Don’t Be A Weiner

After ten days of denial Anthony Weiner, the U.S. Representative for New York’s 9th congressional district admitted to lewd and inappropriate behavior via one of the world’s most prominent social media platforms. I love Twitter!

It never fails to amuse us here at Gruv Media when people who ought to know better stumble head first into the guillotine by committing nonsensical actions that can only result in irreparable harm to their careers and loved ones.

We all have a digital image to protect and the fact that a married Congressman has been sending lewd pics to various strangers he’s met online for the past three years via email and social networks is rather hilarious.

Yet, people commit social media sins all the time and whether you’re representing your personal brand as a politician or a corporate brand like Coca-Cola you need to be aware that the front lines of engagement are for communications specialists not interns or pseudo social media experts.

All to often we encounter so called, “community managers” who reveal themselves as “ghost twitterers” through our clients’ accounts expecting a nod, nod, wink, wink in return and then attempt to pitch their services to our clients via their clients’ profiles. This is a strict violation of best current practices not to mention extremely damaging to the brands they’re paid to represent. If a company trusts you to manage their communities online then you must do so with respect and a firm understanding of the values, legacy and mission of their brand.

Another subject I’d like to broach, while I’m ranting away here is the ways in which pseudo social media experts put their clients in actionable positions by violating copyright laws through derivative content creation and charging them for the privilege.

True social media agencies have an in-depth understanding of the social web, social networks and platforms, intellectual property law, social media optimization, community management and best current practices. If you do not possess these skills, you have no business in social media.