather than interesting and be yourself.