The New Community Rules

Chapter 3. Achieving Social Media Mastery: Networking and Implementing Strategy

In the previous chapter, you learned about the questions you need to ask to devise your social media strategy. It’s very important to note that all of these questions relate to listening and communicating. You need to listen and communicate consistently and regularly so that you don’t lose sight of what individuals say about you.

When you actually implement your social media strategy, you will need to follow the conversation and respond where appropriate. Using the goals you have established in the previous chapter, you will need to determine which content is best for your target audience. Establishing yourself as a respected community member among your audience is an important next step. Your audience and those surrounding you will be of increasing importance when you engage in a full-fledged social media campaign.

When Is It Appropriate Not to Respond at All?

I do some occasional consulting with the Israeli Consulate, a government entity that has embraced Web 2.0 technology in many ways. The Israeli Consulate has established its presence on YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace, and it also has two separate blogs:

• One blog, IsraelPolitik, discusses issues of a political nature. The blog’s mission statement is “to directly address audiences throughout the world and to serve as a vehicle to better communicate the State of Israel’s message of hope and peace.”^[19]

• In another completely separate blog, IsRealli, anything ...