The 10 Commandments of Social Media

This is a post I originally published on my SocialU blog (for my university class). I created it for a presentation at our diocesan convention a couple of years ago, so thought it deserved a repeat here.


1. Thou Shalt Not Be Afraid
Take the plunge by just getting on your own Facebook account. People will not immediately begin writing false checks on your bank accounts or staking out your home to rob it. Start with just a few friends and it will grow from there.

2. Thou Shalt Not Dominate The Conversation
The best way to get the conversation going is to ask a question; the fastest way to end the conversation is by attacking the answers. You must be open to the critical, to the hard question. Also, if the only comments or contributions on your page are from you, something is wrong.

3. Thou Shalt Make Social Media Part of the Job
Most small organizations fail with social media because they see it as a toy, or at best an extracurricular activity. This is how young people communicate. Get used to it. Enjoy it. It will keep you young.

4. Thou Shalt Plan
Having a plan of what you want to communicate, to whom, and where will help keep you on track. Use your church year to plan out the messages. And stay focused: what is my mission?

5. Thou Shalt Update Regularly
No one will have a conversation with you if you only speak twice a year. However, they may tell you to shut up if you update or post every 5 minutes. Two or three times a week is a good place to start; a couple times a day is nice, too.

6. Thou Shalt Not Sell
Even for-profit companies know that the social media community does not tolerate the hard sell. However, sharing information and asking for feedback can promote your cause as well as soften the message.

7. Thou Shalt Not Steal
Be sure to give credit where credit is due when quoting someone else’s work or passing on something fun. It’s a small world in social media, and it’s bound to get back to the original person.

8. Thou Shalt Use Proper Grammar and Spelling
If you want to increase the flow of traffic on your blog, use bad spelling and improper grammar. You will have an explosion of comments (which, funny enough, will be themselves filled with misspelled words.) You can get away with some abbreviations (especially on Twitter) but don’t try to be cute. These words represent you; make them solid.

9. Thou Shalt Not Try to Be All Things to All People
Don’t try to be a part of every social media group out there. Know where ‘your people’ hang out and hang out there. That said, Facebook and Twitter are the two biggies. That said, tomorrow all that could change.

10. Thou Shalt Not Forget The Analogs
Don’t become so enamored with the speed (and low cost) of digital media and forget that not everybody lives there. Know whom you need to email, call or even snail mail. And remember, if someone needs a shoulder, you can’t do that online.

(copyright, 2011: Dr. Jody Strauch)