The importance of shaping the unwritten rules of B2C communication in social media

Opening up a new channel to potential customers by tapping into communities through social media is what all corporate marketers strive to do nowadays. The new channel definitely offers benefits for both parties, consumers and companies alike. But just as with every new invention, the "rules of the game" are not perfectly defined in the early days. There are written rules that exist in the social networking era, rules that try to protect the privacy of users. But in reality nothing works properly if its only based on stone-carved rules. There are the unwritten rules that bring flexibility in the system and define those aspects of the interactions that written rules cannot regulate.

These unwritten rules for interactions through the new social media platforms are just taking shape now and users will need to take an active part to shape the whole in the right direction. As long as companies' entry to the social networks of people are initiated by the community, the system works fine. People like and recommend products and brands to each other because they know the given company and are satisfied with it. When the "liking" of a brand/product or company is enforced, things start to become messy. And that is exactly what some marketers try to do because they are so desperate to enter the social arena. Among the agressive examples is what gadgetfeel.com did, with a popup window that gave the choice to visitors to either like the company on Facebook or wait 15 seconds to be admitted to the site (http://imgur.com/sg2wr). Another example is Starwood's competition for business travelers, which you can only enter if you like the brand on Facebook first.

If enforcing likes becomes a common practice, the community will be misguided and a huge portion of customer value will be lost. That is why it is crucial that consumers take an active part in saying no to questionable practices and by doing so they help shaping the unwritten rules of the new era of communication.