Social Media and the Golden Rule

A significant amount of what needs to be known about being a successful Social Media Marketer can be gained from looking at how people that are successful in the real world behave. Social media is called that because it is "social" and mirrors many of our beliefs, social customs and expectations that we hold in the real world simply translated to the online environment and facilitated by technology. I touched on this topic some time back in a blog entry title "If you don't know, ask yourself". It was a cheeky title for a very practical solution. Since we are, above all else, social beings it stands to reason if you have questions about social propriety online you should be able to look no further than yourself for the answer.

When I ask myself these questions I find them supported by 3 significant influences I have had in my life. First, I was raised in a small town so simple pragmatic metaphors serve me well when trying to explain myself. They usually start with "and my grandma used to always say. . . ". Second is my academic pseudo career. My education is primarily psychology with a significant amount of study in statistics and behavioural psychology. The third leg of this stool is IT consulting. I have been an IT geek and web lover since day one. So put them all together and you get a down to earth farm boy keenly aware of human behaviour and loves the online world. Is there a better combination for a Social Media Expert?

So when you are puzzled by Social Media marketing or just how to navigate your own Facebook profile the simplest response is probably the golden rule:

“Do unto others as they would have them do unto you”.