Forget my usual sarcastic introduction – this post is clear cut and straight to the point. As the title suggests, below is a list of tips about social media that you need to remember to know before 2011. Some might sound generic and applicable beyond the scope of social media – but that’s exactly the point. Social media is an extension of real life engagement.
- Dare to be different
- Don’t plagiarize your identity
- Social media has made you immortal, but your legacy is your responsibility
- Don’t beg, bug, buy attention; earn it!
- The only person worth comparing yourself to is your previous self
- Being blunt is not being rude, it’s being honest
- Be authentic all the time
- Learn how to manage brand YOU
- Be genuine
- Give, give, and then some
- Practice Active Listening
- Humanize your engagement
- Patience is a key ingredient needed in building your brand
- Be humble
- Power has shifted to the hands of the customer
- Express gratitude
- Tell a story. Storytelling is the one of the most effective forms of communication
- Be consistent & committed
- Partner with your audience – think of them as participants
- Be transparent
- Make sure to add value in your communication
- Build your network
- Be external – in other words, make sure you link to others (in your blog, RT, comments …)
- Map out a plan for your content sharing
- Make sure to lock in your brand name in all social networks (reserve your handle even if you’re not sing it yet)
- Don’t fear the negative feedback, instead, embrace it, learn from it, and deal with it.
- Customers are talking about your brand, join the conversation!
- Don’t act like a robot
- You only exist if google says you do
- There is a strong positive correlation between number of tweet and views to your blog – use Twitter well
- Make sure you know where your audience is
- Your avatar is an important element of your brand, make sure you use it well
- Reputation Management is a subset of Personal Branding
- Personal Branding is a full time lifetime job
- Define your social media objective and align them with your overall goals
- You online and offline brand should be one and the same
- Practice what you preach
- YES YOU CAN
- Don’t let anyone tell what you can and can’t do – follow your passion!
- Social Media is no longer an option
- Word-of-mouth is by far the most effective form of marketing and social media is WOM on steroids
- Be flexible but not fickle
- Both Social Media ROIs are substantial (Risk Of Ignoring & Return On Investment)
- Teach & Learn
- Don’t idolize yourself
- Videos rank very high on google – if you’re shy, try to upload video presentations attributed to you (your brand)
- Do unto others, as you would want others to do unto you
- Every word counts – the spotlight is always on!
- Social media is a conversation not a unidirectional platform
- Offline, bad can become worse – Online, Bad can become ugly – beware of the viral effect of social media.
Et voila!
What did you think of the tips? Hey, how come you look surprised? OH! You’re wondering where the next 50 tips are … well, what I failed to mention at the beginning of this post is that this is a co-authored effort. Mohammed and I believe that two minds are better than one and that is why we decided to write these 100 tips together … here’s the next batch
Think About It!
These are some great points to put in action! As we continue to increase our social media marketing, we will definitely keep these in mind when developing our strategy and online presence. Thanks for the great advice.
Thank you for your comment. I agree with your logic, we sometimes need to resort to a quick guide when things become slightly to chaotic – they help keep our brand on the right track!
Excellent post. Very useful tips and yes, straight to the point!! I like 38 the most…before practicing the other 49, we have to keep telling ourselves: YES WE CAN!! Can’t wait to read another half!
So true Christy – If more people just believe in their ability and fight their Lizard Brain (as per Seth Godin book, Linchpin), they would be surprised as to what they can achieve.
Cool stuff! I like the collaboration of this post between John and Mohammed, how creative! I would have never thought that there would be 100 must knows, but there you have it! Anyone out there nervous about the reality of #34? Thanks both for the great tips!
Happy that you like it, Sharon
To all of you reading this post, one thing needs to be made clear – SHARON is my muse – she is the reason I started my quest with Social Media & Personal Branding.
After this brief intro … well #34 has a whole post behind it Sharon – you should have a look and assess how nervous you are about it 🙂 http://wp.me/pIpk4-6k
I think my favorite is 29: You only exist if Google says you do. Love the list and love the split post! Great work!
Hey Kate – well you certainly know the story behind #29 – after 10 years of marketing, I found myself with nothing to show for it when I searched my name on Google. So that was one of main objectives when I started building my personal brand!
Great – this is at the same time entertaining and educative. Summa summarum it is “storytelling” or #17. Should #17 then in fact be #1 .
@pietijzer
I agree with you Pekka – Storytelling is by far one of the most underused marketing tools an the irony is that it is, in my humble opinion, the most effective. People relate to stories and build a connection with the characters and their problems … it’s the humanization of marketing.
As for the order, well this list was in particular one, very random … but you bring up an interesting follow up – Which of these 100 tips would you rank as the 5 most important ones?
Great tips and nifty way of presenting them (collabo is a key to success)! I’d have to say #41 stands out for me. WOM is the bread & butter of my network marketing business… really, it’s essential to everyone’s business! 🙂
Hey Christine, thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. WOM is certainly the secret sauce to a marketing success story and social media just spiced it up even more 😉
Love these points, John. You could write a post about each and every one of them (already have with some)! I absolutely love how almost all of these tips can be lessons applied to yourself in the real world (outside of social media) as well. Would love to hear more from you on #4!
#29: “You only exist if google says you do”
How concerned should we be about the other people who show up when we’re Googled? I exist on Google but so do at least three other people with my name!
Great list, spot on. My favorite ‘practice what you preach’