Guidelines for Social Media

An earlier post "Still Not Sure about Social Media" gave some amazing statistics about the explosive growth and potential impact of Social Media on the business world.

There's a terrific new post at the Harvard Business blog called "How to extend your customer experience through Social Media".  It was written by Peter Merholz, who is credited with coining the term "blog" and is a recognized thought leader in this topic.  Peter provides 4 basic principles for a successful Social Media execution.  They are:

1. Only hire people who embody your brand.
2. If you do need policies, keep them lightweight and human.
3. Experiment, prototype, pilot - try stuff out.
4. It's a conversation, which means you listen and take part.

Some of these (like #1) are surely a lot easier said than done.  However, the article has several links to some very useful information and statistics on companies that are already engaged along with an example of a company policy statement.

More than ever before, retailers need to "extend their customer experience".  If you are already using Social Media, this article can give some insight into what others are doing.  If you're not using Social Media, you should be.

Either way it's a terrific article, well worth the read.

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