10 DON’Ts of Social Media

So many rules, so many people telling us what to do, so why would we listen if the medium is so new and rules are written as we go? Well…..it’s not so new anymore and as Gary Vaynerchuk, AKA @garyvee mentions in his exclusive sxsw interview “It’s not Social Media anymore, it’s just Media“. Yesterday I decided to ask a random question on twitter “what are no-no’s of social media”? and after a lot of back and forth – this is the consensus:

Don’t be a Social Leech

No one likes blood sucking parasites! Don’t just take without giving back, make sure you reciprocate. Share your social capital.

Don’t be a Counterfeit Dud

People in Social Media read right through fakes – be yourself, be real!

Don’t take the insolent hard sale approach

Constant self-promotion will get you no where. Get to know people first and engage before guiding them to your website or asking for a favor.

Don’t forget Social Rules of interaction

Same rules that apply in real life, apply on-line. Use common sense.  If you wouldn’t do something in real life, don’t do it on-line.

Don’t write anything you may regret later

That includes mentioning clients’ names, stories, and being contradicting (what you say will remain on-line forever).

Don’t Pontificate

No one likes to be preached at – your lectures may not even apply. What doesn’t work for you may work for someone else and vise-versa.

Don’t be a Robot

Be careful of automation. Some people use it successfully but the consensus is that automation is annoying.

Don’t be aloof

Engage people, be approachable and address the “social” aspect of social media.

Don’t just dive in without testing the water

Different Platforms have different unwritten rules of engagement – it’s not a bad idea to lurk first and figure out how things work

Don’t NOT drink mojitos

I just put this one in here to see if you were paying attention

Here are some random things to AVOID as shared on Twitter:

• “I’s” (avoid always talking about you)
• being mean and being a jerk (although this works well for some)
• self-promotion and hard sales
• blanket tweeting as opposed to sprinkle tweeting (this one made me crack up)
• adding contact details to everything you do
• taking trolls personally
• saying the same thing over and over again
• being selfish (return the favor)
• spam
• lie
• steal
• being redundant
• being boring
• being irresponsible

I think this whole thing can be summarized into 2 words:  BE NICE!!

**thanks to everyone who played along yesterday and were so willing to give their opinions:  @lindaAWI, @davidgibbons, @MonteCarloSS2k, @phxazlaura, @DonEads, @jgx, @LarisaBelliveau, @enthused, @RealtorMcVey, @mklopez, @Timmy79, @JimDuncan, @gopalo, @Ribeezie, @acummings, @jessicahorton, @mikeventura, @talktodiane, @boulderite **