The Boy Scout Handbook of Social Media

The lessons the Boy Scouts taught me about being a good citizen are the same lessons that can be directly applied to your organization’s social media strategy.

The Boy Scout Law applied to social media:

“A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.”

Embodying all of these characteristics may not be necessary (I’m not sure if your Twitter followers will care how thrifty you are, for instance), but it certainly sets the right kind of tone.

Be trustworthy: Provide reputable information. Don’t Tweet from the hip – make sure the information you are providing is credible, and spend an extra few minutes to fact check. In social media, you’re only as good as your word.

Be loyal, obedient, and reverent: This doesn’t mean you have to be a mindless drone or a faceless logo constantly doling out the party line, i. It just means you need to be respectful of your organization’s internal guidelines and code of conduct (See our video on Social Media Guidelines Made Simple).

It means respecting the fact that you should represent your organization just like you would at an in-person event or on the telephone.

Be helpful, friendly, courteous, and kind: Mind your manners and add value to conversations. Be a nice person and genuinely try to make other people’s lives easier. Be the type of friend that helps someone move.

If you’re using social media to build brand awareness, make sure that people are aware you have a great brand. Do this by playing nice and being polite, just like every kindergartner knows.

The Boy Scout Motto applied to social media:

“Be Prepared.”

It’s a simple motto, but it’s effective. Being prepared means thinking ahead and identifying possible worst- case scenarios.

It means having a plan in place in case one of the worst- case scenarios comes true. It means readying for yourself for what might happen if you embrace the conversations as an organization.

It means, ultimately, being ready to think on your feet and knowing that sometimes there are unknowns and acknowledging that you’re committed to being there when the stuff hits the fan, just in case it does.

The Boy Scout Slogan applied to social media:

“Do a good turn daily.”

Take some time out of your daily routine to do something nice for someone. Maybe it’s sharing a link to a recent blog they wrote. Maybe it is helping them find an answer to a question. Maybe it’s just giving someone a shout to show some love. It doesn’t have to be life-changing, it just has to be nice.

There may be no immediate return on this investment of kindness, but it will make you a better social media citizen. It will help to build your reputation as an organization worth knowing.

If you can be more like a Boy Scout when you’re using social media, your brand will be better off.

And come on, it’s not like I’m asking you to wear the uniform to work.

If you liked this, try:

1. 5 Reasons the Intern Shouldn’t Run Your Social Media Campaign
2. 4 Things My Mom Taught Me About Social Media
3. Social Media Friends … with Benefits
4. 6 Steps to Realistic Social Media Implementation
5. 3 Unrealistic Promises Made About Social Media

Tagged as: Building Community, Content (media), Content Marketing, relationships, Social Media, Tactics, Transparency