Social Media Blunders...Etiquette 101

I provide Location Advice to owners and occupants of industrial buildings in Southern California. You may wonder, how does location advice translate to social media blunders? The connection is that I am committed to connecting with my network with social media. As such I utilize a blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, You Tube, etc. Social media is just one component of my marketing efforts, however. But, it is critically important to me that I "play by the rules" in using social media and believe we ALL have a responsibility to behave correctly in the medium.

The premise:

Would you walk into a room full of strangers and shout...Hey I am here, everyone pay attention to me? Maybe you would, but I suspect you wouldn't make many friends or get the attention you are seeking. Would you call friend on the phone and completely dominate the conversation and once they started talking, respond..."I have to go"? If so, my guess is that the friend would screen your call in the future. Would you attend a church event and ask all the parishioners to buy your stuff? I believe that we can all agree that these are "social" blunders. Common decorum would suggest that there are ways in which we behave to avoid becoming a social pariah. My belief is that there are parallels with our use of social media marketing.

Social Media is "Social":

Social Media Marketing is evolving faster that any of us can grasp. Many of us are running so fast and furiously that we blunder in our social media efforts without even realizing it! At its roots, social media is "social" and we create the "media". There are "rules of engagement" which are important to respect if we expect to achieve connections through social media. I found two well written posts on this subject and links to the articles can be read by clicking on the titles. The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Handbook written by Tamar Weinberg and The 11 Rules of Social Media Etiquette by Eric Brantner.

Three Rules of My Own:

Listen a great deal more than you talk. Remember the example of walking into a room of strangers and shouting. Make sure that you listen to the threads and only respond when you have something to respectfully add.

Don't say, post, respond to anything on-line differently that you would say, post, or respond to someone face-to-face

Don't sell...provide value. Realize that you may be "selling" in hyper space without knowing that you are selling. The best example of this is to post a request to look at my stuff, "like" my stuff, thanks for the follow...follow my stuff, etc.