Defining your Social Media Brand
Would it be wrong to have the inaugural post of InteractiveTrends.com be on the subject of social media? It may be wrong since having a blog is no longer a trend, but rather a necessity. To that end, this article is not a conversation on do you need social networking or not; we know you do. It is a conversation on how do you come across to your following and establishing your brand presence on the social media sites.
Along with the need for a blog, comes the need for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and the plethora of other social networking sites. The absence of establishing a presence on these sites is becoming increasingly noticeable by the everyday web visitor. “If you’re not there, you don’t exist” or at minimum, your existence is perceived as somewhat less important.
With the efforts of the openID initiative and cross site publishing and content sharing, maintaining your social presence is becoming easier than ever. However, there are some tricks to figure out and before you venture down the social media path, you should ask yourself a few questions.
Before you begin, ask yourself if your social media presence is intended to represent yourself or your company. Establishing some basic rules of engagement now will save you the time and headaches associated with trying to separate your identities later. To help you determine your Social Media Brand identity run through the following exercise.
Is it ok if your business following knows that you got wasted last night and puked on the curb outside Walgreens? If that is ok, then maybe a single social network presence is fine. If it does matter, consider having separate accounts for your social life and your professional life.
Do your friends and family want to constantly see what you are doing at work? Are they sick of hearing about your passion for your business? If so, you can either consider separate profiles or you could consider getting new friends.
Understand the purpose of each social networking tool and how all the tools you plan on using interact with each other.
There are some basic etiquette rules you should follow. The first rule is “Don’t be annoying” If you tweet (Twitter post) every time you blow your nose or wipe your ass, people are going to stop listening. There must be value in what you have to say. Everyone is following many others and the sheer number of updates to view are overwhelming. Make yours matter. If your followers have to scroll through the 15 updates you posted as you recapped your day in real time, they stop paying any attention to you. When you do have something of value that they may be interested in, it’s too late; they have already tuned you out. In fact, you may get removed or blocked.
With all the interaction now available between many of the social networking sites, it is easy to have your Tweets show on your Facebook wall or your LinkedIn profile, but do they belong there? If someone views your professional LinkedIn profile, do you want them to know that you “got up late, heading to office now after I stop for coffee”? If you post a picture of your drunk friend wearing your other friends bra on the outside of his AC/DC classic t-shirt, is it ok that a conservative prospect formed a first impression that you will never know about?
If you are passionate about your religious or political believes, consider having separate indentities so you avoid alienating your potential prospects or existing clients. Don't supress your passions, just use common sense when deciding the platform for your passion.
Don’t use the social media tools for what they are not intended for. Having a conversation with your buddy on Twitter with comments like “No sh*t, me 2” provides little value to your following. Twitter was not designed to be an online chat; take the conversation offline or to an online resource intended for this.
The answers to how you leverage the social media tools lies within you, your business, your types of services and your client base. If you are known for being that crazy creative director that no one understands, but you do great work, perhaps this is exactly the impression you want to leave behind – the crazier the better.
To summarize, regardless if you are an individual or a company, the first step in establishing any social media presence is to define your Social Media Brand. You must know who you are, think about the take away and then hold true to your brand. If you have decided to be a company, don’t submit reply posts that do not reflect the attitude of the company; you must resist it at all costs because once your social media brand is diluted with your personal opinions and comments, have fun separating them.
Antidote X, the full service Interactive marketing agency that maintains this blog can help you define your Social Media brand or establish and execute a Social Media corporate strategy. You can find contact information for Antidote X at http://www.antidotex.com/contact/.
Along with the need for a blog, comes the need for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and the plethora of other social networking sites. The absence of establishing a presence on these sites is becoming increasingly noticeable by the everyday web visitor. “If you’re not there, you don’t exist” or at minimum, your existence is perceived as somewhat less important.
With the efforts of the openID initiative and cross site publishing and content sharing, maintaining your social presence is becoming easier than ever. However, there are some tricks to figure out and before you venture down the social media path, you should ask yourself a few questions.
Before you begin, ask yourself if your social media presence is intended to represent yourself or your company. Establishing some basic rules of engagement now will save you the time and headaches associated with trying to separate your identities later. To help you determine your Social Media Brand identity run through the following exercise.
- Decide what type of content you plan on posting
- Who will you invite to be your social network friends and what are they interested in?
- Who will you accept invitations from and will you want them reading your posts?
Is it ok if your business following knows that you got wasted last night and puked on the curb outside Walgreens? If that is ok, then maybe a single social network presence is fine. If it does matter, consider having separate accounts for your social life and your professional life.
Do your friends and family want to constantly see what you are doing at work? Are they sick of hearing about your passion for your business? If so, you can either consider separate profiles or you could consider getting new friends.
Understand the purpose of each social networking tool and how all the tools you plan on using interact with each other.
- According to Twitter, “Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”
- According to Facebook, “Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life.”
- YouTube simply states “Broadcast Yourself”
- LinkedIn: “Over 35 million professionals use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas and opportunities”
There are some basic etiquette rules you should follow. The first rule is “Don’t be annoying” If you tweet (Twitter post) every time you blow your nose or wipe your ass, people are going to stop listening. There must be value in what you have to say. Everyone is following many others and the sheer number of updates to view are overwhelming. Make yours matter. If your followers have to scroll through the 15 updates you posted as you recapped your day in real time, they stop paying any attention to you. When you do have something of value that they may be interested in, it’s too late; they have already tuned you out. In fact, you may get removed or blocked.
With all the interaction now available between many of the social networking sites, it is easy to have your Tweets show on your Facebook wall or your LinkedIn profile, but do they belong there? If someone views your professional LinkedIn profile, do you want them to know that you “got up late, heading to office now after I stop for coffee”? If you post a picture of your drunk friend wearing your other friends bra on the outside of his AC/DC classic t-shirt, is it ok that a conservative prospect formed a first impression that you will never know about?
If you are passionate about your religious or political believes, consider having separate indentities so you avoid alienating your potential prospects or existing clients. Don't supress your passions, just use common sense when deciding the platform for your passion.
Don’t use the social media tools for what they are not intended for. Having a conversation with your buddy on Twitter with comments like “No sh*t, me 2” provides little value to your following. Twitter was not designed to be an online chat; take the conversation offline or to an online resource intended for this.
The answers to how you leverage the social media tools lies within you, your business, your types of services and your client base. If you are known for being that crazy creative director that no one understands, but you do great work, perhaps this is exactly the impression you want to leave behind – the crazier the better.
To summarize, regardless if you are an individual or a company, the first step in establishing any social media presence is to define your Social Media Brand. You must know who you are, think about the take away and then hold true to your brand. If you have decided to be a company, don’t submit reply posts that do not reflect the attitude of the company; you must resist it at all costs because once your social media brand is diluted with your personal opinions and comments, have fun separating them.
Antidote X, the full service Interactive marketing agency that maintains this blog can help you define your Social Media brand or establish and execute a Social Media corporate strategy. You can find contact information for Antidote X at http://www.antidotex.com/contact/.
posted by Interactive Trends at
7:34 PM
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