In the social media training work I do, there are some themes that I keep coming back to. This post summarises some of those things, and gives links to resources. Some of these things are behind my thinking, even if I do not always state them explicitly.

1. 10 things you still need to know about social media / social business
Mathew Lowry drew my attention to this post (via his EU version). It’s an excellent and succinct guide to many of the principles of social media, starting with “Social” is something you are, not something you do.

2. Australia State of Victoria Social Media Policy for staff

Thanks to @puffles2010 for pointing this out to me. Social media policies should be clear and easy for staff to follow, and based on principles. This video is the best I have seen to explain that ethos.

3. Social Media Around the World 2011

How the social media scene varies between different countries is fascinating, and too often the US focus of everything wins the day. These slides help develop strategies suitable for different countries. Supplement with CheckFacebook and Social Bakers stats.

4. How the US Air Force responds to blogs
I still haven’t seen a better and simpler structure to deal with online critique than this one. With some small adaptions it can be applied to almost any social media.

5. Gartner Hype Cycle

@RichardStacy first got me thinking about this, and how it applies to social media. Apply it in conjunction with the stats from number 3 above and you start to get an interesting picture of how to use different tools in different contexts. I think it’s also behind things like this. More on Gartner’s original analysis here.

6. The Real Reason Your Customers Don’t Like You on Facebook
This is just one of a series of excellent @jaybaer posts about customer engagement on Facebook. The average Facebook user Likes just 9.8 pages. How are you going to be one of those?

You should also always serve up the information on social platforms where your people are already. But that’s common sense really.