Lon Safko, author of the Social Media Bible has written the 10 Commandments of Social Media on the Fast Company website.
As I read the article I heard myself saying no, no and thrice no.
The conclusion I reached is that the headline should have in brackets, “For Social Media Marketing Consultants only.”
I consult regularly with companies wanting to develop a social media strategy and one of the most common misconceptions are business people who are hearing about social media all over the place and think they should get some.
My favourite clients are the ones who come to me and say, “I have a problem, can social media solve it?”
Because I am known for helping websites get links I usually get asked to implement a social media based link building strategy.
But to have a list of ten things you must do or else God will strike you down with furious anger is not helpful.
If you are in the social media business, absolutely you should at least try all these things. But I get by without podcasting, uploading videos and quite a few other things which the social media inteligentsia say should be done.
Look at your social media options as a pick and mix, not a list of commandments. Intelligently pick Better still, think of the specific problem you have to solve and then look at how social media can solve it.
This is where the social media consultant can earn their crust. By helping you develop a workable strategy, someone who has real life experience in social media techniques can lead you down the correct path. For the regular, normal businessman to be able to do this is nuts.
Social media has become extremely complex with many options available and business people need to be advised on developing an efficient road map. There are plenty of social media experts around who can help, but there are also a lot of people/companies who say they are social media experts because it says so in their Twitter bios.
So how do you know who can do the do, well that’s for another blog post.
Before I go,
Hi Lon, I know your reading this as you have your alerts set up 
And yes I do have your book and it’s a great reference.
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Hear hear!
Well put. It’s one of the reasons social media is fascinating. You can offer suggestions, but you can’t pin it all down with a single approach that fits all. Assess each situation according to its own merits, and you’ll get on better. Hey, you might just do something original.
Yeah, when all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail. In most cases I don’t talk about social media, blogs, etc unless my client does first. The solution doesn’t come first, the problem or situation does. To have a rule book for a tactic is missing the point really
Too right. As I’ve said elsewhere, I’m starting to dislike the term social media. As far as I’m concerned, clients have problems/objectives and my/our job is to work out if & how they can use the web, in all its wonderful, myriad forms, can help. And whilst there are obvious things one shouldn’t do in any channel (spam, lie, etc…) beyond these common-sense things, lists are always subjective.
Hello Lyndon,
I love your blog and you are completely right! The 10 Commandments are just a starting point exercise for those just beginning to become involved in social media. If you don’t know where to start… Start there. You have to be IN the game to WIN the game.
And, you are right about having either a sound strategy or someone like yourself who can help companies develop a sound strategy. Without a good strategy, you really are wasting your time on any long term success.
My latest book “A Five Step Strategy to Social Media Success”, is all about that, strategy. I already have 150 chapters / sub-chapters that explain in detail how to create that strategy. Unfortunately, for the beginner that is a little too much to digest.
My advice is to take the time develop a good short and long term strategy by 1) Analyzing Your Existing Media, 2) Understand The Social Media Trinity; Blogging, Micro-blogging, & Social Networks, 3) Integrate Your Existing Strategy With The Trinity, 4) Identify Resources (Internal & External), and 5) Implement Metrics & Analytics.
I also loved your comment about “I know your reading this…”
Great bog! Please keep it coming!
Lon Safko
Hi Lon, thanks for taking the time to come and make a comment. Glad you like the blog, wish I had more time to post but you know how it is.
Your new book sounds interesting, will be checking it out.
Your right about starting somewhere, the problem is too much choice can cause paralysis and I know most are still getting up to speed blogging. But it’s good sometimes to lay it all out there.
One of these days I’m going to start podcasting and when I do I will ping you and get you on to talk about your work and books.
Lyndon