A Beginner's Guide to Social Media


Tip #1 – Make It About Them
Limit talking about yourself, at least initially – provide ways to help others instead.

Tip #2 – Plan Ahead
Take the time to build out a map, a process towards achieving your social media goals. It will be worth it in the long run.

Tip #3 – Contribute
Be the one to create quality content. The number of people contributing good, original content is much smaller than the group that’s reading it, which can mean good opportunities for you.

Tip #4 – Connect
Reach out to the influencers in your niche. Brand advocates are those loyal consumers who spread the buzz about your brand, and they are an invaluable source of word-of-mouth advertising.

Tip #5 – Link
Don’t be afraid to link out to other blogs and websites. Search engines make good use out of them. If you’ve found a site you love, share the love with others.

Tip #6 – Claim
If you have a blog, claim it at Technorati to ensure that you’re indexed in their search engines, and that updates are broadcasted across the network along with your own blog network updates.

Tip #7 – Analyze
Open an account from the list of Social Media sites below, using your brand name as the identifier to help establish your brand or company name, and to keep anyone else from easily assuming or stealing your identity. Work with one or two of these social media sites to get started, and look at your web analytics, track referring domains and review traffic movements daily.

Tip #8 – Track
Subscribe to feeds, and use iGoogle, My Yahoo Web or other favorite RSS readers. Use Yahoo Pipes to save time monitoring across many resources within the social networks. Watch for changes (use Google.com/alerts), and be the first to comment on and engage in your topic; the first ones to comment often get more visibility and traction.

Tip #9 – Submit
Review the resources below, and consider building profiles over time. If you submit content, make sure that it’s useful, unique and that the title of your post stands out. Pick one or two places to start, and don’t overextend yourself. Make sure to ask friends to vote or comment on your postings, befriend others, and avoid spam. Make intelligent posts, and make sure that your employees are not posting from the same location (IP Address). If they are, the submissions will most likely be rejected, and your account could be blocked or suspended.

Tip #10 – Hosting
Have a good hosting provider. Your server infrastructure must be able to handle traffic spikes.

The Top 14 Social Media Starter Resources (in no particular order):

  1. Twitter *See more below – specific for twitter
  2. Facebook (download toolbar)
  3. YouTube (toolbar exists, but have not tried)
  4. Del.icio.us (download toolbar)
  5. StumbleUpon (download toolbar)
  6. LinkedIn (tip: use the Q/A section to gain readership and clients)
  7. Flickr
  8. Digg
  9. Reddit
  10. Technorati
  11. Secondlife (3D)
  12. Meneame (spanish, translate title and synopsis before posting)
  13. Newsvine
  14. Techcrunch!

Bonus Tip: Enjoy the Benefits An effective social media marketing strategy can help you:

View The Guide