How to develop an effective social media strategy

How to Develop an Effective Social Media Strategy

Every day another business professional, politician or celebrity ruins his or her career by ignoring or misusing social media. Whether you like it or not, social media plays a key role in both offline and online reputation management, regardless of your profession. 

You need to develop an effective social media strategy that both protects your privacy and builds a positive personal brand. There are three sides to this process: claiming your social media presence, configuring your personal brand and staying on message.

Ignorance isn’t bliss in the social media world.

Think social media can hurt you only if you post drunken pictures on Facebook? Wrong. Consider the following story that appeared in the Harvard Business Review:

A social media–averse CEO engaged students in a debate following a presentation he gave at a university campus. Several students disagreed with his stance, and in no time the Internet was buzzing with negative discussions of the CEO and his company. Because this CEO had no effective social media strategy, he was powerless to protect his personal brand.

This isn’t an isolated occurrence. Actor Jonah Hill faced major professional setbacks caused by a Twitter user posing as him. Hill had to contact several of his professional colleagues to explain that he wasn’t bad-mouthing them and that the Twitter user was an impostor.

Claim key social media properties and learn how to use them.

At the very least you want to own your identity on the key social networking platforms. You don’t have to participate actively on each of these media, but you want to prevent impostors from claiming to be you. Grab these if you haven’t already:

• Your name as a domain name (e.g., www.johnsmith.com). This website could showcase your expertise and professional accomplishments.

• Your name on Twitter (e.g., @johnsmith). Twitter is a quick distribution channel that can be used to relay either personal or professional information.

• Your name on Facebook and LinkedIn. Facebook is the hottest online venue to share and connect with friends and access interest-based groups. LinkedIn is the premier site for business networking. You’ll probably want to post some version of your resume here.

Compartmentalize your personal brand to meet online reputation management goals.

An effective social media strategy resembles a strip tease: It’s not about what you show, but how and when you show it. Make a list of what information should go on which social media platform. Then adjust your privacy settings and online behavior accordingly. Consistency is key to privacy protection and reputation management.

For instance, if you decide to use Facebook primarily for keeping up with friends and family, adopt a set of rules that supports that goal:

• Make your profile private, sharing nothing with people who aren’t Facebook friends.

• Friend only people that you actually know in the real world, avoiding the temptation to amass as many friends as possible.

• Join “communities” based on your interests, but make sure they represent values that you’re willing to share with your friends and family.

• Avoid connecting with business or professional contacts on Facebook.

And let’s say that you want to use Twitter to broadcast professional information. You’ll need to adopt a different set of behaviors:

• Make your Twitter profile public.

• Customize the appearance of your Twitter page to reflect your professional interests.

• Write a professional description of yourself for your Twitter byline.

• Promote your Twitter account in your email signature, on your business website and wherever you post something online in a professional capacity.

• Follow thought leaders in your field, respond intelligently to their tweets and retweet their messages from time to time.

• Tweet topical, business-related material on a regular basis.

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Conform to platform standards and stay on message.

Remember that each social media community has certain norms and expectations. Just as you can’t fit a square peg into a round hole, your Twitter account won’t get followed if you fail to post regularly and/or don’t provide valuable content. How do you know what’s expected and appropriate? Follow the lead of popular users whom you respect when you're establishing your own effective social media strategy.

However you design your personal social media strategy, it should be something you would be willing to stand by in any social or professional setting. Want to write a blog about growing flowers? Great. Want to write a blog about growing pot? That might not be as good for your online reputation.

Be consistent in how you use social media. Your flower blog should stick to discussing flowers, and your professional Twitter account shouldn’t discuss your weekend activities with the family. This takes a bit of care, but it’s worth it. If you craft your personal brand well and stay on message, you’ll have access to multiple channels of expression that you can use to diffuse potentially harmful situations.

Clement Lefebvre writes frequently about online reputation management. Lefebvre is an experienced academic and scientific editor.