Social Media Ground Rule # 4: Make Real Connections

Of all of the 'rules' of social media, #4 may be the toughest to implement. What makes social media so wonderfully different from traditional media is its ability to help organizations have real-time, candid connections with customers, prospects, and the world-at-large. This means that the typical marketing one-way communication mind-set won't work in the social sphere. You can post content all day long on a social media site, but it won't do any good for your communications ROI if you don't respond in a timely and true manner to the content your followers/friends/fans create on your social assets.

Social Media Ground Rule #3: Content Considerations

Now that you've got a clear objective and a resource or two committed to keeping your social media assets up-to-date, the time has come to decide what content is going to be shared through these channels.

What you share should be relevant to your target audience and drive them to specific action--similar to any other media you might use. Some examples of action-inspiring content might include a Tweet with a link back to your website or a special 'Facebook' only promotion. Image posts tend to garner more feedback and views than text-only posts--and even though videos can go viral, they take longer to download and view than simple photo content, which can decrease the number of actual complete impressions.

Also related to content considerations is the quantity of material put out into the social sphere. More is not necessarily better. Focus on quality messaging that is of value to your audiences rather than many superficial interactions, many of which may garner no response at all.

Social Media Ground Rule #2: Commitment

Now that you've identified your business objectives for entering the social media sphere, the next step is to determine the resources you are going to commit to establishing and keeping your presence positive there. This most likely means that you will need to delegate the keeping of your social spaces to someone on your team or a third-party content provider. Be sure that whomever is responsible for updating your social media presence is fully aware of your objectives and well-informed about your company.

How often should you update your FB page? Emerging research shows that unless you have a real-time event occurring, once a day is plenty (btw, Wednesdays before noon are one of the peak traffic times on FB...the weekends are the least trafficked times). Twitter followers tend to accept more frequent updates, but use your discretion--too many tweets may turn off your audience.