5 Principles of Social Media Engagement

At least, these are the ones we’ve found to work with clients. You might also have seen them mentioned somewhere else; no claims to being the first to think of them. They do, however, work and work well. Enough that I think we can at least put a stake in the ground for these four. The rules are being written daily.

1. Transparency: Be out front. Be real about who you are and why you’re company is involved in Social Media. Transparency means not hiding behind the old cloak of PR spin.

2. Authenticity: Don’t hire a flock of ghost writers to pretend they’re “you” or use a fake “personality” in campaigns. You’ll be found out and it will cost you more to repair the damage than it did in success. In this sense also, don’t pretend you’re not trying to sell me something when you are. Marketing has been deceitful enough these past 40 years.

3. Trust: If you’re business is transparent and your actions are authentic, you will build trust. The old bait and switch tactics are, well, old. Be original.

4. Respond: Social Media is “communications” which implies a two-way set of behaviours. If as a business you don’t want to respond then use one-way media; advertising in broadcast mediums.

5. Listen: Do this before you do anything in Social Media. Seriously. Start with a good long, deep listening to what is being said, who it’s being said about, why, where and in what context.

They aren’t a complicated set of principles and I’m sure there’s more. Let me know, I’ll add them or we can carry on the conversation in Twitter. But we’re starting to establish some principles that we know work in ongoing Social Media activity. Aren’t we?

(Author: Giles Crouch, Managing Director)