CareerPro

May 24, 2011

Your Social Media Editorial Strategy

Don't be fooled by "social media" and its relative ease of use. Most people know how to update their status, post pictures and videos and make comments. It's not hard to do. What's hard to do is to effectively develop your brand online. Professionally most people look at Linked In as the professional vehicle to do this and Facebook and Twitter as the hobbyist or social platforms. I recommend that you look at all of them as a part of your blended, professional brand. 

So one of the tactics you will find companies doing in social media is that they have an actual editorial strategy to drive social commerce. Even if feel personal transparency trumps professional updates on Facebook and Twitter you need to develop an editorial strategy in your social commerce. Even if you do not use Twitter and Facebook for a lot of personal updates and social tracking you need to be alert and what pertains to your brand. 

Here are a few rules for Starting Your Editorial Strategy in Social Commerce:

1. Define the purpose of why you use social media. What do you want out of Facebook and Twitter? How can you use Linked In to further your current and future career ambitions or improve the prospects of your current job?

2. Create an editorial strategy for what you want to accomplish on social media. This means that you should decide if you are going to build content, comment on content or simply "update" your status to people that are watching you. For each social media area you should create your own set of rules to help you create your identity, build your brand and connect with people. Many clients report to me that they have done significant networking through Facebook that has helped their career. Do not underestimate the crossover impact of professional to personal and personal to professional. They are blending now and you need to be ready for the future. 

3. Know that you are creating content in anything that you do so make some of it very good. Creating the right content can drive engagement and results. So you can post an article on Linked In but don't be surprised if your connections on Facebook want to know what you are writing about. So infuse your personal and professional profiles with questions, articles, reposts and insight that will help you create the kind of image you want to have – personally and professionally.

The trend in social media is to create a brand around you personal and professional capabilities. A lot of people think they can separate their personal from their professional life. 

I would argue that those two are now blending and will continue to blend. By creating a more powerful purpose in your "social media' regardless of platform you will be able to anticipate and be prepared for the future. The future to me looks like a blend. To be ready for that blend create a content and relevant editorial strategy to help define your future brand. 

 

Image Credit: instantshift.com