Get Social Media Smart with 26 Tips on the Social Web

Day one of the DMA / TopRankMarketing.com Social Media Smarts workshop kicked off covering a tremendous amount of information including defining social media, practical examples & case studies and blogging soup to nuts. Creating, marketing and measuring blog results was covered in 3 different modules.

Social media and making sense out of the social web is a hot topic and I applaud the organizations that sent people to New York this week for our workshop.

During the first day I asked attendees what their learning objectives were which I thought were consistent with most people entering the social media space:

• Build a social media strategy for our organization
• Learn what social media tools to pay attention to and which to ignore for a specific industry
• Learn about using social media to build brand awareness, solicit feedback from members and to build a strategy
• Better understand members needs and tools to communicate with them
• Learn to create a personal and a business brand with social media
• Learn how to promote and track results with social media
• Learn to extend current social media efforts
• Understand best practices of social networking

I also asked the good Tweeple following @leeodden if they were to share one tip on social media, what would it be? We received an amazing number of responses and here are 26 of them:

JackLeblond – my advice, be genuine

chrisgarrett – My one piece of advice for Social Media for companies is to listen first – don’t go marching in like you own the place 😉

mark2100 – Don’t just jump on the bandwagon, understand SM and dedict time/effort to building it up

tcpeter – This simplest soc media advice is social = people. Start with thinking about social in terms of talking to people. Don’t overthink

BarbaraKB – Choose three socnet communities & be incredibly loyal & consistent in them. #dmasms

rhilliard – have a presence across many, but each presence must mirror the others. Beware of under performing CPC as well

LeftTheBox – If a company is afraid to engage, they should listen. Monitor Twitter, Facebook, etc. You NEED to know whats happening. #dmasm

therealjosh – Have at least one person know whats going on and monitor / update in a genuine way the diff. social media profiles

salidatious – I think it would be only do what you naturally do anyway or you will fail to be consistent

MartinEdic – Easy= less powerful. The widgets are cool but difficult to bring much value out of the app reporting-wise, IMHO

divinewrite – Commit for the long haul.

zanesafrit – Answer who, what, why? Who’s the audience. What have you got to say? Why’s it important to them?

professor – Don’t pretend you aren’t a company. Yes you’re hanging out with the cool kids on facebook but we know what you really are

jeremyvaught – I would tell the to DO IT! If they are not a part of their conversation, someone else is controling it. Not good for them

PressReleasePR – Remember when you were starting your company and asked ppl to listen to ur plans? Do the same and listen to YOUR audience #dmasms

smallbiztrends – Tip: find your employees who are passionate about social media and involve them — passion shows and they’ll do the best job.

LostinSweden – get involved. You can’t be part of the conversation if you aren’t in the middle of it.

northrock – show your personal side and be real. #dmasms

dawnbryant1029 – You can’t *create* content externally. Reality seeps out. Don’t like it? Work on the inside and equip people

nathaneide – listen first. Don’t be the bullhorn in the party. Social media is a conversation, not a one-way stream

donmball – Be pragmatic, not lofty, in your ambitions and look for short-term gains in order to build momentum/buy-in. #dmasms

josephrueter – Social Media is like a digital porch. People like coming to chat if the home owner is authentic! #dmasms http://is.gd/ae2d

mikebilleter – My advice would be that social media needs to be a lasting and time-committed conversation, not a “campaign.” #dmasms

andinarvaez – Don’t get caught up on the tools/gadgets… think of your audience and your goals. Hit the ground running with a direction in mind

geckotales – convince most employees to maintain a few accounts and update them. Provide guidelines but not restrictions. Scary of course

gaspland – Here’s a bunch of social media tips in a blog I posted not too long ago  http://tinyurl.com/5pm83o

Thank you to everyone that retweeted this request and all those that responded!  Check out @dmasocialmedia for more insights during the workshop and daily links to useful resources on social media marketing.

What single tips would you share with someone that’s wants to learn more about the social web?

Develop a Social Media Strategy for Your Business with TopRank’s Social Media Smarts: Workshop on social media strategy, tactics and tools for business marketing and communications professions with companies of all sizes is being offered by the Direct Marketing Association and TopRank Online Marketing.

The next 2 day Social Media Smarts workshop will be held in Chicago, April 22-23, 2009 at the Microtek facility downtown Chicago. Visit SocialMediaSmarts for more information.