The Social Media Commandments
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Google+ for Business Pages (G+BP) is now available and organizations are rushing to claim their real estate. Though G+’ s campaign to replace Facebook as the social network of choice among individual users seems to have been unsuccessful, at least so far, it appears that for businesses the novelty of a new social media platform has remained strong. One certainly can’t blame businesses for attempting to seize upon a potentially new and larger audience.
What’s particularly exciting about such developments is the fact that in social media there really are no rules. It’s impossible to boil down to a science exactly what makes a successful social media campaign that not only increases awareness of a brand or organization, but also in addition yields tangible returns.
Over time, however, certain unofficial commandments of social media have been borne out of the successes and failures of past campaigns. Two of these particular commandments should be emphasized as businesses move to claim their space on G+BP.
First, a new platform means new capabilities and therefore new content and strategy. Users will notice if every one of your social media channels simply reposts and recycles content. There is little that’s more annoying or disappointing than content that has been reposted and recycled across different channels, especially if it’s clear that the recycling is automated. It not only smacks of laziness, but is also the perfect recipe for your brand to NOT be recognized as innovative and risk-taking, which in turn is the way to NOT garner attention or accolades.
Second, don’t create a social media graveyard. Specifically, don’t claim your G+BP real estate just for the sake of doing so. There are already far too many Twitter and Facebook pages as well as blogs for businesses that remain dormant or stagnant, having gone ages without being touched or updated. The upshot is that your brand is perceived as inactive and unengaged. Your organization exists, but to those who first encounter it through one of these channels, it appears inactive and behind the times.
Before taking the leap of faith into a new channel or platform, have content prepared and be armed with a long-term strategy for producing content and engaging your audience that will take you beyond the stages when a new platform is just a novelty. Understand the unique functions and capabilities that a new platform offers and how your brand might make the best of them.
For example, Twitter may not be the best means to carry out long-term dialogue with users, whereas Facebook is more conducive to such an undertaking via conversation threads. This is a minor example, but the larger point I want to make is that each medium is unique and capable of delivering different returns for your organization.
This requires careful research and planning, but social media platforms have become for many organizations the means by which they make their most lasting impression on users. Any organization venturing into such territory should therefore treat it as such.
Ravi Singh has recently completed his master’s degree in political studies at Queen’s University with hopes of entering the communications profession. He has worked as a technical writer for a software startup and a copywriter for a small public relations firm in Toronto, where he developed and managed social media strategies and profiles and helped with online ad campaigns. He blogs at We are Living in a Society. http://increasedapeace.wordpress.com
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