The 7 Laws of Social Media

There has been an enormous amount written these days about social media. I was reading a LinkedIn string from a group I belong to and saw The 7 Laws of Social Media by Colin Netting, partner at In Sync Marketing and a colleague at the Institute for Independent Business (IIB). Like it or not, social media is here to stay. How you use it is up to you. What I like about these 7 Laws are they lay a foundation of values when putting together your social media strategy. It’s not technical, you can find all the advice on that you want on the web. Agree or disagree, it resonated with me, I hope it resonates with you or at least gets you thinking.

THE 7 LAWS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

1) The Law of Giving: The businesses that do best in this world are ones that GIVE really useful, valuable things to people, rather than crafting sales messages.

2) The Law of Listening: Listen first, speak second (sounds like my last blog). Social media is a two-way conversation. Businesses will increase profits and productivity by listening to what people have to say and responding based on customers WANTS. It’s an outside-in approach, rather than an inside-out approach.

3) The Law of Talent: All talk and no walk will fail in this new world. You cannot rely on clever marketing and smoke and mirrors to get you through anymore. The product has to be good, the service has to be great and the customer has to love the product/service itself.

4) The Law of Action: ‘Just do it!’ – Businesses that do the best are the ones that are constantly moving, getting involved, implementing customer feedback and responding quickly. You can’t spend months planning and rolling out slowly anymore. You need to get do it, respond and be constantly moving.

5) The Law of Candor: Honesty is the best policy. Brands that are over produced will struggle in this new world of nakedness. Being perfectionist will do you more harm than good, perfection is a lie. Allow yourself to admit faults, allow negative feedback to stay up, and be honest when things go wrong and when you just don’t know how to do something!

6) The Law of Unity: Unite and Conquer. Social media is more than just people, it’s about groups. Your focus should be on developing a culture and a group of people and becoming a part of the community. The old top-down approach no longer works in a world where people distrust authority. They trust people who are like them. You need to become part of the community you create and help to introduce people to each other and further nurture that community.

7) The Law of Greater Purpose: Businesses that are purely driven by the bottom line cannot survive. While a business will always have making money as a primary objective, it is important to have greater purpose and a cause and culture that your brand represents as opposed to just being a ‘brand’ operating to sell for profit.

Next  topic – Social Media and Customer Service.