Intern Blog: The Do's and Don'ts of Social Media

Before I became an intern at O3 World this summer, you could say I was social media agnostic. No Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace account, just a Linked In profile. I did have a Facebook account for a few years, but recently decided to deactivate it because of time management concerns during the semester. However, I knew that Twitter was one of Facebook’s biggest competitor’s but I never really had an interest in signing up for an account. I couldn’t comprehend why people would express their thoughts in 140 characters or less.

Three months later, I would argue that I’ve warmed up to the 140 character concept and actually enjoy the challenge. At the beginning of my internship, some of my mentors recommended I open a Twitter account to explore the site on my own. So of course I listened and signed up for an account to learn more about the site and the way people use it, while simultaneously monitoring how O3 World incorporated the social media platform into their business.

Part of my responsibilities as an intern with O3 World is to assist with social media efforts, I specifically chose to focus on Twitter. I started with small tasks, like researching new followers with similar industry interests, potential clients, or finding industry related articles to tweet or retweet to the masses. I slowly began to realize that the way in which O3 World channels their Twitter account is more than just “hey, here’s what we’re doing at this moment.” It is a business tool used to advance a cyber identity, but also gives an outsider a look into the company’s culture from the inside walls too.

Within the last decade, social media platforms like Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter were simply looked at as a way for teenagers to interact, engage, and meet new people online regardless of their location. Nowadays, they are used for so much more, especially within the scope of the business world. It is an outlet for any size business, large or small, to connect with individual consumers, clients, partners, and even competitors. They are utilizing these sites to narrow down their target market, display more personalized advertisements to consumers, and it is a direct line for customer service. Not to mention, it allows an organization’s staff to have an individual voice instead of hiding behind a company logo. Social media can now allow customers and clients to connect and engage with all employees from a company, including those who are working directly on their projects instead of just project managers and customer service representatives. Although social media has drastically altered the way in which businesses operate, there are definitely some bad practices that companies can fall into with social networking:

1. No recent activity – people do not want to see a status update or tweet from over a month ago.

2. Automated responses – they’re just as bad as touch-tone only customer service menus on the telephone when all you want to do is speak to a representative. Drop a quick, personalized note, to the person reaching out to you and it’ll leave much more of an impact.

3. Don’t spam your audience - nobody wants to be bombarded every three seconds with a new update from a person or company, so don’t assume it’s acceptable on any social platform.

On the other hand, here are some tips to help you, as a company, in whatever field you may be in to develop and uphold a more effective social networking image:

1. Develop a schedule and stick to it – decide when to update the account (post a new status or tweet) so your audience knows you didn’t drop off the face of the earth.

2. Set goals – depending on your industry, goals can vary from obtaining a specific number of followers/friends by a predetermined date, holding contests/sweepstakes for a giveaways, or even reaching out to new clients on weekly basis.

3. Be yourself - maintain the company’s identity, personality, and culture. Not everyone is going to like you, but take that criticism and learn from it. Just make sure the company’s image is just as transparent in posts and tweets as it would be in person.

4. Communicate - the most important concept of social media is communication. Networking is all about an open line of communication with your audience. You know the saying... “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink...” Engage, connect, and respond to users, and it will benefit you in the long run.

Hopefully these tips can help you and your organization develop a more effective presence in the world of social media without sounding monotonous or scripted. Communication is key to all social platforms out there in the world wide web. Of course there is still more to learn, social media is part of technology, it is a practice that is constantly developing every day. Hey, if I can learn and practice do’s and don’ts for Twitter in such a short amount of time, you can too with any social networking site. Social media is a time commitment that willy surely pay off in the end, but only if you put in the work.

This was the exit post by our summer marketing intern, Kass Poryzees. We were lucky to have her, and wish her the best of luck in the future. If you or someone you know is interested in an internship with us, hit us up right over here.