“Things I’ve Learned from Lately” is a regular compilation of articles that have made me a smarter social media marketer. Hopefully, they’ll help you, too.

Four Rules for Community Managers – SmartBlog shares four rules for community managers to become great community leaders, including reflect your community, champion the community, create a leadership identity and show results.

Key Takeaway: Community managers hold an immense amount of responsibility. They are the bridge between online customers and the brand. Good ones are hard to find, so invest in them and give them a solid framework to build the brand by building community.

Conversation Overload – Shea Bennett of AllTwitter predicts that the influx of tweets related to the US elections will make Twitter very overwhelming. There will be so much information coming in at such a rapid rate, it’s going to turn into a broadcast mechanism in which everyone is shouting, and listening becomes nearly impossible. Bennett does explain that even though this may be the case, it’s going to be a “joy” with multiple perspectives coming in and the ability to track reactions in real-time.

Key Takeaway: Social media is incredibly powerful, but with the good also comes the bad. The ability to maintain connections and follow content from as many connections as you can create also means managing that content in a way that’s beneficial. Use the channels to your advantage. If a platform becomes so cumbersome that you get no value out of it, it’s time to look at your current efforts and optimize them.

The Shift to Niche Communities – The Age documents the perspective of Troy Carter, the person behind Lady Gaga’s impressive social media efforts. Carter discusses his focus on the fans. He also discusses the incredible level of data that’s been generated by Lady Gaga’s private social network, littlemonsters.com. “We think the future of social media are micronetworks and communities built around specific interests," he says.

Key Takeaway: Carter’s observation that we’re moving toward micronetworks is a big one. People are looking to be more expressive now than ever online. Networks and brands that allow people to be unique and to stand out from within their own personal networks through social currency have a big opportunity.

Social Media Is Not a Replacement – The Globe and Mail asks whether or not social media replaces traditional selling, and the answer is no. Social media “has not changed the underlying nature or function of buying and selling, it has merely enhanced or enabled the way sales are executed.”

Key Takeaway: Social media isn’t destined to replace everything marketing has been to date. Instead, it’s more effectively used to enhance and to be enhanced by what a business is already doing. Social media doesn’t completely change the game, but it does change the way the game is played. Look at your business and implement social media in a way that makes you do your job better.

One of the most under-utilized and often over-feared aspects of social media marketing is the ability to leverage employees and staff to communicate on behalf of the brand. Now, there are certainly more than a few reasons to ask that employees not interact on business-related conversations in the social space: the need to control brand messaging, unpredictable staff, human resource concerns, etc.

However, there are also reasons to do the exact opposite and mobilize your workforce to communicate with your customers online: put a face (or faces) behind the brand, leverage everyone's expertise, grow and nurture real relationships with customers and so one. It particularly makes sense to mobilize your workforce in B2B communications because it offers a means for your sales force to grow relationships with clientele.

Educate Then Mobilize

There is risk in mobilizing your workforce, but risk can be minimized and benefits can be maximized by getting everyone on the same page, setting guidelines and communicating best practices.

Establish a policy. Create a social media policy that protects your employees and your company. Outline what is okay (e.g., addressing questions) and what is not (e.g., sharing proprietary information). Encourage your employees by letting them know that this is intended to protect them as well as the company.

Agree on rules of engagement. Make it clear to employees when it's okay to participate in conversation, when it isn't and what to do when responding (e.g., providing full disclosure). Give employees enough support and enough guidelines to allow them to feel confident in their understanding and ability to converse in the social space.

Provide best in practice guidance by offering training on how to use the tools best suited for connecting with consumers as well as provide guidance on content. They should use their professional social networks to offer context when sharing information, provide business-related advice and tips and connect personally with consumers by showcasing their personalities.

Make experts and establish credibility. The benefit for your employees engaging is it positions them as experts, thus making your brand appear more credible. They can use tools like Twitter and LinkedIn to provide guidance, share news relevant to consumers and offer tips/ answer questions.

Leverage What You Have

The most social brands will have a major challenge when it comes to interacting with all of the customers that require their attention in the social space. It's a big job for one person or a small team, but a workforce excited to use social media to interact with consumers while following the rules of engagement is an untapped opportunity. Whether or not it's the right approach for your business depends upon several factors, but if it is, set your brand up for success by establishing a policy, educating personnel appropriately and using their efforts to better your brand's overall social media efforts.