Hope isn’t a strategy. You don’t start a blog (or setup a Fan Page) and think, “I hope this goes well.” It’s wishful thinking, but it’s not much of a plan.
So what do you do? Where do you start? Here are some basic Do’s and Don’ts. If you need a little more help, check out some of our workshops.
Do’s
- Participate (comment, reply)
- Share Often (to be informative) – “set it and forget it” doesn’t work
- Listen Actively (Google Alerts, TweetBeep, Feedreader)
- Provide Value (two types of value: Education & Entertainment)
- Measure (Google Analytics, Woopra, Visistat) – and adjust accordingly
- Think Before You Tweet (post, update, etc.) – Remember, Google is Forever!
Don’t
- Automate Conversation (nobody likes a robot)
- Broadcast (read: Nobody Cares)
- Steal Other’s People’s Content
- Be Negative or Disrespectful (constructive criticism is ok)
- Ignore People
What am I missing? What would you add?
Photo by: dhaneshr
Excellent summation. Ricardo. I'd add:
— Within reason, be willing to be where your customers are. If they like to hang out on Facebook, make sure you have a Page there. If they're also on Twitter, keep an account there, too. You can't expect (or force) everyone to come to your website or blog; be willing to meet them halfway. You can use tools like Ping.fm to update multiple feeds at once, and then check each service individually for replies/ responses to engage in specific conversation.
Wise advice. Identify who your target audience is and be where they are. Thanks for the comment Arlene!
I thought of another one to add to the Don'ts: Flooding your tweetstream. Make sure that you space out your posts (presuming they're not replies). People get irritated when one account dominates their stream, even if only for a minute or two. They might not stick around long enough to see that you don't do that all the time…
Alrene: totally agree with you here! I find that a lot of people automate this sort of behavior and frankly it's kind of annoying. Often times I'm apt to unfollow the person.