Rules of Engagement

Normally I would counsel against using adversarial/militaristic terms*, but engagement has meaning beyond the mercenary.

We like rules and rubrics and frameworks. We need 'em.

I introduced one of my rules in a previous post and I realized I should throw them all out there. I have THREE (3) Rules of Engagement. I do most everything in threes - I don't like the black-white binary absolutism: 3 is the magic number of the Universe. If you care to debate me on it, bring it on. Anyway, I digress, and I do tend to do that on regular basis.

Point being, these three rules are the superstructure upon which I will hang my awesome-incredible-how-the-Hell-did-he-come-up-with-that Social Media Engagement for Causes framework. Twist THAT, M. Night.

Again, I digress.

RULE #1
BE HUMAN
Speak your mind. Be nice and polite, but say what you mean and be direct. It is social media, after all. By the way, be very careful with sarcasm, wit, and satire - from a text-based perspective, it may not go over as well as you'd like; worse still, you may be considered too clever by half :-P. It's better to appear wide-eyed rather than cynical.

RULE #2
ESTABLISH & MAINTAIN PRESENCE
Form a consistent persona, and promote it, even if there are multiple people working the line - you (and your partners/volunteers) ARE the CAUSE. You represent it, you own it. You are now in the business of collecting Likes, Follows, +1s, Shares, Retweets, ad infinitum.

RULE #3
PARTICIPATE
Pretty straightforward, yes? Reply and respond and, well, ENGAGE. It's an enormous conversation - a massive cocktail party where every one wants your undivided attention, and you want theirs. Be a social butterfly! Pollinate and flutter along. Understand the difference between quality and quantity: 20,000 followers who want you to read their blog, buy their crap, and view vanity projects versus 100 dedicated spirits retweeting your replies to their concerns and hopes - you do the math!

So. There. Rules.

FYI - MONITOR - the M in the framework - would attach to Rule #3. I think. Sure, we'll run with that.






*For instance strategy, campaign, target. Not much of a fan of audience, too, as it suggests a unilateral association between message transmission and reception. You don't want an audience. You want relationships.