Once upon a time there was etiquette. With the advent of the internet came the new rules of netiquette. Now with social media exploding exponentially, the rules of social engagement are changing at almost the speed of light – so it can be a little hard to keep track of what the ‘new’ new personal rules of social media are. So we thought we’d lay them out for you…
The 5 personal rules of social media
- Thou shalt engage – social media is no longer a passing fad. It’s safe to say that it’s here to stay at least for the next decade or so and therefore, if you’re serious about your business or career, you need to take part.
- Thou shalt provide interesting and meaningful content – tailored to your customers, your followers and your connections’ needs. Funny works well, but not too often lest you’re seen as class clown. Serious is good, but can be boring and pictures, well they’re still saying a thousand words, but video speaks volumes.
- Thou shalt be consistent – it’s no good just jumping on every six months
- Thou shalt be careful what thou posteth – especially on a Friday night after a few, but really the need to be a bit careful applies at any time. The rules of defamation still apply and whilst few transgressions are likely to lead you down the legal route, posting pics of yourself in precarious (or naked) situations or posting to twitter or facebook about the big haul of office stationery you’ve misappropriated is probably going to lead to negative outcome (if not tomorrow, once you post, it’s around on people’s caches for a loooooong time).
- Thou shalt not ignore thy other useful tools – thy phone (to actually talk to people) and ye feet (old technology previously used to walk towards others for face to face meetings, business deals, coffees, drinks, etc). Whilst social media provides wonderful and interesting technologies – as people begin to experience social media fatigue – the phone and face-to-face contact will count more than ever – particularly for B2B owners and their sales people).
