So you have heard about this social media thingee and think…”That’s the ticket!”  OK…now I know what I want to do.

How do I do this thing called “Social Media”?

People are continually coming up to @DennisLLynn and I to ask us how they should go about getting ahead using social media.  With that in mind, I decided I would make a “Top 10 Social Media Handbook”

1. Blog – You have heard me say it before, but let me say it again. If you don’t have a blog, get one! Cost isn’t the issue.  Your efforts are.  Blog like they vote in Chicago…early and often!  According to Technorati, successful bloggers post 7 times more than those wanna-be’s.  Not having a blog is a social media deal breaker.
2. Have your profile show up EVERYWHERE! I can’t tell you how many different profiles I have. But I do know that many of my customers like the fact that I seem to be everywhere they look.  Whether it is twitter, facebook, linkedin or the myriad of other sites, get your profile up and contribute.
3. Upload photos! People resonate with pictures. So don’t disappoint them.  If you don’t feel your pics are good quality, post them and ask for help.  Community won’t mind helping you out, especially if you give props back! By the way, all of your photos don’t have to be about business!  People like our “humanness”.
4. Video – People don’t want to watch epic’s, but they do love short clips that tell about something they have an interest in or will make them laugh.  Keep them short and make them fun.  Viral videos are the “now product”!
5. Do podcasts! While you want your videos to be short, podcasts are fine if they are a bit longer. We love to listen to them in the car or at the gym…really anywhere. Get a blogtalk radio account.
6. Blog comments – Social media is about engagement. If you want to be part of the community, you have to participate. Besides comments can make the links build up over time and will also make you some great friends that you can align yourself with.
7. Connect with folks! Developing relationships is critical to your social media success! So, if you are on twitter, take a bold step and respond back to tweets that somehow provoke or resonate with you.  I have met some of the coolest people in the world this way.  Don’t get awestruck by the “superstars” and be afraid to connect with them.  Will they all respond back? No. But those that do are only going to help your journey and we are known by the company we keep.  Hang out with the big hitters and you will be one soon.  Just don’t forsake everyday folks like me for the heavy hitters.  There is gold with everyone!
8. Explore all social media – I recently started an account with TrafficGeyser. Part of the setup is registering with most of the major social media networks.  I was blown away by some that I hadn’t heard of before. I added 50 more doing that exercise and there are 100’s more! So, don’t spend all of your time on the big time social media sites. You would be surprised what some of these others can do for you.
9. Have fun! Many of my customers feel that there is a “one size fits all” approach to social media when I first meet them. That is just not the case. So, be creative and have fun along the way.  Creativity is rewarded with social media because it demonstrates you are not another “me too” social media evangelist.
10. Set alerts! Go to google reader or get your RSS feeds going, because as you have probably already found out, there is a lot of info on the web today.  Why should you do all the work in searching for it?  Let it come to you easily.  Read the headlines and determine if it either has value or interest to you.

The bottom line to your involvement…

As you can see, there are a lot of things in the social media universe that you can do to set yourself apart from the pack.  The more you do, the more successful you will be.  The other question we get a lot is:

“How soon will this happen?”

Well, it isn’t going to be overnight, that I can assure you.

Being a success with social media is earned.  It is done by consistently performing the tasks I laid out above. Do you have to do them all at once? No.  But the more you do, the faster you will see the results you are looking for.  Let me know what you are doing and where you are succeeding (or not). Let’s connect and work at this together.

At Social Media Dudes – we specialize in online strategies for small businesses in northeast Georgia and Metro Atlanta. Contact us here

Follow the Social Media Dudes on twitter:  @DennisLLynn and @johnpanico

If you are looking for free tips or advice on how to approach your social media, go to Social Media Dudesand subscribe to your newsletter in the upper left hand corner! Still not convinced that social media is right for your business? Read this and get our F.R.E.E. report on the 7 Myths of Social Media! Or follow our tweets on Twitter at twitter.com/johnpanico Finally, those are my thoughts from high atop my 2nd floor office above my garage. What I want to hear are YOUR comments. Please leave one now.

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