Social Media Rules Of Engagement – 10 Concepts For Understanding Online Communities

The ‘rules of engagement’ of social media are somewhat vague, but pretty simple to figure out if you just apply a little bit of common sense.  Consider what an essentially normal relationship is and implement the same ideas behind them when engaging in online communities. The key thing to remember is that this is social media – people are looking online for opportunities to interact and exchange information or content with similar, like minded people.

In social networking, most are unlikely to be interested in your latest sales pitch, and most are definitely not interested in promotional hype. They want interesting, fun and entertaining, informative, quirky, addictive… whatever floats their boat. When it comes to social media, you’re not just sending out a message, your inviting a response, and what you get might not be quite what you’re expecting. You need a plan to engage in social media marketing, but you also need to be flexible and respond to the online communities you’re jumping into.

Here are some very basic Social Media Rules of Engagement:

1.  Be Transparent

Your honesty (or dishonesty) will be picked up right away in social media communities. If you’re a corporate blogger, use your real name, identify the company you work for, and be clear about your role. If you have a vested interest in something you’re writing about (like an affiliate or a sponsored review) be the first to point it out rather than waiting for someone else to “uncover”.  It’s never a good situation when you seem to be hiding something, even if it was completely innocent.  My personal mantra goes like this:

“Be true to yourself and who you are in your marketing, online and off. People can see right through any BS even online. You’ll build trust, and trust equals loyalty.”

2.  Be Judicious

If you’re writing about a topic that you’re not completely familiar with you should make this clear to your readers. Don’t get yourself into trouble with trademarks, copyright, fair use, or trade secret disclosure laws.  Respect private brands and keep yourself out of court. If you’re writing about your employer/corporation outside of their internal community you might want to use a disclaimer something like this:

“The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent ‘Your company’s name’  positions, strategies, or opinions.”

3.  Be Smart

Make sure your efforts to be transparent don’t violate your employer’s privacy, confidentiality, and legal guidelines. Before you plaster that company report all over the web, be sure to clarify if it was meant to be private or kept internal. Or, if you want to write about the competition make sure you know what you’re talking about. Be smart about protecting yourself, your privacy, and confidential information. What you publish is widely accessible and will be around for a long time, so consider your content carefully when you participate in social networking.

4.  Perception is Reality

In online social networking, the lines between public and private, personal and professional are blurred. Just by writing on a subject you are creating perceptions about your knowledge and expertise in that area. This can work for you or against you depending on how you write.  Social media has become the new sweat equity.  You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on advertising if you know how to communicate and create an authority figure perception. On the other hand, if you’ve identified yourself as an employee for your company, be mindful of the perceptions you’re creating of your employer – good or bad.

5.  It’s a Conversation

Talk to your readers like you would talk to real people standing in front of you or on the phone.  Don’t be afraid to bring in your own personality and be open about what’s on your mind. Write your content to be open-ended and inviting a response to encourage comments. Invite other bloggers into the conversation by citing and linking to their post on the same subject. You are creating relationships and they may visit your blog and join in by commenting on your blog just to thank you for the link love.

6.  Are You Adding Value?

This is probably the most important rule of social media engagement.  The best way to get your blog or conversations read is to write things that people will value. Social communication should be thought-provoking and build a sense of community. If you’re helping people with their knowledge or skills, build their businesses, do their jobs, solve problems, or understand something better—then you’re adding value.

7.  Create Some Excitement

It’s a big world out there and there are plenty of voices and opinions to listen to. Look for important contributions to the world and to the future of technology or your personal industry.  Be the first in your online community to create a public dialogue on an issue or put your spin on an existing one. There’s always new innovations or news to discuss and write about, it’s our job to try and bring excitement to it.  If you walked past a newstand and all the headlines were about the same subject, what would make you choose one publication over another?  Ask yourself how you can stand out from the crowd.

8.  Be a Leader

There can be a fine line between healthy debate and an argument. You don’t necessarily need to respond to every criticism or jab. Try to frame what you write to invite differing points of view without being disrespectful. There’s something to be said about stirring up controversy and even negative publicity can attract attention in social networking.  However, some topics—like politics or religion—slide more easily into sensitive territory. So be careful and considerate. Once the words are out there, you can’t really get them back.

9.  Did You Screw Up?

If you make a mistake, admit it. Be upfront and be quick with your correction. If you’re posting to a blog, and you choose to modify an earlier post, your readers will appreciate you making it clear that you have done so. We are all on a learning journey and mistakes are part of life.  By being honest about your goofs you’ll build your value,  not lose it, and you may even put a smile on someone’s face…quite possibly yours!

10.  Before You Hit Enter

If you’re about to publish something that makes you even the slightest bit uncomfortable, don’t shrug it off and hit ‘Enter.’ Take a minute to try and figure out what’s bothering you, then fix it.  Ultimately, what you publish is yours—as is the responsibility. So be sure.  Remember, what you publish will be around for a long time once it hits the web.

I’m sure there are more rules of engagement in social media that I have not included here.  What are some of your own personal rules you follow or wish others did? Share them below in the comments!

To Your Success,

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Tagged as:  Blogging · social media marketing · social networking