22 Social Media Tips Under 140 Characters

This is a collection of Tweets (posts I put out on twitter via @shanegibson) from the past couple of weeks . They are social media tips under 140 characters in length. (last weeks social media tips can be found here)

Some of these tips have been passed on dozens of times but I wanted to make sure they stayed permanently available by posting them to my blog. If you have any to add, please add them in the comments section of this post.

Here’s my 22 Social Media Tips:

1. Measure engagement levels, revenues, value added interactions. Big numbers in views and traffic can lie.
2. Bad customer feedback is a branding opportunity if you handle it right.
3. If you can’t be relevant, at least be entertaining!
4. Visit sites outside of your industry and interest areas for new ideas.
5. Constantly look for ways to contribute and you will never run out of marketing leverage.
6. Social Media should be integrated or synced with other marketing activities.
7. Social media is not rocket science. Forget the big words and focus on listening and connecting intimately.
8. It’s kind of like dating. Don’t ask someone to marry you on the first date.
9. Your goal is to become referable; to become credible, and to build a following through value added interactions.
10. It is not about getting referrals; it is about becoming referable.
11. There are many ways to get followers. A good question to ask is: “How do I create quality connections on Twitter?”
12. Ning.com is a great social networking tool. What it enables you to do is create your own private network for anything.
13. Pay it forward. Teach people about social media and they’ll tell other people about you.
14. Resist the temptation to fill your Facebook friends inboxes with daily marketing. They will tune you out.
15. Break long blog posts into a series of short-posts, it will increase your page views and be more engaging
16. It’s personal reputation and brand building that makes us approachable, people want the real deal.
17. When you’re reaching out to thought leaders in the social space you need to tap into their motivations.
18. Pre-scheduled tweets and blog posts can help you reach audiences in different time zones.
19. Use http://www.tubemogul.com to distribute video to Youtube, Viddler, Vimeo etc. all at once.
20. Use http://hootsuite.com to manage multiple twitter accounts and schedule tweets into the future.
21. It feels great to know people are listening to us and that they care. Let your customers know you’re listening.
22. If done right social media will become a part of your business process not a separate addition.

If you liked these tips, there’s a lot more where that came from in the new book Stephen Jagger and I are releasing this summer called Sociable! Sign up for updates and advance order opportunities below: