Rules to Remember

Cheri Hegi, the Creative Director at Primal Media, posted a presentation called “The 5 Rules of Social Media for Non Profits (and everyone else!)” on the Network for Good Learning Center site. Even though we hear these things all the time, I think it’s always good to keep them on our minds.

1. Listen -No one is going to care about what you have to say if you don’t take the time to listen to what is already being said.

2. Get involved – You can’t just have a Twitter account or a blog. Develop a presence, and then maintain it. And make a conscious effort to contribute something new to the conversation.

3. Give up control – No matter how much you wish you could, you have no power over what other people will say. Just do your best to give them reasons to only write positive things.  :) 

4. Be honest – If you use social media to spread a lie, there is no way to hide it. What you say online is there for the world to see.

5. Think long term – Just because you start blogging or tweeting today doesn’t mean that you’re going to get recognition or see results tomorrow. Have patience. Give the social media world time to get to know you.

 

Are there any rules you think should be added to this list?

Best Practices for Blogging

• Blog about something you like. The more interested and passionate you are about what you are writing about, the more successful your blog will be.

• Be active. Send your blog posts out to other social networking sites, put links to your blog into your online profiles, keep up with and comment on other people’s blogs, try to connect with other bloggers interested in the same topics, and respond to others in a timely manner.

• Integrate the blogging community. Link back to other blog posts, get to know bloggers who write about the same subject matter, be aware of who is reading your blog and make certain to address issues of concern to them, and maybe even let more than one person write for the blog.

• Be interesting. Make it clear to people what you are writing about, consider your blog a selling strategy, and integrate different forms of media.