Social Media Do’s and Don’ts

Everyone knows by now that Social Media has taken the business world by storm. It seems like it’s all anyone is talking about online these days.

Online communities such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and others that started out as a way for people to keep in touch with family and friends have morphed into valuable business communication and marketing tools that any company or entrepreneur is foolish to not take advantage of.

That said, one of the problems that some in business are having is not using these tools correctly and effectively. If your goal is to promote yourself (or your company), then the idea is to gain friends and followers by providing them with interesting, relevant, and useful information that they will find valuable. On a daily basis, though, I cringe at some of the inappropriate comments, postings, and Tweets, or general mistakes that are being made by those who are new to the medium and don’t fully understand how to use it. Too often people are trying to accomplish too many differing goals and not succeeding at any of them because of it.

So let me share with some of you a few “Do’s” and “Don’ts” when it comes to your use of Social Media – some of these tips are fairly generic, others are specific to a particular social network:

In general:

  • First and foremost, DON’T try to manage both personal and professional communication from a single profile on any community. It’s fine to use Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace to let family & close friends know about what is going on in your personal life, but do that from a personal account only — set up a separate account for your “business” to promote your travel writing, your book, or your freelance writing services. Likewise if you have a personal blog, set up a separate blog for your business persona;
  • DON’T link the two or try to cross-promote them — sure your family may be interested in knowing if you’re in the running for a sweet writing assignment, but do you really want an Editor seeing that video of you drunkenly telling an off-color (or racist) joke that your sister posted on your Facebook page? Let me answer that for you — no. Emphatically no;
  • DO always keep in mind why your audience follows you, and make sure that the majority of what you are sharing is valuable to them (for example, on Twitter and Facebook I connect with a number of travel writers because I like to hear -and talk – about the business of traveling and writing. Although I DO want to get to know the people I connect with, if all they ever post about are things irrelevant to traveling or writing, they will quickly lose my interest);
  • DO inject your personality and let people get to know “you” – it’s great to add some sense of humor, sarcasm, or wit as you are offering up information or news that you’ve found, or announcing your latest article or blog post — It’s the “glue” that cements the connections. Just remember that the version of “you” that you share professionally SHOULD be a somewhat ‘filtered’ version than the one you share with family and your closest friends;

On Twitter – all of the General Tips above applies, PLUS:

  • DO avoid the temptation to Tweet too much. How much is too much? Read this really great blog post about the downside of too many Tweets. I only have so much time in my day to keep up on Twitter, so if someone is tweeting a lot of inconsequential noise, or simply too often, I can’t follow them because they drown out the others that I want to keep up with. I’ve unfollowed some people for too-frequent tweeting, or just too much irrelevant tweeting;
  • Follow whomever you want to, but only Retweet (RT) information that you believe your followers will find interesting;
  • If you’re Replying to a Tweet, DO include a snippet of the original, so that your followers can put your Reply in context – otherwise it’s just more noise to them;
  • DO use TwitPic, but use it wisely – keeping in mind a photo’s relevancy to your followers, it’s a great way for them to get to know you better;
  • DO interact with your followers and those you are following — Replying and Retweeting are ways to let people know that you’re reading and appreciating what they have to say;
  • EDITOR’S NOTE: I just added 1 more DON’T after witnessing this BIG NO-NO on Twitter: DON’T use Twitter as a replacement for IM/SMS/Text Messaging friends for an active/personal/lots of back-and-forth conversation! Why force your followers to wade through the flood of irrelevant chatter that is better left to your IM Clients?

Facebook, MySpace, and/or your Blog – all of the General Tips above PLUS:

  • If you have a personal Blog or MySpace page, go as wild or cutesy as you like with the design, but for your business profile DO keep it subdued and professional – remember, Editors and Publishers may be checking out your profile before offering or approving a writing assignment;
  • Just as with the last Twitter tip above, DO interact with those with whom you have connected – comment on what they share, ask questions, share things you think they’d like. Remember that it’s not just about promoting yourself, it’s about networking and establishing connections, in some cases building friendships around common business-related interests – that’s a two-way street;
  • DON’T allow your family or friends to “friend” you on your Facebook or MySpace profiles, unless you can absolutely trust them to never post personal or inappropriate content to your page – you don’t want to risk losing a business opportunity due to an offensive posting by someone who doesn’t mean you ill but just doesn’t know any better;

Final Tip: DO set up a business email address (use your Blog domain if you have one) and create an Email Signature that promotes your business Facebook Page, business MySpace profile, and business Twitter account (you do have all three, don’t you? You should!). DON’T use your personal email address for business.

Never forget that there is a lot of competition in the travel writing industry. A Publisher, Editor, or PR Firm wants to trust that if you’re somewhere on assignment — representing their magazine, website, or client — that you’ll behave professionally and represent them in the best possible light. Ensuring that every social media connection you make in pursuit of promoting yourself/business/company stays “on message” is critical in landing writing gigs and press trips.

The bottom line is that the point is NOT that you should never share personal information with business acquaintances and colleagues — there are times when it is acceptable — but simply to keep it appropriate and to a minimum. DON’T overwhelm someone you know only online with a lot of personal details about your private life. By all means DO be personable, witty, and charming (be yourself), just be the most professional YOU that you can be.

~Trisha

How do you manage both personal and business communications?

About Trisha Miller 116 Articles
Trisha Miller Editor-in-Chief, TravelWritersExchange.com - Trisha joined the Travel Industry in 1996 with a background in telecommunications and helped to build (and later sell) one of the industry's top inbound call centers specializing in air travel. Her career in Travel Writing began with creating destination-specific content for a corporate travel intranet, and continued as she contributed content to a large number of travel-related companies that were establishing an online presence throughout the late '90's and early '00's. Currently she is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, and a former Board Member of the International Food, Wine, and Travel Writers Association (2009-2015).  Still a frequent world traveler, and occasional guest-blogger on a number of other Travel Blogs, Trisha writes about travel and technology, sometimes both at the same time. You can follow Trisha on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/TravelWriting

8 Comments

  1. Great post Trisha! Thanks for the reminder of Social Media Dos and Dont’s.

    Facebook only allows you to have one Profile Page. I did have 2 Profile Pages (personal) (business) but ended up deleting one of them. Updating two Facebook profile pages was getting to be too much. I’m surprised Facebook didn’t “catch” me. Anyway, I took Facebook’s advice and created a Page. I do have some family members on Facebook but that’s all right. MySpace is more personal, haven’t created another account. I joined LinkedIn and will become acclimated with it.

    Sometimes social media can be overwhelming. It’s like “how much is too much?” Off to “Tweet” something.

  2. Thanks Rebecca – I always appreciate your feedback!

    There is a way around that issue on Facebook – in addition to (personal) profiles, they allow you to set up Pages (as you’ve discovered) – such as Fan Pages, Group Pages, and Cause Pages. Fan Pages are used most often by bands or brands, but I have seen some companies using them as a normal business page too.

    I think Facebook is okay with someone having both a personal profile and a business profile if you feel a profile page is better than one of the Page options above, but you’re right that it is time-consuming and sometimes overwhelming to keep up on so many different profiles and networks…..and to do it well. Some larger companies are now hiring people to do nothing but that – that could be a fun job!

  3. Thanks for the reminder about social media dos and dont’s. I do my best to post relevant information and not bombard people as people do with email marketing. Oy! That gets overwhelming — receiving an email EVERY DAY from a company. That’s when I opt out :)

  4. Great post! Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are all wonderful tools for both business and personal use. But, just as in the office, what’s said around the water cooler is not repeated in the board room. Wonderful reminder of do’s and don’ts.

  5. Very good and exceptionally clear article. I work at trying to keep my information 95% business with some personal comments.

    If people would keep most to business, it would work out well. That is, if business is what they are promoting.

    However, I agree that it is great to have a personal account for friends and family.

    In any case, as usual, this is very well written.

    Maralyn

  6. Thanks Maralyn, for your kind words and unfailing support – I really appreciate it!

    I wish sometimes I could reach out to some of the people on Twitter and say “please let me give you some advice!” …..for example, just today I quit following someone whom I would ordinarily be very interested in following, as he’s a travel writer who also runs a very active site for booking travel and travel blogging, but most of his Tweets are about soccer games and soccer players…..aaaarrrgh! AND another person I UNfollowed because most of her Tweets are random, old cliched travel quotes – very frustrating!

    I really think Twitter has the potential to be a really useful tool for business, if business people would just stop overusing it to broadcast irrelevant noise about their personal lives – the occasional Tweets on a personal note are fine, but when it’s the majority of what you’re Tweeting about, it’s too much.

  7. Excellent post, as always on TWEX.

    A couple of questions:

    1) Should you tweet thanking someone for their retweet of yours “@xyz thanks for the retweet”? I see it a lot…but that doesn’t make it right.

    2) I thought MySpace was on its way out. Is it crucial that my online travel magazine have a MySpace page?

    Thanks,
    Stephen
    .-= Stephen´s last blog post: A Swim in Lake Tanganyika =-.

    • Hi Stephen – thanks for stopping by! Glad you liked this post :)

      1. Yes, although it isn’t necessary to thank folks for retweeting, it’s considered good manners, and serves two important purposes:

      a) it sends a not-so-subtle cue to your followers that you notice, and appreciate, when they retweet your messages, encouraging more retweets those you thank as well as those who have yet to RT for you; and

      b) it helps those you’re thanking to gain more followers, which they will appreciate. Any time you help others, it comes back to you in spades.

      Also when you thank others they will be much more amenable to helping you out on those occasions when you have something you really need help getting retweeted. More than half of social media success is in the connections that you make.

      2. It is my personal opinion that MySpace is, if not on it’s way out, quickly becoming irrelevant for business people, as they are not flocking to it in large numbers as they are to Twitter and Facebook. I don’t think it’s crucial for your magazine to have a MySpace page, but it also isn’t necessary to ditch it if you do have one, I just wouldn’t focus a lot of effort there.

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