Don’t worry.  If you don’t have one, you aren’t alone.  Not by a long shot.

However, as social media becomes a bigger and more important part of your overall marketing efforts, you’ll need one.  It’s required, got it?

Why A Social Media Policy?
One of the big concerns of brands that use social media marketing is the fact that there’s “no control”.

The fact is, you can’t ever control what others say about your brand.  And you never have.  You can however, manage what you say about your brand.  Surprisingly, that’s a problem for some.

Creating your social media policy doesn’t need to be an exercise in formality.  It’s simply a guide, with parameters.  Not micro-management on paper.

What Can A Social Media Policy Do?
There are tons of positives from creating and adhering to a social media marketing policy:

• Identify the basic questions of who, what, where and when
• Identify hot-button topics and create appropriate plans of action
• Establish a planned response for emergencies, anticipated or otherwise
• Eliminate the inaction that is often caused by uncertainty
• Establish training protocol

Let’s use sports as an example.  Success in sports is predicated by proper evaluation, planning, and execution. If you are leading your social team, think like a coach. Evaluate your personnel, game plan, teach the fundamentals, and prepare for anything.

Then teach your team. It’s going to establish the who, what, and when of your organization, and provide a guide for everyone to refer to.  And you’ll have a plan for when all hell breaks loose.

Examples, Links and Reading

• Dave Fleet on Social Media Policy
• Working example – Intel Social Media Policy
• PR Squared – Guidelines and Templates
• 107 Working Examples

Mistakes can and will happen. However, if you have the fundamentals ingrained, you’ll be much more apt for consistent success.

But there are some new (or new-ish) titles that everyone should read.  Here’s why:  Together, they are primer on how digital marketing is done.

That means if read these and you can start to create digital marketing strategy with just about anyone who lives and works on the digital side of life.  That includes web developers, content strategists, graphic designers, and on and on.

Enjoy…

1.  Letting Go Of The Words by Ginny Reddish      First of all, this isn’t a narrative.  It’s a textbook.  And there’s no better work on the nuts and bolts of writing for the web.  If you want to know how to make your written content useful, this book explains all.

2.  Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff     This is the book that identifies what social media is, who will be using it, and how it’s taken over the online world.  There are a fair number of statistics, which can make it seem dry.  But for anyone that works with a team that needs to be convinced about social media, this is the book to do it.

3.  Made To Stick by Chip and Dan Heath     This one isn’t digital-specific.  But it does explain how to translate your ideas in interesting ways.  And “interesting” is exactly what’s needed in an environment where attention spans (even yours) are measured in fractions of parts of bits of seconds.

4.  Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith     If Groundswell explains the what, who, and how of social media, Trust Agents is the “why”.  This book explains the power of influence, reputation, and relationships in the world of the social web.

5.  The Back Of The Napkin by Dan Roam   Draw stick figures.  Be understood.  Repeat.  It’s the communication tool that those of us without the gift of graphics have always looked for.  Especially now.  Information has gone far, far beyond simple text.  This book explains how to get there yourself.

How she died is terrible, tragic, and all too common in the world of children with cancer.  What she left behind for her family, and for all of us, is remarkable.

Read it, watch the video, and go tell someone you love them.

If they’re spending so much as a penny with you, they do.

Trust is one of the fundamental building blocks of the process which moves us from prospect to customer; Without trust, we don’t buy. Simple as that.

There are always a series of steps in the buying cycle, and every company has a slightly different cycle.  The cycle contains attention, interest, desire etc.  Each step represents a “micro-conversion” which must take place to reach the ultimate goal – “the sale”.

Trust is one of the hardest micro-conversions to check off the list. People, now more than ever, are increasingly distrustful of brands. This is substantiated by a variety of sources, include PEW Research which tells us that 7 people in 10 say they consult online reviews when purchasing.  I would go as far as to say that the “consulting” they’re doing is a large portion of the decision-making process of simply whether or not to trust a brand.

People gain trust in brands in a variety of ways.  Were you helpful, honest, sincere… nice? And beyond even how to gain that trust, what to do with it once you’ve earned it?

Earning trust is just a portion of the proverbial battle. Truth is, the real work begins after trust is earned.  That’s where the real responsibility is.

It’s your responsibility, once you’ve earned trust, to keep your customers’ best interest at the core of everything you do within the relationship.  The old saying, “the customer is always right” is fundamentally flawed; you are often the customer… and you’re also sometimes wrong.  But when it’s your business, it’s still your duty as the trust-bearer to ensure those customers are right.

Make them smarter. Make them understand. Teach them. Lead them in the right direction.  After all, they’re TRUSTING YOU to do that very thing.  Trust, once obtained, is the basis of all of your business relationships. Now that you’ve earned it, it’s your burden to prove the decision to give it was wise.

Do you remember when people would cut phone calls short because it was “long distance”?  My dad still does it, BTW.  Now that that’s not a factor, here’s a bigger question for you:  Why are there still people who are reluctant to go digital?

Think about it in terms of history- the pony express was replaced by the telegraph.  The rotary phone was replaced by the touch tone.  They were replaced because the newer technology made things better.  Of course, that concept rings true no matter how far you go back.

There’s more computing power in your phone than there was in the first space shuttle.  And all the things you can do with it make your world better, easier.  Sure, better and easier get exploited by people all the time.  Spam was around before it was called spam.  But we don’t have to fall into that trap- spammers prey on the uninformed.

And this is the information age.  There’s no reason to be scared of your computer.  That’s because the more you know about working in the digital space, the more you can do.  If you go the other way, you’re stuck with, “Well, this is a long distance call…”

Learning is easier than ever.  The tools are easier to use than ever.  Communication with thousands and thousands of people is easier than ever.  The only thing that makes it hard… is thinking that it is.

I know, I know.  I’m a freak.  A pariah.  People look at me like I’ve got six heads.  But I’m used to it.  I eat candy every once in a while, I enjoy it, but I’ve never, ever had a sweet tooth.  Go figure.

Still, I can’t say enough how much I like the Candy Dish Blog.  Good writing, interesting topics, nice design.  The style of the blog is very distinct, meaning it helps brand them, and it’s a great example of good business blogging (in this case, for the National Confectioners Association).

Here’s what’s cool about the writing:  it’s light, personal, sometimes funny, doesn’t try too hard, and it’s topical.  The “authors” tab lets you know exactly who’s saying what, which is especially near and dear to me.  I haven’t read tons of posts, but it seems like they mix it up fairly well, topic-wise, between industry news and personal takes on the candy experience.

There are some blog elements that new business bloggers should pay attention to. Photos, for instance, are front and center, and there’s a flickr roll in the sidebar.  Also in the sidebar is a big ol’ blogroll to promote their subject.

And, if you like candy, well, there’s a lot to make you salivate.  It’s a great example of how to take your subject and run with it.  In blog form.

If you’re thinking of starting or re-doing your business blog, there’s a lot here you should check out for ideas.

Big parts of marketing budgets past used to go toward one thing:  production.  Paper and distribution.  Stamps.  They were fixed costs, and the companies with big resources could easily outproduce small business.

Not so now.  There are still costs, but those two things- production and distribution- are essentially free.

Think about creating a direct mail piece focused solely on how great your customers are.  As far as I know, that never happened.  But digitally, you’re free to devote as much space to that as you like.

People can choose you.  If you’re content is good, you get read.  People will talk to you. It’s distribution on its head.

What you don’t have to do is spam, or do the pre-digital version of spamming.  There’s a lot of that going on still and yet.  There always will be.

But it’s a pretty nice time to be doing what we’re doing.

Most people who go that route end up with a big, wordy mess.  The problem is, it’s hard to see it if you’re the one making the mess.

People only come to your site for two reasons:  to get information, and to perform a task.

If a reader doesn’t instantly see how to do those things, they’re leaving.  So you have use all that information you have to focus.  To pare down.  To get to the point.

Make it easy.  Yes, you want to talk about your sale or your event.  But do it in a way that allows people to immediately get their information, immediately perform their task.

Doing the opposite is a common mistake.  If someone needs to find out the dates and times your event takes place, they shouldn’t have to search for it.

Likewise, if there’s some information that makes your business stand out (not just, “we’re better than the competition”), put that front and center.  Give that information away- don’t make your readers hunt for it.

It should all be easy to read.  Stay away from long paragraphs, or big blocks of text.  Use subheads to break up your ideas.  Use numbered and bulleted lists.  Use your imagination.

The quicker your site gives people information, or helps them perform a task, the more conversions you’ll get.  Always.

Nerd-dom can be defined as being awkwardly enthusiastic about things that take some intelligence, imagination, and participation.  Maybe put an emphasis on “awkward”.

I think this is why nerds excel at using social media.  If you’re too cool to participate, you get nothing.  If you’re not intelligent, you’re bound to be misunderstood.  If you lack imagination, you probably won’t get far using social media in the first place.

It’s a pretty good time to be alive if you’re naturally a nerd.  You’re actually encouraged to be yourself, to be transparent, even in business.  Especially in business.

How did that happen?  Kurt Cobain in a cardigan?  Bill Gates with a billion dollar endowment?

Here’s my theory:  Programming and computers fall squarely into the nerd pantheon.  And you have to have those ingredients I listed earlier to really make them work for you.  As computers e became the tools that the world used to talk to one another, the language we use became an extension of those tools.

And those characteristics that are automatically built into the language-  enthusiasm, participation, etc. are part of it.  Nerds are native speakers.

So how does this help you in business?  I’m not positive.  My social skills have always been a bit on the awkward side (though I admit I have a great sense of humor.  If you like bad puns.)

But I would encourage everyone to let their inner nerd out.  Especially when using social media.  Be honest, and a little weird, and human.

Your brochure is one thing.  Social media is another.

That time frame, the time it takes to build trust online, should be considered ahead of time.  It needs to be part of your strategy.  The little decisions, the conversions,  that go into someone deciding to trust you are way more important than advertising your special online.  Plan for it.

They’re micro-conversions.  Lots of little, helpful interactions that you give away for free.  It’s just like if you had a shop, and people came in for directions.  Same thing.

Well, you can give directions by just pointing at a map.  But to make an impression, you’ve got to be a real person.

People who are talking into the social media bullhorn without planning are going to be left behind when it comes to making big conversions or sales.  If they would have spent time making micro-conversions instead of trying to be the biggest, things might have worked.

All you have to do to start is take some time to listen.  Then, introduce yourself.

There.  You made your first micro-conversion.

Now keep going.