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Here’s an interesting article from the Harvard Business Review discussing the struggle some corporate executives face with using social media.

What’s so scary? Many executives fear posting something personal (on Facebook) that might prove damaging. It needn’t be a lampshade on the head, either. Perhaps it’s vacation photos from a second home that looks too opulent at a time when employees are losing jobs. Or maybe their support for a controversial ballot proposition proves a bit too vocal. . .

Obviously it’s never a good idea to post “personally identifiable information” that can lure identity thieves and other malefactors. And only a very careless or foolish person would publish proprietary company information onto a social media site. But what about all the stuff in the grey area–the pictures of you barbecuing at home, gin and tonic in hand? The tweet about the movie you just enjoyed? The link to that Atlantic article recommending an overhaul of the banking industry?

Similarly, companies are debating who should “people” the corporate Twitter account, marketing, executives, CSRs, tech help, etc..

Twitter, the microblogging service, which limits posts to 140 characters, has become a favourite of celebrities and digerati. Businesses worried about being left behind are experimenting with using the service to promote themselves. Done badly, the effect can be like watching your grandfather dance at a wedding disco. So should it be left to a company’s marketing department to tweet?

Everyone has a different comfort level about what information to post. It is clearly a good idea to be cautious, as I’ve blogged previously. But when we use social media as a relationship-building tool, to do so effectively means we need to put ourselves out there by more than providing the product/service “name, rank and serial number” (and by that I mean, posting more content than mere brand puffery, PR and cliche).

Personally, I use this blog , LinkedIn and Twitter most often for business purposes. On the blog, I try to post legal updates, commentary on legal issues and commentary on issues relevant to small businesses and their owners (like this one). Each post is an initial remark that is intended to spark an ongoing conversation.

I connect with new business acquaintances and referral sources on LinkedIn. Although many people find LinkedIn impersonal and cumbersome, to me it is only the first step in business-relationship building. I am as active as I can be in groups that match various professional interests, and dialog with people through discussions that often start on the web and continue offline. As we get to know each other, we develop an actual relationship, outside of LinkedIn.

I use Twitter to promote the blog and develop relationships with referral sources and potential clients. I try to keep my Twitter posts relatively business-like and have decided not to post about the whether, what I am eating (unless I am talking about a new restaurant/business in the area) or what my dogs/kids/spouse are up to. I realize everyone has a personal philosophy about these types of post, and “small talk” tweets often lead to strong relationships. Again, for me, public tweets are like meeting someone at a Chamber meeting — if I want to know more, we meet for coffee later in the week for a more substantive and personal interaction.

I have made a deliberate decision to limit Facebook to keeping in touch with actual social friends and family, and not to use it as a business development tool. Nonetheless, I never post anything on Facebook that I wouldn’t want both my mother and our firm’s Board of Directors to see.

I’m interested in how other people use these tools. Where are your boundaries?

Tags: blog, Blogging, business, content, crisis management, damage control, Facebook, LinkedIn, marketing, networking, small business, social media, Twitter

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 10:40 am and is filed under Blogging, business law, social media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.