It’s always interesting to me how things work in cycles. It wasn’t too long ago that everyone said, “You have to have a website; everyone who is anyone has one.” And to a certain extent, at least nowadays, that is true. Recently, you see the same thing happening with social networking. Do you have a Facebook page? A twitter account? Are you LinkedIn? And we see a lot of clients asking for those, just because everyone else has them. Ahh, peer pressure.

We do agree that our clients (and you) should make use of these various communication vehicles. However, like a website, it needs to be done for the right reasons and should be analyzed in the correct way. Otherwise, all social networking will do for you is drain your resources.

So, why do you want to do it? If it’s just to get a lot of followers, your efforts will produce little fruit. But if you use twitter to spark conversations about a particular area of interest, promote your culture and attract clients, if it’s for personal education or connection to certain topics, now you are talking something more strategic. But there are several rules of thumb that this will all always boil down to:

1) STRATEGY: What are your goals? What is your strategy? Does it work for your culture? Is it for customer feedback, more transparency, or research? Outlining your strategy enables you to measure success and know how and when to evolve.

2) CONTENT: Content is king! Without good content, your network will become stale. Have a plan. It can evolve, but have a plan.

3) CONSISTENCY: These forms of communication need consistent updating. If you don’t have a plan or the horsepower to update, reply, and interact, it would be better not to start at all. ( Also, a bonus rule of thumb: start small, then build. This will help you keep things consistent.)

If you figure out these three items for you and your clients, you are off to a great start.

In an upcoming post, we will talk about how to use social networking to build your business. In the interim, what has worked and not worked for you or your clients in this area?