Social Media Executive Primer Part 8

Social Media Do’s and Don’ts

Don’t: Allow anyone and everyone within your organization to do whatever they want on social media sites.
Do: Develop a social media policy that outlines for your employees what they can communicate about in the online world. It’s your job as CXO to push for a social media policy and to educate your employees on it. They need to understand how they can communicate about their employer in the online world. You can’t expect your Legal Team or anyone else to understand the negative ramifications that can occur from not having this policy. But you, as CXO, understand how powerful social media can be and how one employee tweeting about issues your organization is experiencing can have some serious repercussions with your clients, potential clients, investors, partners, and other employees. It’s important to develop a clear social media policy, establish a format to educate your employees on it, and enforce some form of punishment when it is violated.

Don’t: Hire a young marketer that’s savvy on social sites without requiring they have experience in online marketing.
Do: Utilize your online marketer(s) to manage your social media marketing. They may not be social media marketing experts but they can quickly educate themselves and work with you to create your social media marketing plan. If they do not have the bandwidth, hire an online marketer with experience in social media marketing. If you don’t have the budget for a new hire, look at other employees in your organization that might have the social media marketing experience. The key is assigning one person to head your social media marketing efforts so the efforts coincide and maintain brand consistency. You don’t need 3 “Company X” accounts on Twitter or Facebook as it will just confuse and deter people. Already hired a young marketer that’s just not doing the job? It might be worth it to keep them on board and train them but if you lack confidence that they’ll get it, let them go.

Don’t: Tweet every day about your company only with no personal mix or opinions. And just let anyone follow you.
Do: Tweet at least once a week about both business and personal topics. And follow your followers. Mesh both business and personal topics in your tweets which should be done once a week, at the minimum but beware of over-tweeting/spam-tweeting! People will stop reading your tweets and your brand can quickly lose credibility. Also, follow as many people as you can, don’t just let people follow you. It shows your business is interested in what others have to say (you listen) and that you are not just a voice trying to be heard.

Don’t: Allow your target audience to hunt for you in vain in the social world.
Do: Make it easy for your target audience to find you in the social world. Let your clients, prospects, partners, and employees know that you play in the social media world. Promote your social sites on your website(s), employee signatures, and email footers. LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and others even provide logos for you to use in your marketing materials and of course they do – it’s free advertising for them. Tap into their brand strength to help promote yours!

Don’t: Send your team to get you on every social media site possible.
Do: Focus on the social sites where your target audience is most likely to be found. You should have an organized plan for your social media marketing and it’s ok to start small. The key is managing your presence well on the sites you choose to be on and monitoring what’s being said about you elsewhere. This will help you determine what sites make the most sense and better evaluate where you should focus.

Part 1-Social Media: An Executive Primer
Part 2-Define Your Strategy
Part 3-Define Your Purpose
Part 4-Define Your Voice
Part 5-Audience Relationships
Part 6-How to Start
Part 7-Measuring Success
Part 8-Social Media Do’s and Don’ts

Updated 5-8-12
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Steve Kellogg
-Demand Generation/Marketing Automation Consultant, Astadia
-Eloqua Certified Marketing Best Practices Consultant