How To Make An Impact With Social Media (And Avoid Disaster)

This article originally appeared at American Express OpenForum

Simply put, social media needs to be built into marketing and consumer engagement pushes, and has to be part of any successful company's future plans. But to catch up and truly capitalize on the craze, you need a strategy.

In a recent Smartblog on Social Media poll, more than 77 percent of respondents reported their companies don't have any sort of formalized social media training process, while fewer than 20 percent said they did.

Charging employees with contributing content on social media platforms without addressing a few important considerations could waste a lot of time -- and tweets.

Here are some ways to make sure you, and your workers, are smart about social media:

1. Familiarize employees with the basics

Obvious? Yes. But it's the most important. This goes beyond directing employees to various social media sites or giving brief overviews of each. Instead, you should share your understanding of social media's functions, in general and specific to the platforms you're using. Make sure everyone has the same expertise, perhaps through a tutorial, and is prepared to use the sites.

2. Set the tone

Consistency is crucial when it comes to the messages you transmit to the public. If you have multiple people posting to Twitter or Facebook accounts, your followers and fans shouldn't be able to tell. Decide on a tone for your content and make sure each person with access to your social media accounts knows how to cultivate that standard voice. Also make sure to set parameters for what can be shared—if you want to keep it serious, be serious about banning funny links. If you'd like to keep it fun and light, make sure your employees know how to write with flair.

3. Know ways to maximize your impact

Social media is more than logging into your account and posting. There are ways to expand your reach and widen your audience, giving you a chance to boost business using free online tools—and who can complain about that? There are analytics programs you can integrate to your efforts, but for now, let's stay simple. Use hashtags—the words and phrases you see on Twitter with a pound sign ahead of them. Your tweets will appear in feeds alongside the other tweets with that hashtag. It's a great way to reach people who follow news in your industry, for example #marketing or #smallbusiness. Also, don't be shy about interacting with other users. If there are businesses you'd like to partner or share strategies with, find them and engage. The same doubly goes for consumers and clients. The bottom line: Make your presence known.

4. Discuss social media disasters

From Weinergate to Aflac, Twitter has brought both companies and individuals down a few notches. Remember that social media packs a punch—misusing it can erode the public's confidence in your company and their perception of who you are. Even though you might think it could never happen to you, it's important your employees understand the power they wield with social media, and why it's vital to stay appropriate online. Also make sure your employees know how to respond in case of a PR disaster or other snafu, when your customers will be counting on social media for updates.

5. Develop protocol

Know who's in charge of posting what, and when. It's the surest way to prevent double-posts and maintain streamlined professionalism in the Twittersphere and on Facebook. Maybe you divide posting duties by day or topic, but whatever the method, make sure everyone is clued in and understands.

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Five Reasons Why The War for Social Network Supremacy Will Be Decided On Mobile

iPhone vs. Newspaper" />In the past few years, social networks have proliferated at an astounding rate. Facebook recently eclipsed 750 million users, Twitter has more than 100 million (an 82% growth from the beginning of the year) and LinkedIn, in the wake of its May IPO, just surpassed the 120 million-user mark.

Add to this the traction achieved by the newest kid on the block, Google+, which racked up more than 20 million users in the first few weeks since launch, and one doesn’t need a fortuneteller to figure out that there is a full-fledged war underway for social network supremacy.

As the battle heats up and pundits argue over who has the upper hand and best pre-requisites to succeed, one of the deciding factors that will dictate who comes out on top will arguably be each network’s mobile prowess. Here are 5 reasons why:

1. The most ubiquitous platform by far is mobile

At the beginning of the year, there were over five billion mobile users and approximately two billion Internet subscribers. Looking at Nielsen’s estimates, which state that about two-thirds of the world’s Internet population visit social networking sites, some quick math will lead you to the conclusion that there are about 3.5 times the number of mobile subscribers as there are users on social networks. The biggest opportunity for growth most definitely lies in the mobile space. 

A huge market like China, which Wireless Intelligence says will eclipse 1 billion mobile customers later this year, only has 74% mobile penetration. If this sounds high compare that to the USA, where the mobile phone penetration rate should pass the 100% rate per capita this year, while Europe and Africa are at a 130% and 50% respectively. This is a clear sign that even robust markets still have room to grow before hitting their peak.

2. Rise of the smartphone generation

While there is little question that mobile phones are the most ubiquitous platform, it is only recently that smartphones reached a critical mass of users. This is a development heralded by Apple and the launch of the iPhone and later perpetuated by Google’s Android and HTC, which effectively democratized the smartphone as a device by offering a wide variety of models at a low price point. It is the same strategy that helped Microsoft make Windows the most ubiquitous desktop operating system.

Nielsen predicts that smartphones will surpass feature phones in the U.S by 2011; just in the last three months, 55% of mobile phone purchases were smartphones. On a global level, 77% of all phones sold come equipped with cameras, which addresses the ever-growing consumer demand for in-direct social features, such as the ability to take pictures and video to share with friends and family via Facebook or Twitter.

In author Tomi T Ahonen’s blog, Communities Dominate Brands, he points out that only 400 million people access the Internet solely by way of a personal computer. Out of all 2 billion Internet users, that is a paltry 20%.

Consider the rapid growth of smartphones, as well as the millions of new users browsing the Web via tablet devices, and it’s not too far of a stretch to think that number could be closer to 10% by the end of the decade.

3. Consumer preferences are changing along with the way we communicate

Another strong indicator suggesting that mobile will play a deciding role in who wins and loses the social networking war is the apparent consumer shift from landline to mobile. People increasingly rely on their mobile phones for all their communication needs, not only voice.

According to figures released by the U.S. government earlier in the year, the number of American households relying exclusively on cellphones has seen an eightfold increase in the past six years, and was up around 27% in the first half of 2010. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) attributes this to both lack of use and affordability, as many lower-income families have chosen to cut the chord on their landlines in favor their cell phones.

Further studies have shown that it is not only cost savings and convenience that lead the change in consumer consumption habits, but new technologies that are changing the way people prefer to communicate.

In a recent Harris Interactive study commissioned by Rebtel, 19% of Americans claim they will use social networking more in the near future, with only 9% claiming to use voice. These figures are small in comparison to those who plan to use SMS, 28%, and video chat, 37%, more often in the near future to stay in touch with family, friends and co-workers.

Related research by Pew Internet shows that 13% of online U.S. adults are currently using Twitter, and half of those do so via their phone. This represents an 8% increase in users over last year, and signals that we are still in the very early stages of using our mobile devices to communicate with those in our various networks.

4. Pure mobile social networks

Group messaging services like GroupMe and textPlus and IP-based SMS substitute services like WhatsApp, and Kik, which had 2 million downloads within three weeks of its cross-platform launch, have given rise to a new era in mobile messaging and social networking.

Free services like these allow users to share photos, their location and send messages across different platforms that aren’t limited to 160 characters. They provide powerful tools for people to privately communicate in real-time with multiple friends at the same time. Also, perhaps most importantly, they are free.

Skype’s recent purchase of GroupMe is further evidence how this war is being waged on all sides of mobile. In a press release, Skype says that: “The acquisition of GroupMe complements Skype's leadership in voice and video communications by providing best in class text-based communications and innovative features that enable users to connect, share locations and photos and make plans with their closest ties.”

I expect we’ll continue to see many similar examples of these partnerships to offer better social networked utilities for customers who now expect the broadest scope of communications services at their disposal and social networking features directly integrated with their mobile phones.

5. Digital wallets and the new mobile economy

Increasingly, we see that consumers are more and more comfortable using a variety of services on their phones that were originally intended for desktop platforms; a prime example of this is the increase of mobile purchases and recent moves by major credit cards who are now feverishly keen on providing customers with a mobile digital wallet.

Gartner research currently predicts that mobile payment users will reach 141 million globally by 2011, with payments projected to hit $86 billion. That is a 38% increase in users and nearly a 76% jump in volume from 2010.

In addition to this, mobile revenues (now standing at nearly 1 trillion dollars for voice and data) is twice the amount of the personal computer industry. This includes advertising, subscription fees and content revenues.

Where the money flows, brands will follow, and this combined with all the other factors make it very plain to see that mobile will continue to be at the epicenter of the social networking battle not just in 2011, but for many years to come.

Author Note: Andreas is the CEO of Rebtel, the world’s second-largest mobile VoIP company. Prior to Rebtel, the Goldman Sachs alum was COO of Taptu, a leading UK-based mobile search engine, and TradeDoubler, Europe's leading performance-based marketing company.

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Perry-Romney Social Security Fight Explodes

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has relentlessly attacked Texas Gov. Rick Perry's position on Social Security over the past few weeks. Today Perry responded, accusing Romney of the worst sin of all — acting like a Democrat.

In debates, statements, and interviews, Romney has criticized Perry for calling the entitlement program a "Ponzi scheme," but a Perry spokesman claims Romney made the same comparison.

“Mitt Romney's own book compared Social Security to a criminal enterprise.  Now Mr. Romney is again sounding like a Democrat, distorting the truth and trying to scare senior citizens.  As he has so many times in the past, Mr. Romney seems to forget he's a Republican," Communications Director Ray Sullivan said. 

Romney's spokeswoman Andrea Saul fired back with a critique of Perry's jobs record, implying it is worse than President Barack Obama's, under the headline"Governor Sub-Zero: 

“In his campaign’s latest video, Governor Perry criticizes President Obama for an economy that added zero jobs in August, yet Texas added even fewer and has over a million people unemployed. This election is about choices – and voters will have the opportunity to choose between Mitt Romney, a conservative businessman, or Rick Perry, a career politician whose own state’s unemployment rate has doubled on his watch and is the worst in the region.”

As the polls tighten between the two candidates, expect tempers to continue to flare when the face off in tomorrow night's GOP debate in the must-win state of Florida.

Read the rest of the Perry statement below:

“Mr. Romney has been running for president full time for nearly five years, and has failed to issue a specific plan on Social Security.  Rick Perry and other conservatives are courageous enough to be honest about federal spending and entitlements, whether Mr. Romney and the liberals like it or not.

“Gov. Perry and other GOP leaders know Social Security must be fixed.  Gov. Perry has been clear that he will protect benefits for those at and nearing retirement, and work with citizens, experts and elected leaders to fix Social Security financing for future generations.”

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Michele Bachmann Used To Think Social Security Was A 'Tremendous Fraud' Too

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After struggling to get noticed in the last presidential debate, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is rolling out an aggressive strategy tonight that focuses on attacking GOP frontrunner Rick Perry for calling Social Security a "Ponzi scheme."  

“Michele looks forward to the opportunity to explain the sharp contrast between her view of Social Security and that of Gov. Perry,” Bachmann spokeswoman Alice Stewart told Politico. “Michele believes Social Security is an important safety net for Americans who have paid into the program all their lives and the federal government should keep its promise to seniors. She believes it’s wrong for a candidate to make seniors worry about the safety net they are entitled to.”

By attacking Perry on the entitlement program, Bachmann is setting herself up as the candidate who will save seniors from the federal chopping block — a popular message in Florida, where tonight's debate will take place.

But Yahoo's Chris Moody points out that Bachmann hasn't always been so generous. In a February 2010 interview with Fox Business, Bachmann called Social Security a "tremendous fraud."

"No company could get away with this, they'd be thrown in jail if they ever tried to do what the federal government did with people's Social Security money," Bachmann told host David Asman. "What we need to do very quickly is take the money that is coming in for Social Security, and truly lock it up so that we aren't putting it out the door anymore."

Video below:

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Is Apple About To Take Another Shot At Social? (AAPL)

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Apple could be taking another stab at social, according to some hidden iOS code uncovered by 9to5Mac.

This time it's called "Find My Friends." Clues in the current iOS source code seem to hint that Apple has been working on a new social network for a long time.

We're looking forward to the Twitter integration in iOS 5, but Apple's other attempts at social have been pretty lame so far.

Game Center was unremarkable and Ping was just bad news.

If and when it comes out for the public, it will likely rely heavily on iCloud. But because the code heavily references MobileMe, there's a chance it's already defunct and we're just seeing scraps left behind.

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European Social Media Powerhouse Wikio Changes Name And Focus, Raises Big Round

  x You have successfully emailed the post. Wikio Group, the European social media powerhouse, has a big announcement this morning. It's changing its name and focus and is raising almost $25 million. 

Wikio is a rollup of social media properties by Pierre Chappaz, who previously sold price comparison engine Kelkoo to Yahoo for over $400 million.

The company started out as a Digg-like aggregator but it seems that, as in the US, the aggregator model never broke past a niche appeal to bloggers and tech early adopters. Wikio also acquired Overblog, a popular free blogging service, and announced a plan to start a Demand Media-like product.

Now Wikio is changing its name to Ebuzzing, the social media marketing company it bought and which brought in the lion's share of its business. Ebuzzing brings together brands and bloggers for advertising and promotions. It seems that Wikio (now Ebuzzing) is turning itself into a social media advertising network. 

The pivot was probably at least partially brought on by Google's search algorithm revamp, which cut Wikio's traffic in half.

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7 Deadly Sins Of Social Media

Image: Screenshot

Steph Parker is a PR & social media professional working in Philadelphia.

Social media’s been a great tool for marketing, networking, and sharing information. This relatively new technology has truly revolutionized the way businesses, brands, and communities interact with one another. When used right, it starts engaging discussions. It informs people of the latest developments. It helps businesses compete in this global economy. When used incorrectly, it’s an incredibly inefficient use of resources, simply put.

See if you’re committing any of the digital “sins” from this list, and learn how to fix them!

1. Assault

Are you constantly sending out tweets? Is your Facebook wall covered with links, photos, and your latest Foursquare check-ins? Just as much as you dislike being bombed with status updates, your followers do, too. If you’ve found a great link, or have important news to share, prioritize. Pick which updates are most important to your networks, and then create a schedule in which to post them. Unless you’re a newswire or a “broadcaster” who has big social influence in the digital world, hold off on constantly sending posts. Your networks will be more apt to listen to what you have to say if you aren’t constantly doing the talking.

2. Neglect

While you can’t monopolize your networks’ newsfeeds, you can’t disappear from them, either. Remember the quiet kid in class? The few times she raised her hand, the teacher usually didn’t notice because it was such a rarity. That same principle applies. You don’t need to become a social butterfly and initiate every single discussion, but participating to some capacity is key. If people visit your page and notice that it’s bare or outdated, they’ll pass on by without looking back. Take a page out of Assault’s book and try outlining a schedule of posts if you have trouble talking on the fly.

3. Obscurity

There are lots of cool things on the Internet. However, if you’re trying to build credibility as a marketing genius, posting an abundance of links to funny cat videos won’t help you (no matter how cute they are). People should be able to get a sense of what you’re an authority on when they visit your page, and read your posts. If you’re the CEO at a PR firm who has a love of music, include your interest somewhere in your bio. Share a link to a new song you like, or a concert you’re seeing from time to time, but don’t let that lead the conversation. Your main mission is to showcase how much experience and knowledge you have in your industry. Follow the classic 80/20 dieting rule: adhere to the plan 80% of the time, and indulge 20%.

4. Detachment

Remember how our last example involved a CEO highlighting an interest in music? That’s just one of the many ways you can incorporate a little of your personality into your messages. If you have a sarcastic streak, make your next tweet about SEO witty (if you find a way). It’s easy to hide behind a computer screen and let the web do most of the work, but people want to talk to other people, not robots on auto-pilot. No matter how informative or important your post is, remember to be approachable. More often than not, people are guided by the same principles they follow in real life for befriending someone online.

5. Inconsistency

As you read earlier, social media is great for getting conversations going. While you should be contributing, don’t simply pose a question to your network, and then disregard the responses you get. If someone makes a thoughtful point, respond to it. Re-post it and elaborate on it. Take the topic to a new level. Some of the most valuable information out there is found when people come together to express their points of view. One of the key things to remember is that social media is social; the more people talk about something, the more of an impact it has. The more you perpetuate the discussion and make intelligent contributions, the more respect you’ll command from your audience.

6. Disconnection

Engage in a variety of networks and services, and give people multiple ways to connect with you! You probably wouldn’t shop at a store that only had one type of shirt and one type of pants, right? You’d rather have a few racks of clothing to browse through to get a better sense of the store. This same idea is true for using social networking sites. The more types of services you use, the better represented you are online. You can use a site like Last.fm to connect over music preferences, while using a bookmarking site like Digg to share your favorite news stories. Your credibility won’t become muddled as long as you remember the specific objective of each service, and post with a purpose.

7. Quantitativeness

It’s not all about the numbers. Sure, to a point you should keep your follower count (and Klout score) in mind, but it shouldn’t be the top source of motivation for your posts. Whether you’re in the PR industry or not, the real motivation for posting should be building relationships with new audiences, and maintaining relationships with old ones. Social media ROI is significant, but only if you weigh qualitative aspects more heavily. It’s easy to “Like” a Facebook page, and it’s just as easy to hide it from sight. You’re still quantifiable as a fan, but qualitatively you’re not actively engaged or listening. See the difference?
Social media is a lot like dating: you don’t want to appear disinterested, but you don’t want to come on too strong, either. If you make calculated moves at the right times, let your personality shine, and focus more on the conversation than the end-result, you’ll build a strong, healthy relationship with your networks.

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Infant Social Security Numbers Are Easy Targets For Identity Thieves

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Adora McLemore was stunned  when her one-year-old daughter was denied financial assistance for medical care.

Health administrators apologized but explained the infant's income was too great -- there was no way they could approve her.

Finally, she found a caseworker to clear her daughter's file and recently said to Market Watch, "How could she be earning income when she was only one?"

For seven years McLemore worked with the Social Security Administration (SSA) and police trying to understand the fraud, getting no closer to the truth. Eventually, she went to an identity monitoring service and found her daughter was responsible for $39,000 in debt and multiple credit cards in various names.

"Children’s identities are attractive because they are pristine," Steven Toporoff, attorney at the Federal Trade Commission told Market Watch. “There’s no good credit or bad credit attached to a child’s name.”

Read more at Market Watch >

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Google+ Isn't Just A Social Network, It's An "Identity Service" (GOOG)

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Google+ is not just the search giant's effort to take on Facebook: it's primarily an "identity service" that Google will use to help build other services.

That's according to Google chairman Eric Schmidt, who was explaining why Google+ is requiring users to stick with their real names.

As Fred Wilson points out, Schimdt's statement raises the question of who Google+ is really for -- you, or Google?

Lots of companies have tried to establish an identity system for the Web. The idea is that if users have a single trusted identity, it could ease their interactions offline and online -- imagine never having to sign in to get your email or make an online purchase, for instance. Microsoft made an effort in the late 1990s with Passport, but its ambitions were thwarted by privacy advocates and the FTC. Facebook's social graph is another effort.

Before Google+, your Google identity was really only used on Google sites. But with Google+ and the +1 button, that identity system can extend across the Web -- if you're signed in to Google+ and you +1 a particular Web site, that information can be tracked. That helps Google provide more personalized services (like search results) for you, but could also help with ad targeting.

Schmidt also said that Google believes the Internet will work better if people know that you're a real person rather than a fake person or a dog.

Andy Carvin asked the question, then paraphrased Schimdt's answer on -- of course -- a Google+ post.

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First direct's five steps to getting started with social media

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Posted 18 August 2011 11:56am by Graham Charlton with 2 comments

In a series of three posts, I've been talking to key figures at first direct about how the bank has integrated social media across its marketing efforts.

Having looked at how first direct made the case for social media in the first post, first direct’s head of brand Natalie Cowen presents five steps for getting started with social media... 

At first direct we're now roughly two years into our social media development strategy. We were one of the first financial brands in the UK to really take social media seriously and I think it's fair to say that, had we known two years ago everything we know now, we would have been able to move a lot quicker.

Ultimately, we'd have started seeing the benefits to the organisation sooner.

Our engagement in social media has changed our business for the better and this post is about some of the challenges we faced, the mistakes we made and, where we found solutions, some of those as well.

For us this was about matching our ambitions in the space with our capacity to deliver on these. We soon acknowledged that whilst it was the right thing to do to "think big" our initial steps would have to be quite small and manageable.

Amanda talked in the last post about how to build a case for social media internally and this is a crucial part of getting any organisation into the right place before you take any steps at all.

There needs to be an understanding within the organisation that this is something we want to do and that's partly making a strong case and partly showing people the correlation between some small manageable first steps and a big, exciting vision. 

When we started out we wanted to use social media primarily as a tool to help us revitalise the brand and make it feel more human and approachable.

We knew we had customer service that we could safely shout about and we knew that our customers could be great ambassadors for the brand if we could engage them in the right way.

Therefore, what we had was a set of goals and a very clear set of assets. Social media would then be about how we linked up the two and all our measurement objectives were about making the link very clear.

In every organisation there are people for whom social media represents a risk rather than an opportunity.

To start with, there's an almost complete lack of case law so legal departments are understandably nervous around it. In the financial services sector we operate in a highly regulated environment so there were issues with compliance as well.

However, as we got to grips with these, it became clear that the vast majority of these objections were either conceptual i.e. details of what were actually doing hadn't been considered, or they were objections to very specific details.

Either way, engaging in specific details allowed us to either allay fears or find ways round specific detailed objections.

For a lot of people social media comes with a lot of preconceptions and it doesn't help that it often gets wrapped up in acronyms and pseudo science.

The truth is, social media is a tool box for communication and for the vast majority of people there is at least one aspect of their day to day professional life that could be made more efficient or effective if it was done using a "social" tool.

Once people see that social media is all about making life easier and better it's much easier to shift some of those pre-conceptions.

No matter how well prepared you are, no matter how well researched and well read you are, it takes time to build up a strategy that will deliver real value to the business.

Use this time to experiment and find the things that work for you, work out what about them worked and build it into the strategy as you go forward.

Econsultancy's Social Media and Online PR Report, produced in association with bigmouthmedia, is the most comprehensive study of its kind around the strategies, tactics and websites companies are using to harness social media for marketing, sales, customer service and other business objectives.

The research, based on a survey of more than 800 companies, benchmarks budgets, resourcing, measurement and barriers to success ... plus much more.

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Social media costs businesses $65k a year. Or does it?

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Posted 16 August 2011 17:13pm by Chris Lake with 8 comments

WebTitan has built a tool that has estimated that allowing your staff to use social media would cost the average company $65k a year, according to a report on Silicon Republic.

But is this really the case? And aren’t there plenty of benefits to be had from allowing your staff to use social media in the workplace?

The tool is based on the notion that staff might spend 20 minutes a day on social networking sites. It then looks at the average salary and performs a rudimentary calculation. Obviously it was created to help sell WebTitan’s filtering software, which will block access to the likes of Facebook. But as far as I’m concerned, that isn’t a wise thing to do for a number of reasons. 

The idea that social networking always costs businesses money is entirely wrong. Econsultancy has definitely benefited from allowing staff to freely access social media platforms, and we encourage new employees to develop their own presence on sites such as Twitter.

Here’s why I think firms need to adopt a laissez-faire approach to the use of social media in the workplace…

Transforming organisational culture remains a hell of a challenge for many firms, especially the bigger ones. In a job ad I wrote recently I specifically stated that candidates should not want or need to be micromanaged. Forward-thinking companies don’t hire people to monitor their every move. They hire brainy people who are able to exceed expectations. Staff should be trusted to do their best for the company. If an employee spends hours using social media to comment on videos of kittens then surely that person isn’t right for the organisation? 

Cultivating trust is essential. What is the cost to businesses that do not trust their staff? I’d love to see some data on staff satisfaction and retention rates, with hands-off companies compared to those that impose lock-down rules. Restricting access to social media (and other) websites might actually cost you money due to a higher-than-it-might-be staff turnover rate. 

When I started to use Twitter my status updates were almost entirely related to my profession. But my Twitter account is very much a personal account and as time has elapsed I have broadened the scope of my tweets, to reflect a wider range of interests. 

This is good and bad, I guess, and is why I wanted Twitter to introduce the kind of filters that Google has created with Google+ (Circles). The point is, I’m not simply retweeting the @econsultancy Twitter feed, and because of this, my followers have also widened in scope. The reach I have is not purely linked to my role at Econsultancy. So when I share Econsultancy links they’re being pushed in front of new people who might not otherwise have been tuning in. This is one way in which we have raised awareness of our brand.

I’m not a big fan of outsourcing your social media tasks. There should be ownership and participation within the business, as I believe that your employees are pretty much your greatest asset when it comes to communicating with people (via social media platforms or any other channel). 

Questions directed at Econsultancy are answered by individuals, and not just from the @econsultancy Twitter account. This is a far more personal approach and helps people to build new connections.

What better way is there of training up your staff in the art of social media than to allow them to play around with their own Twitter account? Maybe you think it doesn’t matter, but if you’ve bought into the idea that social media might be beneficial to your business then why not encourage staff to jump in? 

Think about it: would you really want novice managing your brand’s Twitter account? Isn’t it better for them to mess around with a personal account first? When I joined Econsultancy I set up a blog, partly because I wanted to, but also because I wanted a platform for experimentation. It helped me to learn, and it ensured that I made no killer mistakes on the Econsultancy website!

I suggest that you undertake some social media training for employees. It may seem like common sense to you but not everybody is up to speed, and your brand may require different guidelines to ours. We're currently compiling a kind of house stylesheet for Twitter, much in the same way that we have one for our blog. It is intended for internal use but we may share it. We already have a very simple social media policy, and there's a more in-depth Twitter best practice guide to check out (the latter is subscriber access).

Who takes an hour for lunch these days? Who doesn’t come in early or work late when required? How many of us check and respond to work-related emails in our leisure time? Who charges their employer for this kind of thing?

I believe in a big picture approach to social media measurement, though you can also look at the detail if it helps. What’s missing is a framework for measuring the impact on the brand. This is something I’m keen to develop. Such a framework will be anchored around comparisons and correlations over time, using data from multiple channels (rather like measuring a TV ad campaign, only far more accurate!). 

Measurement approaches may be a curve ball. Rather than wondering about what social media might cost your business, you should be thinking about the costs of having a dictatorial organisational culture. I believe that your staff can play an important role in creating a bigger social media footprint, and as such you should encourage them to develop their own presence on platforms like Twitter. They will love you for it, and your brand should benefit in the long run. Staff that abuse the system were probably bad hires in the first place. Those that you can trust will become the best brand ambassadors that you can imagine.

What do you think? Is social media a cost, or an opportunity?

The Twitter for Business report is aimed at companies and individuals who are thinking of joining Twitter and want to find out more about the social platform, as well as people who are currently using Twitter and want a deeper understanding of best practice.

The 90-page document covers best practice tactics, including statistics and case studies, as well as practical tips on getting started with Twitter and how to engage with your followers. It also includes the findings of consumer research conducted by Econsultancy using Toluna QuickSurveys.

By reading our best practice guidelines, we’ll help you to get the most value from the social platform by understanding Twitter etiquette and avoiding common Twitter mistakes.

Chris Lake is Director of Innovation at Econsultancy, an entrepreneur and a long-term internet fiend. Follow him on Twitter or connect via Linkedin.

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