Social Media Marketing Part 4: Social Media Etiquette

Etiquette is a common topic in my household.  Besides my position at AmeriStart, my wife owns and operates an American Etiquette School called Manners Made Fun.  It's a great business where she instructs students from ages 3-18 proper etiquette for all occasions.  Some are for the home setting, others are for casual social settings and of course others still are for more formal gatherings.
I'm not here to advertise her business per say (okay, maybe a little), but all of our conversations on the topic of etiquette had me thinking about the proper and improper ways we conduct ourselves online.
This is particularly true when you are attempting to do more business in America.  Lets talk about why?

BREAKING DOWN SOCIAL MEDIA BY TYPES
Like my wife explains to her students, there are different expectations at different types of occasions.  Of course you would not be as formal sitting at your kitchen table, at home, just with your family as you would in a formal setting like a wedding or state dinner.
The distinction holds true for social media web sites.  I'm a big believer that there are varying degrees of social etiquette between personal sites like Twitter, Facebook and Myspace in comparison to more business oriented web sites like corporate blogs (for example, this one) LinkedIn and Xing.
This blog focuses on "doing business in America," so I won't write on the personal Web sites in any depth. 
GENERAL RULES OF ETIQUETTE ON ALL SITES
If you are involved with any social network site, here are a few rules to keep in mind.

• Never ever use profound language or swear. 
   
• Never ever reference objectionable material like pornography or gambling.
   
• Pay close attention to spelling and grammar use.  This can be particularly difficult if English is your second language.  Lets face it, your humble narrator speaks English as a first language and is terrible when it comes to this, but I'm trying to be better.  You should too. 
   
• Be very careful and respectful of the person that you make ANY comments that are not interpersonal, meaning not directly between you and the intended recipient.  This is true of posting on the Wall on Facebook, or comments on MySpace or even LinkedIn.

 
BUSINESS SOCIAL SITE ETIQUETTE
If you use the business social sites, you need to be a little more formal.  As an example, you can compare my profile on LinkedIn or my other profile on XING and see that I am MUCH more articulated and career focused than if you look at my Facebook or MY Space pages and for good reason.  I point out my own profiles because I think they clearly convey how different I position the personal ones from the professional ones.  It's an important distinction and I don't mean all the links to sound like self inflated hype about me personally, I'm just a family man making his way through life, nothing spectacular :)
It also doesn't mean that business social sites have to be all suits and ties with no self expression or fun.  I know many people who have met personal acquaintances and friends through their online networking.  Bearing that in mind,  here are a few of the considerations for the business social sites.

• You are here to do business, to grow your business, to find sales, a job or in some way promote.  Don't be afraid of that.  Be formal and forthright about your objectives.  American's are very upfront about their objectives in many cases.
   
• List your background and achievements in good detail and make sure it's accurate.  Lying in any way or even embellishing in some cases to position yourself more favorably on your background can come back to haunt you.  Don't do it.  You're accomplished enough!
   
• It's great to compliment, but never ever, ever, ever, ever in any way bad mouth any business or an individual directly by name for any reason.  Here is an Illustration of that.  I was forced out of the company I started in 2002 by the investor on what several of know are false accusations.  We'll leave it at that.  Given my 6 year dream was what I perceive as "taken from me," some might say that I have all the reason in the world to bad mouth, but I don't because it's unprofessional and poor etiquette.  I'll never state his name, his investment company, no links, pictures, negative personal feelings, nothing on my profiles, blogs or anywhere else.  You shouldn't either whether its an old job, boss, friend, spouse or vendor.  Leave those feelings behind and focus on the positive.  There is an old saying in America; "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."  I really hope this point doesn't appear to contradict itself,  because I'm using it to point out that I don't have negative personal comment written on my posts and profiles. 
   
• On the flip side of the previous point, do write nice comments, references, post great pictures, write LinkedIn Recommendations, as many as possible, as often as you can.  But ONLY when you have actual information to share and not fabricated or partially assumed information.  Asking for reciprocal recommendations from people who know you is good etiquette as well.
   
• This is particularly true of the American LinkedIn site.  You don't need to connect to anyone and everyone just to have more connections.  It's bad form.  Ask yourself if the connections have any real meaning to you?  Do you know them or want to know them in some way.  Are their opportunities now or in the future if not in the past?  Nobody can know 500+ people in any meaningful way.  If you have had some dealings with people in the past or opportunities in the future, connect with them.  If not, you should wait.  Xing offers a great system where you can add comments to people without necessarily connecting directly with them.  People will appreciate it because they will know that you actually have meaningful connections.
   
• Don't pass along introductions until you know why they are asking.  You risk your own reputation when you simply forward introductions without thought and you may anger or frustrate the people you are connected with.  It's just rude to pass along blindly.
   
• Stay away from topics of faith and religion.  There are so many religions represented in the US that you may offend people within your subject matter and lose opportunities.  Topics like those are better saved for your personal social networking sites.
   
• Answer questions/emails/introductions from other people.  It's good form.  Helping is a BIG part of the benefits of the business sites.  If you respond timely and appropriately, people will be more inclined to help you as well. 
   
• When you ask LinkedIn questions, try to keep the question compelling and specific.  Let's say you are an accounting software company trying to do more business in America.  Asking questions like "does anyone know where I can find accounting leads" isn't going to be as compelling (and may just anger people) as "does anyone know what accounting specific business organizations are the most well respected in America?"
   
• Join XING groups and get active.  Provide input and feedback whenever possible.  You can do this with Blogs as well.  Linked In has some way to go on groups as of the writing of this post, but XING has excellent tools for groups.  Involve yourself.  You'll find business!
   
• A little note on commenting on Blogs.  If you have reason to comment on a blog, do it.  Provide added value if you can and link to related resources.  While it's great to offer compliments, just don't do it on every post of your favorite author.  It's nice to see many people's opinions.  There is one thing that most bloggers will tell you they don't want.  If you comment just to put a little link to your own website and try to "snipe" links to help your search rankings, then you are person of poor etiquette.  Don't do it.  You can list your Web address or link to your profile, but add real value to your post backs that will help the other readers.

BOTTOM LINE
There are many ways to capitalize on social networking sites when you are trying to do more business in America, but make sure you follow proper etiquette when you do.