Extending the ideas in my previous piece on social media engagement (7 rules for working smart, not just hard), this post offers 5 principles to guide the efforts of both individuals and organizations. As with the previous piece, it is targeted to rookies who are just getting started with social media, as well as those who want to regroup and redirect their efforts. The guiding principles include proceeding with “mindful flexibility,” listening first then talking, being strategically tactical, balancing idealism with pragmatism, and emphasizing quality over quantity.  

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I’ve been giving talks to social media rookies for three years. The focus of these talks varies depending on the audience, and the details have evolved over time, but there are certain principles, or “rules of engagement” (ROE), that I highlight in almost every presentation. These principles are an extension of the ideas I shared in Social Media Engagement: 7 Rules for Working Smart, not Just Hard. Whereas that post focused on high level considerations connected with preparation and planning, this post is more tactical and action oriented. I like to think of them as mantras…

The rules of engagement often repeat a set of core themes that can’t be emphasized enough, but each offers a unique twist on the theme. They can generally be applied to the activity of both individuals and organizations, though there may be a stronger focus on organizational engagement. Similarly, they can be applied to both external and internal applications of social media and should have value to both beginners and initiates who may be looking to regroup and improve their efforts.

These rules don’t necessarily apply to early adopters, however. The experiences of individuals and organizations who are on the leading edge of technology adoption are generally more dynamic and chaotic, and less efficient, than these rules may allow. Their processes are highly experimental and organic, and following restrictive rules could inhibit both their explorations and their discoveries.

In other words, these rules are for settlers rather than trailblazers…

I would love to hear the rules that other people recommend and/or follow. And as always, I welcome questions and comments.

- Courtney Shelton Hunt

PS –Upcoming posts in this series will focus on Communication and Engagement Rules, as well as Time and Information Management. I’m also working on a Lessons from Successful Digital Communities post, a couple Social Media Buyer’s Guides and two follow-ups to my post on LinkedIn Profiles. Please subscribe to the blog to be sure you’re notified when future posts are published.

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1. Proceed with “mindful flexibility.”

The underlying philosophy necessary for success with social media is one that balances focused discipline with adaptability. Being mindful means that you “begin with the end in mind” (to quote Stephen Covey) and have a clear sense of what you’re hoping to accomplish in general terms. As I discussed in the previous post, this goal or objective will serve as a guiding force for your decisions and actions.

But rigidly hewing to a specific course of action is virtually impossible. Being flexible means that you accept that you cannot perfectly pursue a “master plan.” You must recognize that the environment within which you’re operating is constantly changing, with new technologies, platforms, tools, and best practices emerging all the time. You also need to develop a high degree of tolerance for ambiguity and chaos, and be willing and able to change course when circumstances dictate.

A corollary idea is to be patiently impatient. You want to move forward with a sense of urgency, but you also need to recognize that you may not see positive results immediately. Depending on your starting point (e.g., your skill level, your operating characteristics), it could take months or even years to reap significant and consistent returns on your investments. There are few overnight successes, and it’s probably naïve to expect any. But that doesn’t mean the investment isn’t worthwhile…

 

2. Listen first, then talk.

In my previous post I suggested that people shouldn’t underestimate the power and value of listening as a reason to be engaged with social media. Too often people focus on what they can/should say through social media rather than what it enables them to hear. Digital monitoring is incredibly powerful. Your initial investment may actually focus on listening rather than talking – in fact, it probably should.

I suggest finding, following and studying the digital activities of early adopters and experts in your profession and/or industry. You can and should also identify key customers and prospects and start listening to their chatter in the digital spaces where they hang out. And don’t forget to tune in to competitors and suppliers, as well as relevant professional associations and public sector entities.

Focus on both content and style when listening to the individuals and organizations you decide to follow. Don’t automatically assume their activity reflects best practices. There are countless enthusiasts and early adopters who continue to make rookie mistakes and/or follow norms that are no longer generally acceptable. Note what you like and don’t like about their activity and pick and choose what makes the most sense for you. Also make note of when they change their own modus operandi and/or shift courses, and look for clues as to what does/doesn’t work for them so you can learn from their experiences.

For more on the value of listening, check out my Trickle-Up Socialnomics white paper.

A corollary idea to transition into the next rule is listen broadly and speak narrowly. Your digital inputs should generally exceed your outputs in both quantity and diversity. Part of the reason social media gets a bad rap is that too many people are talking and not enough people are listening. Buck the trend by placing more emphasis on tuning in than tuning other people out. I know that information overload is a challenge for all of us, but there are tools and techniques to help you manage it. I’ll say more about that in a future post.

 

3. Be strategically tactical.

When you are ready to become more actively engaged, you need to invoke another corollary to ROE #1: think before you act. If you can’t provide a cogent explanation for why you want to pursue a specific tactic, then you probably shouldn’t pursue it. It’s true that the digital landscape is still a bit of a “wild west,” and there are no guarantees, but your risk taking should be calculated rather than blind. Before committing to a course of action, evaluate your options based on your goals and objectives, as well as the potential longer term consequences, both positive and negative.

Even the most rationally-determined courses of action can fail, of course, but the key is to fail smart, which means fast – and hopefully small! Success in the Digital Era is defined less by the ability to avoid failure than the ability to respond appropriately. Every new tactic you try should be viewed as an experiment. You should monitor the immediate consequences, evaluate them, derive lessons learned, and decide whether to stay the course, shift it, or abandon it altogether.

In addition to learning from your own experiences, you should monitor the activities of others and learn from their successes and failures as well. Cyberspace is full of cautionary tales and examples of what not to do. Don’t repeat someone else’s mistakes unwittingly.

Keeping your ear to the digital ground also means paying attention to the latest trends in social media and digital technology – but don’t be tempted to become a “fad follower.” Unless you’re a consistent early adopter, it’s generally not a good use of your time or resources. You don’t want to miss an excellent opportunity, of course, but there’s little risk in watching and waiting and joining the second or even third wave of users. The key is to make sure it makes sense for you and your organization.

Finally, don’t underestimate the importance of infrastructure and laying a solid foundation from the outset. In addition to thinking about specific platforms and tools, you want to think about how they should be integrated into some kind of social media or digital engagement system. Thinking of specific tactics as pieces of a puzzle and having an idea of how the pieces fit together will enable you to move forward with greater efficiency and effectiveness and will minimize the risks of having to undo and redo things down the road.

 

4. Balance idealism and pragmatism.

It’s great to be enthusiastic and ambitious, but don’t let your ambitions exceed your ability to realize them. Recognize the very real constraints you face (e.g., limited time, money, and/or human capital resources) and plan your actions accordingly. Engaging in social media may not take a lot of cash, but it can take a great deal of time to do it right. It’s better to be conservative and go for small wins than to try to hit the ball out of the park and strike out.

It’s also wise to start with where you/your organization are, rather than where you’d like them to be. I often hear people talk about the cultural shifts necessary to create social media success, but I don’t necessarily agree that organizations must become more egalitarian and open, with a highly engaged workforce, before they can leverage new digital tools. These tools can produce tremendous value in terms of efficiency and effectiveness in even the most top-down, command-and-control environment.  And as adoption spreads, cultural shift may result. So don’t wait for ideal circumstances to think about moving forward – the process isn’t that linear. It’s better to identify the value to be derived based on current circumstances, build on the foundation that already exists with respect to processes, culture, resources, etc., and let things evolve organically from there.

 

5. Emphasize quality over quantity.

Many aspects of this rule are reflected in the previous post and the rules above. Don’t feel compelled to be everywhere in cyberspace all at once. Choose the platforms that make the most sense given your goals and objectives, operating environment, and resource constraints. Start small and build incrementally. Avoid creating digital ghost towns and/or leaving a trail of digital detritus by committing to platforms/tools you can’t maintain.

You should always be conscious of your digital brand and your social media credibility. Cyber memories live on for a very long time, and everything you do contributes to (or detracts from) your reputation. Always act with integrity and professionalism. You can certainly share your personality, but I would caution against getting too personal. With few exceptions, it’s generally better to err on the side of conservatism and formality than to convey the wrong impression by being too loose and informal.

Finally, make sure the content you create, curate, and/or share is high quality and relevant. You want your contributions to be viewed as valuable signal rather than unwelcome noise, so that people will want to continue to tune into what you have to say rather than tune you out.

Check out my Twitter Worst Practices and In-spam-ity posts for a deeper dive into my perspective on improving signal/noise ratios in cyberspace. Fair warning: I take a pretty strong stand!

 

Conclusion

I’ll say more about content creation, curation, and sharing in a future post on communication and engagement principles. To round out this series, I also plan to address time and information management challenges. Subscribe to the blog to make sure you’re notified when these posts (and more!) are published.

Written for both individuals and organizations, this post provides high-level guidance for rookies who are just getting started with social media, as well as those who are looking to add more structure, focus and discipline to existing initiatives. The guiding principles address topics such as setting goals, assessing the operating environment, conducting a communications audit, developing a plan of action, acquiring knowledge and skills, incremental implementation, and managing time and information.  

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Between educational and networking events, my own speaking engagements, requests for help, and responses to my blog posts, I am constantly reminded that in spite of all the media hype, the vast majority of professionals are still social media rookies. Many people are still grappling with basic questions like:

• When, where and how to begin
• How to learn and develop proficiency with different platforms and tools
• How to establish a strong digital presence and create/manage a social media brand/image
• How to manage (the often overwhelming) time and information flows

Others have implemented specific initiatives, but their approaches have been tactical rather than strategic and have produced mixed results. Both individuals and organizations have encountered challenges in terms of efficiency and effectiveness and have struggled to manage the necessary time commitments. Organizations face additional challenges because their fragmented, siloed efforts often result in stakeholder confusion and frustration, as well as frequent cannibalization of their own digital properties. In other words, they have a mess on their hands!

As much as people would love to find a silver bullet or killer app that will solve their social media challenges, one doesn’t exist. There is no “one best way” or simple formula for effective digital engagement. Like many other worthwhile activities, it comes down to dedication and hard work. But there is a set of best practices emerging, many of which reflect the same fundamental principles of success in other endeavors.

Here are my top seven “working smart” principles, which are applicable to both individuals and organizations. I also recommend taking a look at the Social Media Primer for a deeper dive into some of these principles, particularly Part 7 – The SAPLING Approach to Leveraging Social Media.

I would love to hear the rules that other people recommend and/or follow. And as always, I welcome questions and comments.

- Courtney Shelton Hunt

PS –Upcoming posts will focus on Rules of Engagement and Lessons from Successful Digital Communities, as well as a couple Social Media Buyer’s Guides and two follow-ups to my post on LinkedIn Profiles. Please subscribe to the blog to be sure you’re notified when they’re published.

 

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1. Know your goals and objectives - in general, not just with respect to social media.

It’s such a basic consideration, but it is all too-often overlooked. Given how time challenged we all are, knowing what you want to accomplish is paramount to determining how you should focus your time and attention. All forms of media – including social media – are means to an end rather than ends in and of themselves. Before you can determine whether investing in social media is worthwhile, you must know why you might make that investment in the first place.

Remember to unpack your goals. It’s not enough to make no-duh statements like “I want to get a (new, better) job” or “We want more clients” or “We want to increase revenue.” For the goals to be effective, they have to be SMART – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. Before you do anything else, either create some goals or revisit the ones you have to ensure they offer the kind of behavioral guidance you need.

Finally, in identifying your goals, remember that “less is more.” Your goals should serve as a beacon, a guiding light. More than three will probably confuse you. Having one that trumps all others will help you manage conflicting priorities and make tough decisions.

 

2. Know your operating environment.

Although social media platforms and tools are available to anyone who wants to use them, their value varies widely depending on a number of factors. Make the time to understand the digital landscape in which you’re operating, by researching the answers to questions like:

• Industry. What sector are you in: commercial, nonprofit, public/government, health care, education? If commercial, is your focus business-to-consumer or business-to-business? If education, is it primary, secondary or higher education? And what kind of nonprofit – charitable, trade or professional association, issue oriented?
• Peers. How far along the digital learning/adoption curve are other individuals and organizations you consider your peers (including competitors)? How widespread are digital engagement practices? What are the emerging trends and norms?
• Stakeholders. Who are your target audience and key stakeholders? How digitally savvy are they? Do they use social media? If so, on what platforms do they hang out? How engaged are they?

 

3. Determine whether social media can help you achieve your goals.

Too often, social media is an answer in search of a question. Rushing into engagement, impulsively jumping on the bandwagon, or being a fad follower usually results in failure – or at least disappointment and frustration. Your efforts are wasted if they don’t enable you to pursue your goals and/or don’t make sense given your operating environment.

Keep the following in mind when determining whether social media makes high-level sense:

• There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Just because someone else is doing something doesn’t mean you should. You must absolutely know “why” using a particular social media platform or tool is a good choice for you.
• Don’t underestimate the power and value of listening as a reason to be engaged. Too often people focus on what they can/should say through social media rather than what it enables them to hear. Digital monitoring is incredibly powerful. Your initial investment may actually focus on listening rather than talking, and that’s perfectly appropriate.
• You may conclude from your assessment that the benefits to be gained from social media – either in general or on a specific platform – aren’t significant enough to justify the costs. Remember, though, that the ultimate question is not “if” but “when.” Plan to circle back to the assessment every few months to determine whether “not now” has become “it’s time.”
• For organizations in particular, even when the answer is “not now,” it’s worthwhile to make the minimal investment to grab the digital real estate you may want to use in the future and hang a “coming soon” sign. In some cases, if someone has already staked a claim in territory you may want (e.g., a particular Twitter handle), you may be able to get it back. Claiming, preserving, and protecting your brand identity is as important in cyberspace as anywhere else.

 

4. Assess social media’s specific value and plan a course of action.

Once you’ve determined social media’s high-level value, you will want to do a more granular assessment focused on specific platforms and tools. This assessment should also include a critical assessment of traditional media and current practices. Given limited resources, you may find that you should replace traditional approaches (e.g., snail mail, trade shows) with digital ones because they are more economical, effective – or both. At a minimum, you will want to integrate traditional and new approaches so you don’t unnecessarily duplicate efforts across multiple channels.

If you’ve already dabbled with social media but have your doubts about the effectiveness of your efforts, it might be worthwhile to conduct a communications and engagement audit. Though you can do this yourself, it’s probably better to hire an outsider who has digital expertise and can offer an objective and independent perspective. Regardless of who conducts the audit, it must be framed in terms of your goals and operating environment, and must make sense for your individual or organizational brand. In addition to critiquing current practices, the audit results should include a specific roadmap of possibilities and targeted efforts.

In addition to conducting an audit, organizations should also solicit input from their key stakeholders, both formally and informally, to ensure they understand the preferences, habits, and digital savvy of the people with whom they want to engage. Too many organizations have learned the hard way the risks of making decisions in a vacuum.

 

5. Acquire the necessary education and training.

When it comes to social media, most people “don’t know what they don’t know.” At the same time, many social media rookies are more digitally engaged than they think they are. I am reminded of both of these truths whenever I administer the Social Media Quotient (SMQ) Quiz during presentations and workshops.  

Every rookie can benefit from educating themselves about social media and/or undertaking training that is appropriate for their role/position. Although many early adopters and social media devotees will advocate “learning by doing,” that approach is neither as efficient or effective as being guided by someone who’s already climbed the necessary learning curves. It’s also fraught with unnecessary risks. Even if you already have well-developed knowledge or skills, you must remain committed to continuous learning to keep up with the constantly-changing digital landscape.

As with other aspects of your social media engagement, your efforts here should be guided by your goals and operating characteristics, as well as the plan of action you’ve devised. You need to “learn smart” before you can “work smart.”

 

6. Implement incrementally.

It’s incredibly easy to become overwhelmed by all the things you should be doing, and failures often result when people try to pursue a variety of initiatives simultaneously. An effective roadmap will lay out specific steps within specific windows (e.g., 1, 3, 6, 9 & 12 months), based on your defined priorities.  If you stay focused and disciplined, you can transform your digital engagement from anemic to robust in a year or less.

In addition to implementing a plan of action, organizations should also address related issues like:

• Governance
• Social media policies and guidelines
• Ownership of accounts, relationships and data
• Commenting and community management guidelines
• Crisis management

 

7. Develop a workable approach to managing time and information.

Discipline and focus are also critical to successful engagement. Don’t underestimate the ongoing time commitment you have to make to social media, and be sure that you are able to stay consistently engaged over the long term before you begin a specific initiative. Also remember that quality is much more important than quantity.  Don’t feel pressured to engage constantly, and make sure your engagement is viewed as valuable signal rather than noise.

Specific considerations include:

• What to share. Not everything has to be created from scratch. Most organizations are content rich and can easily identify existing content to repurpose and/or rechannel through social media. Even individuals can identify relevant and valuable content to (re)share. In an environment of information overload, there is an increasing need for high-quality content curation and unique thought leadership. Those are the best types of content contributions to focus on.
• Who should engage. You may want to outsource or delegate specific activities and tasks, but your digital reputation is your responsibility and you want to be careful about to whom you entrust it. Also remember that authenticity is especially important in cyberspace. Hiring someone to handle your social media activity for you may seem efficient in the short term, but it can backfire over the long term if/when people realize they’re not actually hearing from or engaging with the person they thought they were.
• When to engage. Generally speaking, your social media engagement should be proactive rather than reactive. To avoid being sucked into a time-sucking black hole, and to ensure your digital presence is consistent rather than sporadic, develop an editorial calendar and posting schedule for sharing content. You should also set aside a specific amount of time each day or week to monitor activity and respond as necessary. Tools like the social aggregator HootSuite can help.