In our continued hunt for the holy grail of new marketing, the biz keeps getting caught up in the “bright and shiny” stuff. This has been a big part of the (blog) water-cooler conversation lately here at Ideacity and with our friends over at MIT-C3, particularly in regard to social marketing. With Facebook now being buzzed left and right, MySpace getting more scrutiny, early adopters obsessing over Twitter and Second Life getting clubbed over the head, things are becoming a silly free-for-all.

With all that hype comes lot’s of questions from clients, interested colleagues and tech enthusiasts. Given that I figured I’d jot down my stump speech for social media/marketing guidelines. Broad rules to live by for this point-in-time.

Let me know what you think, and maybe we can crack the code together.

Social Marketing Commandments

1. Transparency..blahblahblah. If you’re not on this bandwagon already, don’t bother reading 2-10.
2. Don’t jump on social media as a bright shiny object, a “get it and forget it” media choice.
3. Social communities are not really “marketing mediums”. They are feedback mechanisms, ways for brands to have a dialogue with people, and collaborate with consumers. By entering the conversation you can expect to shed new light on the brand, help spur WOM or perception (but not rarely effect immediate sales).
4. Develop a social marketing strategy, and like any good marketing plan disperse your efforts over several social properties and mediums.
5. Go into these spaces “with eyes wide open”, and expect bumps or at the very least surprises.
6. This is a non-linear medium, so don’t expect linear results. Commit to it, and be ready to ride the ups, downs and surprises. Adapt. Learning on how to use this medium in future is the starting point and continuous improvement should be your ROI.
7. Understand the medium and how the target audience is using it.. online ethnography, surfing through and understanding what it means to the audience.
8. Make sure you have a committed expert managing the campaign. A junior level staffer or senior manager that’s looking at this as a secondary effort can’t effectively manage a community. It takes longer term management, quick response and smart attention to detail. It’s not an ad campaign, it’s an ongoing relationship, and takes mature decisiveness.
9. Brands that are in the content business have the most logical place in mass communities.. those that have fan-bases that exchange a “currency” or brand entertainment and culture (e.g. movies, music, and those brands logically aligned with this type of content).
10. Other non-content rich brands need to commit to long term branded content or applications (ala widgets) that facilitate people connecting to one another. They should seek out look niches (ala blogs, organic communities, or up and comers that tie to your audience more directly) that are more relevant than the mass Myspaces of the world.