Reputation v Image

candace kuss

I was lucky to be part of a great panel moderated by Gordon at media140 on brands and personality. A topic similar to the question I get asked most often by our clients at H&K — “How should my brand behave in social media?”

So here are my Top 5 Tips for social success. Please add yours in the comments.

1. Listen first:  People have always talked about the brands and products they love or loath. The amazing thing is that now we can listen in real time as these conversation happen in public. So we help our clients explore the many free online tools, as well as using more sophisticated listening platforms to track and analyse brand sentiment. For real insights, be open and truly interested in what people have to say. Even when they are not talking about you.

2. Think before you speak:  There are many examples of brand faux pas in social media spaces. Which mirrors human foibles. If you don’t want those student party pictures on Flickr, don’t post them. Better yet, don’t get drunk. The brand version of reputation protection is to have clearly written social media strategy and guidelines.

3. Be hands-on :  The only way to really understand web 2 tools is to use them yourself. So I run Digital PR Acceleration training for clients as a fast-track way to experience social media the way consumers do. We are also big Yammer fans at H&K. An enterprise microblogging platform, it's a great way to connect staff across offices, while organically learning best behaviour in a private community.

4. Share: Try some internal crowd sourcing or fun events to bring your tribe together. For example, WPP Digital holds the yearly Stream unconference where everyone must lead a talk or workshop. Brand teams can learn a lot from new ways of working together that can apply to how their brand can bring something of value to the social media party.

5. Embrace beta: Here's one secret you probably won't hear from your agency. There is no such thing as a social media expert. Digital is not a channel. Better to view it as a river. By the time you think you understand the Twitter phenomenon, along comes Foursquare and Gowalla. You’re a pro with Facebook, but have never tried FriendFeed. So my advice is to keep up with the tech platforms, but with all the enthusiasm of a perpetual student. Party on! ;-)

You should follow me, my agency and all the smart folks from the media140 event on Twitter

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Adapted from an article written for Marketing Magazine 14 October 2009 Issue13