Social Media Rules of Engagement
Just as there are some unwritten rules of social engagement—like not getting drunk and standing on the table or yelling at strangers on the street—social media engagement via Twitter, You Tube, Facebook, and LinkedIn has a few unstated rules, too.
Whether you’re already using Web 2.0 to engage an audience (be it customers, businesses, or potential customers) or considering whether to leap into the fray, Charlene Li, social media guru and co-author of “Groundswell,” has some useful insights about the rules of engagement.
In this interview, she helps you decide which tools to use when, how to better engage, and how to best endear yourself to an audience via social media. Her main point is that wherever you go and whichever tools you use, it’s not about gaining the most followers: it’s about the relationships.
Her other tips include:
- Don’t post personal details (like what you had for breakfast) on Twitter, unless you believe these will provide a new dimension to you and start conversations.
- Stay relevant.
- Build relationships, not followers.
- Have conversations—there’s a give and take to social media and don’t talk at people.
- Engagement comes in many forms (watching a video, posting a comment, reading a blog post) and not everyone will engage at all levels.
How are you using Web 2.0? What are your questions? Please comment below and it could be the topic of our next expert video.
Posted by Alexandra Krasne at 04:05PM PST
Gregor Spowart Jul 29, 2009
This depends on the size of your company but I find that letting a bit of personality seep through into blog posts and tweets can really help your followers feel a connection with you.
Of course, if you have a crummy personality then that’s not the best thing to do, but generally for smaller businesses it’s worthwhile.