The push to bring your business presence to the social media sphere is nothing new. But it’s been gaining momentum as legitimacy as a real business tool in the last year – so now the pressure’s on.

In the rush, any strategy seems to have been lost in a lot of cases. For example when using Facebook or Twitter, many peoples default mode of thinking is very casual and that colors the content posted to those media. It’s surprisingly common to see what I would deem as personal info, posted to media outlets that are in theory, for a company.

While there’s nothing wrong with a blog/Facebook/Twitter being more casual than a corporate site, and it is a great way to engage customers and colleagues on a more personal level. There still needs to be plan to the casual nature, the business blog is not the place to talk about an employees child’s 1st birthday party.

The problem is a ‘casual’ strategy is difficult to develop since planning to be unplanned seems rather antithetical. To be honest, we’re struggled a bit with it recently. Every individual in a business has different levels of comfort with lifestreaming and how much is personal/private vs. public. So beyond any content strategy, those concerns must be part of the larger strategy.

Some of us sat down and discussed which outlets we want to tackle and their uses. Content ideas were bandied back and forth (yes the 1st birthday was a real mention) and finally some of the rules were decided upon.

No private lives –Everyone has their own outlet for their private lives, that they can filter as they see fit. It’s not the place of a business blog to talk about what folks do in their off time. Also, in my opinion, much of the personal traffic on a business is just noise. I will always favor any source that has a better ‘signal to noise’ ratio.

Keep it work related – Of course this is open to interpretation. In our case, we decided work related events outside the office (awards, conferences, teaching, learning etc) were fair game. Beyond that, was determined to be the personal life border

It’s not just about us – Well it is, but the core meaning is that the medium is not just going to be used to promote things we have done. Of course, items like that will appear since we’re proud of the work we turn out. But we want any streams to be more. Interesting things we find, useful resources and thought leadership are all items on tap. Looking back at the 1st rule, it’s a reaffirmation of the high signal to noise concept.

Add value – This works hand-in-hand with the previous ‘rule’. Though 100% of posts can’t add value, it should be something you actively pursue. Adding value can be as simple as linking to that cache of images or an intriguing article that was found. By adding value you’ll attract more interest and followers. If all that’s ever posted are no, or very low value items no one will listen to you – you’ll just be shouting into the void.

So, hopefully these rough rules, and just the thought of outlining a real strategy will help your forays into the social media sphere. Or if you’ve plunged in headlong with no set plan, perhaps they might cause a little reflection on what you’re putting out.

Read more posts by Ian