As an author of The Social Media Bible, I am often asked, "What do I need to do engage my company, my products, and myself in social media?" The answer is easy: participate. Get out there and get involved. If you aren't in the game, you can't win. Here's your Ten Commandments or things you need to be doing to get in and win with social media.
Commandments 1. Thou Shalt Blog (like crazy)
Blog. Please. That's the first priority. Set up a blog, a personal blog, a business blog. It's easier than you think. Use an existing blogging site such as Blogger.com or GOingOn.com or install your own branded blogging site right on your own server by using WordPress. And, WordPress is free.
Commandments 2. Thou Shalt Create Profiles (everywhere)
Create your profiles; do it now before someone else takes them. Once they are gone, they are gone forever. That's called cyber squatting. So get out there. Use Open Social to make filling in your profiles as easy as a click of a button.
Commandments 3. Thou Shalt Upload Photos (lots of them)
Upload photographs. You've got them. Don't upload the one with you with a lampshade on your head…counterproductive; but other photographs? Absolutely. Customers want to see and participate. You want to give people a face to go with your company.
Commandments 4. Thou Shalt Upload Videos (all you can find)
Videos. You all have got videos. I don't care whether it's training videos or customer videos, grab your video camera and go interview some of your customers. What's better than seeing your customer's smiley face on your Web site? And it doesn't cost anything.
Commandments 5. Thou Shalt Podcast (often)
Podcast. If you're too cheap to get a camera, use the free audio software that's in your computer. That's what I did. I created 48 audio podcasts. If you take the podcasts I did for my book and played them back-to-back, they run 24 continuous hours of interviews. You can do that. It's free. It just takes time.
Commandments 6. Thou Shalt Set Alerts (immediately)
Set alerts. People are talking about you. You probably need to know what they are saying and you want to participate.
Commandments 7. Thou Shalt Comment (on a multitude of blogs)
Comment. Commenting is like going to a cocktail party. You wouldn't walk into a networking event, walk up to a group of people talking, and tell them your name and what you do in your business. That would be rude and unacceptable. Listen first. Read the blogs and add comments. You can be controversial, that's okay. But participate. Get involved.
Commandments 8. Thou Shalt Get Connected (with everyone)
Get LinkedIn. Put it in your email that you have a LinkedIn account, you have a FaceBook account, and that you have a Twitter account. Make it a part of your heading on your letterhead, because that's how you propagate. That's how you sell it.
Commandments 9. Thou Shalt Explore Social Media (30 minutes per week)
Explore social media. Give me thirty minutes a week, that's all I'm asking. Friday morning grab your coffee, lock yourself in your office, and give me thirty minutes. Just Google something. I promise you within the first 30 days you will be excited. You'll be as excited as I am. You will get excited because of the ROI.
Commandments 10. Thou Shalt Be Creative (go forth and create creatively)
And the most important commandment is creativity. That's all. It's just creativity and having fun. But you know what, that's what your customers want. They want to see transparency. They want to see authenticity. They want to see you having fun. They want to be able to relate and communicate.
Read more of Lon Safko's Social Media Bible blog
Click here for your free Fast Company The Social Media Bible Ten Commandment Ball. Just print, cut, glue, and be inspired!
Lon Safko is the co-author of The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies For Business Success. He is also an innovator and professional speaker with over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship, marketing, sales, strategic partnering, speaking, training, writing, and e-commerce. He is the founder of eight successful companies, including Paper Models, Inc.
Related Stories: | Topics:Innovation, Technology, Management, Work/Life, Lon Safko, Marketing Shift, social media, SOcial Media Bible, Science and Technology, Technology, Internet, Media, Blogs and Blogging |
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Recent Comments | 35 Total
June 9, 2009 at 1:52pm by Rishu Mandolia
While your article does a great job of listed some of the things individuals can do to understand and become a part of social media, I cannot entirely agree with the same for companies.
While most companies are dragging their feet when it comes to having a social media presence, just engaging themselves into the dialog following the list above generally has very little success or impact. Part of the reason is simply because individuals and companies have very different priorities, but largely it is because companies need to have thought-out strategies for such efforts to actually bear long-term fruits.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not advocating for long and tedious "strategizing" sessions that have little results, but at the same time I don't think it’s as simple for companies to be involved as it is individuals (who would benefit greatly from your list and suggestions).
I recommend that companies dedicate resources (full-time or part-time) to figuring out exactly what they want to do, have these discussions with top management (to avoid future backlash) and develop a strategy and a plan before execution. The same channels you've listed can be used (along with some others) - but the primary difference is having a consistent agreed-upon strategy. I’ve witnessed efforts where a single “educated” person tries to promote their companies and products in the online space using the channels you mentioned – and end up getting the heat for the lack of a vision or understanding from the rest of the team.
On the other hand, for individuals, I would agree with the author. Know what segments you want to participate in, figure out the different spaces and communities that are active for the topics, and involve yourself in them. But keep in mind that the professional/business conversation can be very different from the one popularized by the younger audience and myspace and sometimes it may make sense to defer to quality rather than quantity.
http://www.knowledgeistics.com
June 9, 2009 at 2:02pm by Philip Nowak
Lon, your 10 Commandments of Social Media are fantastic guidelines to help people become established sources for the utilization of social media. I definitely have to work on a few including uploading video, photos and audio podcasts. People should posts these commandments in their office next to their computer monitor.
--
Philip Nowak
Twitter: @philipnowak
Blog: http://socialmediaunraveled.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/philipnowak
June 9, 2009 at 2:18pm by Nikhil Vaswani
Great tips and very nicely written! Social networking will soon become the most effective way of building your professional career and creating a personal brand. However, one will have to invest time in learning the effectiveness of these sites and ways to use them properly.
One resource that can be useful is a new book "How to REALLY use LinkedIn" by networking expert Jan Vermeiren. You can find a free lite version at http://www.how-to-really-use-linkedin.com/
June 9, 2009 at 3:05pm by Michelle Slieff
Great suggestions that newbies and experts should keep in mind - however, missing a "key" to social media: engagement.
A huge misconception is that that social media doesn't allow for conversations. That is actually the key to success in social media: to actively engage with your audience to further brand your agency (Or clients).
Additionally, ignoring key ethnic consumers within your conversation, topics or responses limits diversity in your audience reach.
http://www.padma-media-marketing.com
http://www.twitter.com/LatinaPRpro
June 9, 2009 at 4:01pm by Bridie Macdonald
Totally agree - this argument of how one should get involved reminds me of the dialogue (as referenced from old newspaper articles & books)that was going on early turn of last century regarding the shift from pre-industrial to post industrial economies and the revolutionary communication tools (telephone service) that helped make it happen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_telephone. Naysayers will have to eventually join in to stay competitive. Meanwhile, those that participate can enjoy the rewards.
June 9, 2009 at 4:04pm by Mike Weiner
All well and good if you or your clients enjoy frenetic, unfocused and reactive communication. The beauty and elegance of social media is using it appropriately and strategically. For a more real world take on the 10 Commandments of Social Media go here: http://tinyurl.com/lzlucs
June 10, 2009 at 8:30am by Jordan Chenard
Fantastic! This is the way to shorten the "complexity" of social medias and bringing it to it's simplest form.
Nice work and thanks for that!
June 10, 2009 at 10:27am by Kevin Lenard
Lon, please excuse my use of a rude acronym, but WTF?!?
I have to ask you, if you take off your "I've bet the farm on 'social marketing' being my personal gold mine" hat, what happens when the novelty/newness factor wears off Twitter, blogging and Facebook (the older demo has already left the latter) and everyone realizes that these technological "Pet Rocks" are just a colossal waste of time? Yes, the geeks, teens and narcissist/celebrity-wannabes are all over them right now, but geeks move on, teens grow up (and have low disposable income anyway) and the narcissists rush to wherever the audience has moved. I understand that you have to take a shot at fame and fortune while the wave is cresting, but your 'commandments' seems a tad self-serving.
Thinking strategically, long-term, what is the real value of investing a HUGE amount of time and energy following your 'commandments'? Sure, at the moment my product might catch a bit of buzz, but when you really apply your analytical skills to so-called 'social media', is attempting to inject your company or product/brand into people's conversations via a blizzard of non-stop blah, blah, blah REALLY something that consumers want? (Remember, the consumer is in charge now and what they are shouting is that they NEVER wanted 'push marketing'). Isn't 'push marketing' exactly what you're advocating? Isn't it really a lot like interrupting a private phone call between two people with an ad?
Certainly, from a PR standpoint (NOT a marketing standpoint, per se) we all have to respond quickly to issues about our company or brand that come up in social conversations, but what you are suggesting is to shift efforts from legitimate marketing activities and spend a HUGE amount of effort on trying to control/guide consumers' conversations. There is a subtle, but important, still relevant distinction between PR and marketing.
Yes, innovation is a 'commandment', but I'd suggest that ANY 'medium' carrying the banner of 'social' is, by its nature, not an arena for advertising. Advertise in new media, by all means. Advertise in display ads on Facebook. Create free apps that both add value and are relevant to your product or service. Market your products in ways that people actually appreciate, as in face-to-face demos and the conversations that take place during the demos, but trying to elbow your message into the midst of people socializing is only going to be seen as an unwelcome intrusion and yet another example of overzealous marketers killing a golden goose.
There are 1,000 other media out there, both new and old, to carry marketing messages. The real value of 'social' is research and listening, not interjecting advertising. Sorry to burst your bubble, but then this is just one guy's opinion!
http://advertisingbusinessmodelredefined.blogspot.com/
June 10, 2009 at 10:36am by Mistie Thompson
I'd actually add an 11th commandment (sorry for being slightly blasphemous): Thou shalt understand why you're doing all this and what you're trying to accomplish. So many of our clients just say "Get us going on this social media stuff" without putting any strategy behind it - namely, how will this help your customers/clients find you and want to do business with you? The "commandments" listed are all vital tools, but they need to be part of a deliberate strategy specifically designed to help your business grow. This doesn't have to be a long, drawn out planning process, but I've seen time and again that a little bit of smart thinking on the front end will make a huge positive difference down the road.
June 10, 2009 at 10:57am by Christina Wisboro
Great Guide. Which is my inspiration for commenting today. I find myself over-whelmed with all the social media vehicles out there, but this guide helps put things into perspective: immerse yourself. It's no different then going trying to learn another language, you can take all the classes you want, but the more effective thing to do is get a plan ticket, live in that country and immerse yourself into the culture. I find that a lot of companies want to be in "social media" but truly don't understand it and hence will never understand what I can for their company. Plan to forward this along, and hopefully can be a source of motivation!
June 10, 2009 at 10:57am by Christina Wisboro
Great Guide. Which is my inspiration for commenting today. I find myself over-whelmed with all the social media vehicles out there, but this guide helps put things into perspective: immerse yourself. It's no different then going trying to learn another language, you can take all the classes you want, but the more effective thing to do is get a plan ticket, live in that country and immerse yourself into the culture. I find that a lot of companies want to be in "social media" but truly don't understand it and hence will never understand what I can for their company. Plan to forward this along, and hopefully can be a source of motivation!
June 10, 2009 at 11:31am by Brigham Young
Simple and easy to understand. As is mentioned, the key is to participate!
June 10, 2009 at 11:53am by Loraine Antrim
Great suggestions on Social Media "musts", Ron, especially for an individual. But I do have to agree with Rishu, for companies, there needs to be a strategy and a set of priorities in place before jumping in. It starts with lots of questions:
Why are you getting involved with social media? To drive sales, to create awareness, to influence the conversation in a particular area?
Where do you want to be a year from now, two..three? How will social media help you get there?
What kind of presence do you want? Thought leadership? Do you want to move markets?
There are dozens more questions that should be addressed before one blog goes out.
And finally, there needs to be a consistent social media experience. With targeted posts on targeted subjects in targeted venues. I know of some very large companies that have thousands of individual bloggers. How does that create a consistent brand in the blogsphere?
Can I add three more commandments for companies?
Thou shalt question,
Thou shalt have a strategy,
Thou shalt have consistent execution and THEN you can bring the social media tablets down from the mountain. Loraine Antrim
--
Loraine Antrim, Co-founding Partner
Core Ideas Communication
"We Create Smartmouths®"
June 10, 2009 at 12:27pm by Kevin Lenard
Having followed Mike Weiner's link, I have to say the Maccabee Group has come up with a far more helpful "10 Commandments" for social media marketing versus Lon's frenetic approach which will leave one with little time to do anything else BUT be 'immersed' in creating reams of irrelevant 'content'! See the alternative 10 Commandments here:
http://www.maccabeegroup.com/images/CommandmentsSocialMedia.jpg
June 10, 2009 at 1:27pm by Lon Safko
Kevin,
Pardon my acronym, but OMG?!? Did you honestly think that these ten bullets represented everything you need to do in social media? Did you think these 10 covered all 844 pages of my book? The book and my blogs aren't about impressing people with "push/pull" marketing concepts, or other social media savvy buzzwords, this is about helping the 99.99% of the people who don't know what social media is or even where to begin. These ten steps were are fun and to get people in the game. Not the base of a Ph.D. thesis.
I completely agree with what you're saying. Of course there's more to social media than just throwing up some photos or a blog. Strategy is primary. That's why there is an entire section of the book on just on strategy. When I get to Commandments 500 through 550, I will have caught the rest of the world to where you are. Please come over to our community site at SocialMediaBible.Ning.com, contribute, and help us construct the next revision (New Testament). Your insight will be invaluable! Thank you!
The journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step.
June 10, 2009 at 5:08pm by G. Munsch
Much like the social media sites themselves most of the activity here is social media advocates talking to each other, in some cases purely for the sake of posting a link to THEIR social media website. Link whores.
For those in business not drinking the social media kool-aid it's pretty obvious that beyond the interpersonal communication of indivduals, business opportunities are small. There is not a whole lot of real business going on whether you call it marketing, advertising, or PR. If you stripped away the spammers, porn and social media talking heads pimping this as the next big thing (desperately hoping so) - there isn't much left.
A lot of time, energy and money is being wasted when all of it could be used to make your product or service better, more relevant, more personalized. For a business, dinking and dunking on social media websites is just a way to distract yourself and feel like you are doing something while your competitors pass you by.
June 10, 2009 at 5:42pm by Chuck Rey
When is Twitter going to die? It's more annoying than meaningful. Apparently 90% of the people that have a Twitter account don't even use it! Overrated...
--
http://www.coachrey.com
June 10, 2009 at 8:49pm by Kim Landwehr
Nice post, I need to work on Commandment 8 and Commandment 5. Finding it hard to post as often as I use to, seem to get writers block a lot
June 10, 2009 at 9:31pm by Michelle Lamar
This list ROCKS. Simple, direct, fabulous. I want to get the Social Media Bible!
June 10, 2009 at 10:51pm by Martin Hosking
And in your spare time, you have your work to do. But seriously it is important to get engaged but it is also important to be strategic about it. If you did all this list, all the time you would not have time to do anything else. I rarely do most of these things, but often do a few of them and while not doing them I am also productively engaged (eg talking with employees).
June 11, 2009 at 12:20am by Richard Lipscombe
There are no commandments. Participate? No! Please don't participate unless you are "relevant" to a conversation or have a "remarkable" contribution to make to one or to start a new one. Social media and social networking is different today, say to mid 20th Century, only because we have digital technologies. Otherwise the same principles apply today as they did back when Tupperware Parties were all the rage. Social media plays out within three contexts - tribes, clans, and clusters. Tribes form social silos - they have shared values, ideologies, and purpose-driven projects (80% of people on Blogs, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Ning, and so to be on Google Wave are actually locked into a comfortable Social Silo. Clans are full of early adopters - in the main these are "tech heads" who are embracing new digital technologies but they are not, and do not pretend to be, social media leaders. Clans are full of people who are the facilitators of social media. Clusters form around themes. Green technologies, horror movies, quirky videos, Susan Boyle episodes, etc. Social media is best when it is "successful chaos" not the controlled activity that the notion of 10 Commandments might suggest. Bible? There is no Bible here and hopefully there never will be. Social media is fun, purposeful, annoying, clunking, exhilarating, frustrating, etc in other words it is a very human activity. Social media works at multiple levels but, each level has an identifiable pattern - sometimes the pattern is repeated time and time again at both micro and macro scale (like a fractal). The energy comes from the people who engage in conversations with others who "best fit" with their social wants and needs. Social media is a referral system that is being used to supplement or replace Brands in business. Social media is a new channel for business if and only if the business is able to let go of its control of Brand, Corporate Image, and Push Advertising. A good example of how social media can be incorporated into a business model is Threadless the T-shirt business. The customers are the talent at Threadless and so social media has become an integral part of the process of business. Is my contribution both relevant and remarkable to this conversation - probably not SO PLEASE DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME READING WHAT I SAY!
Come bye and say hello to me on Twitter @digitalwarrrior Yeah it has 3rs that is because I was second to grab this cool call sign. Finally I get to my key point. Social media is all about speed.
June 11, 2009 at 1:01am by J. Contreras
Great list. We are working on the podcast part at www.socialnerdia.com
June 11, 2009 at 4:02am by David Reinhardt
I agree with the sentiment of "jump right in" but I think there's one key thing you've overlooked - brand consistency. Social media does not stand alone. It needs to be considered as one element of a broader channel strategy which presents a consistent brand image for your organisation across all platforms. Consequently, adopting these technologies is also not without risk. If your social media efforts are inconsistent with your brand image, it will reflect poorly – both in terms of devaluing your message and in terms of failing at attempts to appear as a cutting edge organisation. That's not to say don't do it, that's just to say, do it in the context of a broader brand strategy.
---
David Reinhardt
@davereinhardt / http://www.linkedin.com/in/davereinhardt
June 11, 2009 at 8:30am by Jim Tobin
REALLY? What HORRIBLE advice.
You missed the biggest commandment of all:
I. Thou shalt have a STRATEGY and reason for spending time in social media.
Otherwise, you're just spinning your wheels. I mean, I know you were going for the whole bible analogy, but this is just silliness.
~Jim Tobin
@jtobin / http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com
June 11, 2009 at 11:43am by Tom McCarrick
Hi
You haven't mentioned social bookmarking - I assume you would consider this to be an important part of IM?
http://www.onlineglobalbiz.com/frank-kern-is-at-it-again/
Tom
June 11, 2009 at 10:55pm by Alen Zukich
I think these are great words to live by. I'm working on the 7th commandment ;)
Still need to work on the others.
http://twitter.com/AlenZukich
http://kloctalk.klocwork.com
June 15, 2009 at 9:56am by Monika Lorincz
Great commandments. Real time search is an area that can help monitor all of these commandments. We have built surchur.com to come facilitate these needs. It is crucial to know what is happening right now on the internet, whether it is blogs, twitter, photos or news and it is quite efficient to have all of these sources brought together on page page.
Monika Lorincz
monika@surchur.com
http://surchur.com/
http://blog.surchur.com/
http://twitter.com/surchur
June 15, 2009 at 11:32pm by Thomas Sebastiani
Unfortunately, I am a social sinner, I need to follow these commandments more. Great resource!!
http://twitter.com/tomsebastiani
www.linkedin.com/in/thomassebastiani
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1313657663
thomassebastiani.myplaxo.com
www.myspace.com/457230640
thomassebastiani.multiply.com/
www.ecademy.com/account.php?id=427105
www.last.fm/user/thomassebastian
www.konnects.com/profiles.jsp?MemberId=thomassebastiani
friendfeed.com/sebastiani
profiles.friendster.com/99915412
June 16, 2009 at 9:30pm by Sheryl Breuker
Well, I won't try to address everything but you are dead on about participation. It's sort of critical in order to engage, and a one sided participation doesn't put you in a social position. Nice one!
June 22, 2009 at 1:23am by Ram Chandran
Nice Info, Pretty much summed up. will help people a Lot who dont know the basics of SM.
http://surfacerama.com
http://greenoholic.com
http://hostwisely.com
http://promotewisely.com
June 26, 2009 at 10:51am by Claudia Faust
I loved the "ball"! A good reminder to get your name "out there"!!
July 5, 2009 at 1:00pm by Erik Erne
Great article and commandments. Still working on some of them. Blogging can be improved littele bit, i guess 3636 posts within two year isn't enough.http://tinyurl.com/3xyqkf and profiles is going great http://tinyurl.com/mztrjb
But have to admit, have to do a lot of work on commandments 3 to 10.
July 16, 2009 at 2:38am by Hanzo Ng
Good list and easy understanding for new social media users like myself. Thanks.
Hanzo Ng
http://www.salesninja.com/blog
July 27, 2009 at 4:01pm by Josh Fahey
How about thou shall not make it so difficult for your readers to comment on thy blog.
I agree with some of this....but many comments are right. It's nothing to be rushed into. Cause if you start doing it wrong, or without purpose it will do more harm than good. You could end up being one of the 7 people you meet in Twitter Hell and they will quickly ignore you. http://joshfahey.squarespace.com/home/2009/7/14/the-7-people-you-meet-in...
But yes you should be engaged in social media activities if it is right for your brand (no one want to admit it..but it's pretty much worthless for some brands). If you aren't out there to talk about your brand someone else will.