Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, WordPress, and YouTube can all be effective in building your brand visibility and strengthening your business opportunities. But when do alerts, status updates, mashups, and blogs become a distraction or liability rather than a value-added communication? According to social media expert Nathan Egan, a former LinkedIn manager who has built a business training executives how to use social media and Web 2.0 for the enterprise, “there is an art and a science to optimizing your presence without getting others to opt-out”. Egan, who has his MBA from Villanova University’s School of Business, offers his top five tips below on how to design and execute an effective corporate social protocol.
Control Random Acts of Social Media: It doesn’t matter what industry you are in, chances are very good that your employees are using their individual social media accounts for business AND personal use. When and where they cross the line directly reflects back on your corporate image. While it may not feel comfortable at first, it is critical that your organization embraces these new communication mediums and takes control by creating standards the same way you have for phone, email, and in-person meetings.
MBM = Monitor, Build, Manage: One of the most powerful and underutilized functions of these new platforms is the ability for your organization to observe & manage your internal and external resources while building valuable databases. For example, use Tweetdeck to track what your customers saying about you and LinkedIn to manage employee data and better utilize their skill sets. There is so much untapped power here, figure it out and build a competitive advantage!
Avoid Network Fatigue: Whether on a corporate or individual level, professional and strategic management of your status updates is critical. Before you Tweet or update your network, ask yourself this question, “is this value-added content?” Generally speaking, no one in your organization should be broadcasting what they had for breakfast or that they are late again – carefully time and use status updates to tell your network that you are speaking at a conference or closing big deals.
Connect With Your Customers: Social takes CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to a whole new level – especially LinkedIn. You connect with your customers, your customers are connected to your prospects… do you really need more explanation? Egan urges caution here though, certain sites like Twitter and Facebook are very powerful and relevant for business but they also exist in a grey area that makes it easier to cross the line.
Run Pilot Programs: If you are nervous or unsure how to proceed -- you should be! Your brand is on the line you don’t want to risk a social backlash. As a general rule of thumb in business, don’t go “all or nothing” with a new initiative and the same rule holds true with any potential social media program. Mitigate risk by hiring a professional who knows the platforms and can objectively consult your business on best practices.
Read Nathan Egan's five top reasons to use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more.
To contact Nathan Egan about training to optimize your presence on social media sites, email him at negan@valueprop.com
Comments
Thanks for the informative article! I'm starting to use Twitter myself for both personal and corporate usage, and I find myself sometimes almost crossing the blurry line between the two! Everyone should follow your 5 tips right from the early stages of getting into Twitter.
It's vitally important to keep your truly social networks and your business networks separate. Otherwise you end up walking a tightrope trying not to cheese of your friends by being to work oriented, but not appearing unprofessional to your customers.
Decide which persona you are going to have on which network. Choose be considering how many of your friends are on that network compared to your business contacts. Then stick with "friending" only people with that focus. I use Facebook only for friends, Twitter only for work, and don't mix the two.
For business based networking, formulate a strategy for what you want to achieve and stick with it. It may be better communication to existing customers, another channel for customer support, or winning new customers. Remember that networking itself is not a goal; it's a means to an end. There has to be a point to why you are building contacts, so
But also look beyond the mainstream networks for smaller more focused sites that may help you achieve your goals quicker. The most focused conversations are not necessarily happening on Twitter or LinkedIn.
Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
This article is a great "cheat sheet" to follow - easy to understand and practical. Thanks!
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