People often ask me for social media rules: How do we communicate? What do you mean have a conversation? What if we don’t have enough fans? How do you handle negativism? Many rules of the road especially with ever-changing social media tools can add to the intimidation factor of engaging. Rather than rules for what to do or not do, here are my 10 suggestions to try. Much more will come of your social media approach if you go beyond what has been tested and challenge yourself to identify new approaches to best achieve your goals. Find your own dos and don’ts.

1. Have a plan
Answer basic questions about what you aim to achieve. What is the end goal? What are the expectations? Who will utilize the tools (e.g. Corporate communications, public relations, marketing, brand teams, government affairs, executives)? It is important to have a plan and to look down the road. Social media is sometimes viewed as separate, an add-on. Social media reaps the greatest rewards when fully integrated into the overall plan and when on- and offline activities are considered.
2. Be professional
A lot of time goes into professional presentation like clothes, hair, type of audience. A friend of mine even has eyeglasses for different types of settings based on what message he wants to convey with his appearance. We pay attention to our office décor, what we say, etc. Professional presentation is also important online. You can be a little more relaxed on your personal Facebook or Twitter accounts, but it is still important to be safe and remember that current and future bosses, employees, colleagues, media, detractors, customers and clients can still have an eye on your personal content. Whatever you put out online can stay there forever. Be forthcoming and clear about whom you are communicating on behalf of to avoid having to explain yourself later.
3. Include your team with guidance
Employees, Board Members, executives, customers, vendors, shareholders, members, charitable partners make up your team. Include them in your online presence and utilize social media tools to highlight and feature them and their contributions. Encourage their participation and ask them to create their own social profiles if they haven’t already. Help them get set up and if necessary provide guidelines for company expectations of when and how employees utilize the tools.
4. Use what you have
If you have a recognizable and well-liked leader, mascot or personality use them with your social media presence. If I were McDonald’s, I would use Ronald. Also use what content you already have. It’s unnecessary to create all new content. Much of the offline content can be recycled.
5. Establish a connection
I had a great opportunity earlier this year to spend a day with a professional speech coach in DC. One of the most valuable takeaways for me was to talk with the audience as if I were talking to my best friend. A similar approach is effective with social media. Have conversations with your community. Two-way interaction deepens loyalty and you just might find nuggets of useful feedback, good ideas. My dear father-in-law, who is sorely missed, was a good and smart man who taught us a valuable practice. He would ask for, then use names everywhere he went. He said,” people have a name and they like to hear it”...or see it.
6. Take deliberate action
This reminds me of something parents say, “don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” or “don’t do anything you wouldn’t do if I were there.” It’s a straightforward rule of thumb: if you wouldn’t do it offline, don’t do it online. Running a TV or radio ad several times in a row would be overkill. Overselling can come when throwing information at people or from information overload. For this reason, I prefer not to connect Twitter and Facebook or Twitter and LinkedIn. People come to different social media sites for different purposes and with a different mindset, it’s important to take that into consideration and communicate based on the venue.
7. Measure results
There is much more to this than keeping track of the number of fans or followers that you attain and retain. Develop a measure of interactions, activity around posts and events, clicks on links, time spent on your site, where the traffic is coming from, audience makeup. There are many processes and tools available – several are free – and a host of professionals who can help you analyze them. Metrics will help shape your plan going forward and further customize the online presence that best achieves your business goals.
8. Be prepared and confident
When I see an interrupter successfully hijack a conversation online it is too often the result of a lack of confidence in handling it. Not all interruptions are response-worthy. For those that are, include the approach for handling it in the plan. No need for it to linger or it will take you off task and away from your mission. If the action of one person begins infringing upon the positive experience for others, then it is time to take swift action within your company’s rules of engagement to remove them. Having policies in place ahead of time will help you handle these situations more easily when they come.
9. Be ubiquitous
I would not invest time in building an online presence, then fail to lead people to it. Social media pages are most recognizable when they are consistent with the offline brand and as close to the name as possible. The name on the office door, business cards and website should be the same on social media sites. Vanity URLs are another great free feature on Facebook that makes it easy for people to find you – www.facebook/yourcompany. Include your social media connections on every on- and offline ad, on the home page of your website (front and center), on the blog, in emails, press releases, opinion pieces, newsletters, and marketing pieces. It’s where and how people will find you.
10. Enjoy it
It is easy to identify those companies who are embracing social media with zest and those engaging in it because it is expected. It is like attending a party versus an event. People want to be at the party and are there because they enjoy it. People attend the event out of some sort of obligation. Those having fun will attract and keep more people. Be creative, include some of yourselves in the communication, offer valuable content, show unique approaches and perhaps most important, be authentic.

The conversations about your industry, you, your company or organization are happening online with or without you. Best to be a part of, or better yet leading, the conversation.