Take Away

Inbound and Real-Time Social media is about being helpful and being there before the sale. Think of it as a “freemium” offering of your membership. While you don’t give everything away, you help advocate and educate the industry you serve. When you dothis in an authen- tic and giving manner, it serves as an attrac- tion for your primary offerings. Social media also provides a platform for you to keep a real-time pulse on your indus- try, and demonstrates your thought leader- ship and speed to market.

Dave Lutz, CMP, is managing director of Velvet Chainsaw Consulting (www .velvetchainsaw.com), a business-improvement firm specializing in the meetings and events industry. His company assists organizations in realizing top- and bottom-line growth by delivering customer- focused solutions in business development, best-practice and process improvement, strategic planning, and training.

People & Processes By Dave Lutz, CMP

Five Social-Media Practices You Shouldn’t Follow

Social media isn’t just another way to push out your marketing messages. It should help your organization build relationships, energize a community around a cause, and nurture relationships that you already enjoy. If that’s not the case, you’re in need of a social-media makeover.

I’ve been doingquite a bit of spyinglately, in searchof social-media best practices amongorgan- izations. While there’s some good stuff out there, the social landscape is littered with examples of what not to do. If your social-media initiatives are not yielding

proof of engagement — sharing, comments, “likes,” and/or click-throughs—you’re probably not going about it in the right way. Here are five things that you may be doing wrong. 1. Clogging the stream. Are you integrating yourTwitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook posts so they

3.Hidingbehindyourlogo.In the social-media

space, people want to interact with people, not brands. This one’s tough. Most organizations use their logo, but that’s so 2007! Make your social- media platformsmorehumanby including the peo- ple behind the logo. Feature their profiles. Have them start off and participate in ongoing conver- sations. Some off-topic discussions that can be loosely tied to your industry also help humanize your social-media efforts. 4.Notansweringthesocialphone.If amember of yourcommunity asks a question or posts help-

In the social-media space, people want to interact with people, not brands. Make your social-media platforms more human.

appear on twoormore platforms? Are your posts unscheduled or not spread out? Those are two big no-no’s. Each social-media platform has different audi-

ences, requiring individual engagement strategies. Take the time to make each post on each platform relevant, or you will be hidden, ignored, dis-liked, or simply not followed. If youarepushing out mul- tiple posts, space them at least an hour apart. 2.Beingself-centered.If more than 25 percent

of your posts promote your offerings and share content you’ve developed, you’re going tosmell like spam. Instead, you should be curating lots of helpful content fromother sources and having real conversations. If your community views you as being helpful and living your missionby providing educational value—regardless of the source— you’ll reap big-time benefits.

ful information, it’s your job tomakesure that they get a timely answer or are thanked for contribut- ing. It’s neighborly! The same standard operating procedures you have in place for returning phone calls or emails should apply to your social-media engagement. There’s no difference. 5.Over-orunder-policing.Most organizations

are loosening the reins and opening up their social-media pages and groups toawider audience. If you limit access, you run the risk of disen- chanting future customers. On the other hand, if you don’t make sure that your sites are sales-free zones, you’ll scare away thecommunitymembers you want most.Your best play is to accept all, fol- low back on most, and establish posting guidelines that yourmembers can help enforce.Astrong and open Facebook page or LinkedIn group has huge SEO (search engine optimization) value.

ON_THE_WEB: Liz Strauss (www.successful-blog.com) and Chris Brogan (www.chrisbrogan.com) write frequent blog posts that will help you continue to make your social-media efforts fully engaging.

ILLUSTRATION BY BRAD YEO pcmaconvene June 2011 35