Should you evaluate social media the way you do employees?

Maybe you compare today’s performance against yesterday’s or last week’s. Maybe you give your brand’s social media presence an informal appraisal: “Lookin’ good” or “Needs some work.” If you’re really diligent, you might email employees with your findings. Then you move on with your day, secure in the knowledge that you did your part to monitor your company’s social media progress.

But do those constant mini evaluations do more harm than good? Do they prompt you to be reactionary instead of strategic? Do they make it harder to spot trends over time?

Ask yourself if you would be happy if your boss evaluated your job performance the way you evaluate your company’s blog. If your company’s human resource evaluation strategy looked like the social media evaluation strategy, what would the resulting company culture look like? Would the company make good decisions about who to promote and who to the fire? Would it be an effective, strategic organization, or would the whole thing fall apart?

Your blog, Facebook page and Twitter account are all members of your corporate team. They have personalities, strengths and weaknesses. They need guidance to thrive, and they deserve the same kind of evaluation your company gives all its employees.

Some caveats: