TEN Topic: Social Media

"If you can't say something [useful]..."

(4 Bambi-inspired tips to keep your social media habit on brand)

At our first TEN gathering of 2011, we invited Todd Babiak, local author, columnist, and co-founder of Story Engine, to sit with us as we bantered about the much-discussed topic of social media. Now three years in existence, social media has become standard fare. Even our most traditional clients are asking "Can you get us using social media? Can you show me how to get on Twitter? Should we have a Facebook page?"

Our first question back to the client is "Why? What have you got to say?"

Typically, we see individuals' and organizations' first forays into online communities start with talking rather than listening. Social media is a tool for entering into conversations. It's a tool for listening, reviewing and gathering information, or for providing information to others. More often than not, however, it's used as a tool for advertisement and blatant self-promotion.

Imagine a networking event where you're standing in a group, enjoying an interesting discussion or debate, and that guy bursts in with a business card and a sales pitch. His overbearing "salesy" demeanour cuts off the flow of the conversation as he ignores everyone else in the group and centres all the attention on him. The group quickly dissipates around him to join other conversations.

Social media is a tool that can provide vital insight and create trusted relationships if it is used well. The key is to be very clear about who you are, what you do, and what you should be contributing.

From our experience, here are some guiding rules:

1. Listen first; tweet later.

Spend some time following your market or your market's influencers. Understand what your audience is speaking about. Use social media to understand people's needs, pains, and rules of conversation. When you do speak for the first time, comment or speak directly to someone else's reference or point instead of starting a new topic.

2. Remember your role.

• Overall
  • Remember why you joined social media in the first place. Think about the messages you're trying to communicate to your audience, and stick to them.
  • Remember what your audience wants and what you're qualified to help with. Offer content that will be worth people's time. (Do they care what kind of coffee you had this morning?)
• In this conversation
  • Listen and understand the topic.
  • Advise and educate where you know you can be helpful.
  • Contribute in a way your audience will appreciate.

3. Remember where you are.

Are you in a personal sphere (your personal Facebook account), or are you in your organization's business sphere (your company's Facebook page or Twitter account)? Keep personal and business separate to avoid the awkwardness we all feel when someone crosses the line.

4. Keep your brand on.

"Professional decorum," "personality," and "character" are all words to describe how we carry ourselves in certain situations. These are also your brand. Remember that both you and your organization have a brand and if you are acting as a member of your organization, you must stay in brand. Every statement you make should support the brand of your organization. Don't speak out of turn, and don't speak out of character.

The number one lesson we've learned about social media?

"If you can't say something useful...

...don't say anything at all."