A social networking primer for small and self-owned business people.

Many people hear about Facebook, decide they want an account, sign up, link to a few friends, and then forget about their account.  Most are wary about privacy concerns, or their posts or pictures being seen as “unprofessional.”

Professionalism is a legitimate concern in any profession. It is why in the political field we tend to dress nice, stay clean cut, and generally comport ourselves like mid-level employees of a bank or Wall Street Concern during work hours.

That same ethos can be applied to your personal or professional Facebook page. If you are smart enough to avoid the pratfalls of unprofessional behavior in the workplace, or in public, you are smart enough to avoid the pratfalls of inappropriate posts or pictures on Facebook.

And if you are not using Facebook to drive a daily message you are missing a chance to speak to a captive audience of people who thought well enough of you or your business to follow what you are doing or thinking.

It’s not about specific status updates, or driving a message, it is about creating the type of informational updates that make people interested in what you are doing, and creating a positive aura, or brand ID, which in turn makes people curious about what you are doing.

I use my personal page to update friends and family in far flung locales about what I am up to – whether it is an update on the baby, or a recipe or drink that I am currently trying – the people who know me well enough to follow along are curious about these things.

Conversely, for the Mowery Consulting Group, LLC Fan Page, I try to link to stories that are interesting to people who monitor our business machinations or the general zeitgeist of national and Alabama politics.  And whether people agree or disagree, they are usually curious.

I recently had a friend tell me: “I’m so over Facebook – I’m going to use Twitter now.” That’s a nice sentiment, but if you don’t link your Twitter feed to your Facebook status updates, you’re basically saying,“I’m happy hosting a show on Channel 8 Pittsburgh. I don’t want to Host The Today Show, thanks but no thanks Matt Lauer. “

You may hate Budweiser, you may never drink a Budweiser again in your entire life – but since Budweiser sells more product than every other beer in the American market place COMBINED, and that includes Bud Light, you might want to follow what it does, its commercials and its best practices. Other companies quake in their boots and then jump on the market space available when Budweiser introduces niche products like American Ale and Bud Light Golden Wheat – because they know that is where the action is.

So what is the upshot of this to you? There is a fine line between to much info, boring status updates, or posting overbearing platitudes and being an information-rich source that people want to follow.

I have had several friends who rarely post approach me in public and tell me that they may not post a lot, but they sure are interested in what I am up to. Some of them I am tangentially associated with professionally, be they judges or legislators, who I have forged a better bond with and a better professional relationship with through our association on Facebook.

And really, if you are a businessman – that is what it is all about – relationship building that leads to more business and a mutually beneficial relationship.

Dave

P.S. here is an article about how Scott Brown used Social Media to harness the anger in the electorate, and about how Martha Coakley went through the motions. Kicker Quote Highlighted/Italicized by Me

The Brown web

A Brown web consultant explains what his campaign did right on the web, including:

They respected the “web guy” and didn’t stick him in the basement.

From the beginning Rob Willington, the campaign’s new media director, was put in a position of leadership. He wasn’t relegated to a stuffy office in the corner of the campaign headquarters. Instead, he was consulted on key campaign decisions and allowed to lead campaign initiatives online.

They understood that social media is called SOCIAL media for a reason.

While the campaign of Attorney General Martha Coakley used Twitter (and actually posted more Tweets), they were far less likely to be interactive. Instead, Twitter was used to promote press releases and media hits. Brown, on the other hand, used replies and other tools to actually engage voters online. It led to far more Twitter followers and far more voters who felt they were being engaged in conversation vs. being talked at. The campaign’s Twitter following was also key to spreading the buzz of the campaign nationally.

Content is King, and they created a lot of it.

In order to keep people engaged, the Brown campaign created regular content- specifically making good use of online video. Over 59 videos were used to supplement the messaging of the campaign. They were often issued quickly after an event or an embarrassing comment by Coakley, including one where AG Coakley said that the extent of her foreign policy experience was that “she had a sister who lives overseas.”

They also had a candidate who caught fire, which always helps.