A post from Lon Safko on the Fast Company blog today talks about The 10 Commandments of Social Media. The advice is good and serves as a great starting point for individuals, brands or any organisation looking to use social media. Safko's 'Commandments' are:
- Thou Shalt Blog (like crazy).
- Thou Shalt Create Profiles (everywhere).
- Thou Shalt Upload Photos (lots of them).
- Thou Shalt Upload Videos (all you can find).
- Thou Shalt Podcast (often).
- Thou Shalt Set Alerts (immediately).
- Thou Shalt Comment (on a multitude of blogs).
- Thou Shalt Get Connected (with everyone).
- Thou Shalt Explore Social Media (30 minutes per week).
- Thou Shalt Be Creative (go forth and create creatively)!
These ideas are great, and they encourage people to specific activities. However, I would add one simple and perhaps over-riding consideration:
- Experiment and innovate - give social media a go
I once heard an interview with Jeffrey Hayzlett, CMO at Kodak, who advocates experimentation in marketing, saying that if you not going to kill somebody or break the law you might as well give social media a go. I think there is some truth in this, social media is a relatively forgiving environment as long as you are honest and open about who you are and what you're doing. The cost of entry is also relatively low - it's free to set up a Twitter account or a blog, and as long as you commit what can be a relatively small amount of staff time you can experiment and find out what works for you.
So whilst I think it's great to get people to upload videos or photos, comment or write a blog, I think there is a simpler call to action - have a go, try things out, learn what social media is like by doing it and find out what works for you.
Some more reading
- I'm Your Customer and I Can't Hear You (slideshare.net)
- Jeffery Hayzlett, Kodak's CMO about Social Web and Marketing (pravdam.com)
- Brands say social media still an 'experiment' (thisisherd.com)
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