How to Get Started in Social Media

I’m often asked to do speeches at trade shows, conventions, business meetings and other venues on the topic of social media. One of the questions I’m frequently asked is, “How do I get started in social media?”

A year ago the question was, “Should I even bother getting into social media?” The fact that the question has changed is a sign that social media is now generally accepted as a viable, useful tool for business.

What follows are several tips on getting started in social media. They’re designed for the individual, not a corporation. A corporate version of these tips would be much longer and more complex. But if you’re a consultant, between jobs, a salesperson or own a small business, these tips are for you.

Phase I: Wrap your mind around social media

In order to wrap your mind around social media, you’ll have to understand some of the key concepts behind it. Here are some things to keep in mind as you develop your program:

You can’t understand social media until you use social media. Social media is a new world unlike most other things you’re used to. So get off your derriÃ¨re and start using it.
Social media is about having a dialogue, not a monologue. Don’t use social media as a megaphone, use it as a telephone. Talk, chat, discuss, challenge.
Twitter is like instant messaging to large groups of people. It’s no more complex than that.
Facebook is like a pub. It’s a great place to have a casual conversation with friends.
LinkedIn is like a trade show. It’s more formal than Facebook and primarily used for business.
MySpace is like Woodstock. It’s wild, crazy and mostly devoted to music or cause marketing.
Social media is about much more than just Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. It’s also about blogs, discussion boards, photosharing, podcasting, widgets and email marketing. (See Becoming a Social Media Superstar below.)

Phase II: The Basics

Sign up for LinkedIn. Update your profile. Be professional.
Create a Facebook profile. Still use it to promote your professional side, but be a little more friendly.
Get a Twitter account. Follow other people by going to Search.Twitter.com and searching on a term that you’re interested in. Follow the people who say things you like. They’ll probably follow you back.

Phase III: Getting Started

Join a professional group on LinkedIn. No, join several groups. Just type in the area you’re interested in the search box on the upper right hand side of your profile page.
“Friend” your friends on Facebook. Just search them out and, once you see their profile, friend them. That’s like tapping them on the shoulder and saying hello. They’ll friend you back.
Send out five Tweets. Contrary to the instructions on the Twitter home page, don’t tell people what you’re doing now. Sorry to break the news to you, but nobody cares if you’re going to Starbucks. What they do care about is the article you read on the New York Times website. Share that kind of stuff.
Set up your RSS feed. An RSS feed is a way to get all the articles you’re interested in delivered to your home page on Google. Just go to Google and sign up for an account. Once you have an account, you can customize your Google Home Page so that it delivers your RSS feeds to your iGoogle page. (To activate an RSS feed, just go to your favorite blog, magazine or newspaper and click the little orange RSS button. Follow the steps and every time they update their website, you’ll get the title of the article delivered to your iGoogle page.)

Phase IV: Getting Engaged

Leave a comment on a blog. It’s scary leaving your first comment so here are some tips: If you like the blog post, start by acknowledging that. Then write something that contributes to the conversation. Don’t self-promote or brag since that’s considered bad form. Your goal is to move the ball forward and provide another short tip or two on the topic of the blog.
Start a discussion on LinkedIn. Go to one of the groups you joined and start a discussion. Just make sure it’s relevant to the group. Again, avoid self-promotion or bragging.
Watch a YouTube video produced by someone in your industry. Just go to YouTube and do a search on your area of business. You’ll see plenty of videos on your topic. Don’t get distracted by the funny cat video. Save that for later. (Don’t forget to visit the 60 Second Marketer YouTube channel that has dozens of helpful videos on marketing topics.)
Tweet about an interesting article. Remember when we set up your RSS feed a little while ago? There was a reason for that. Go to your RSS reader and click through on one of the articles. Read it and, if you like it, copy the link. Now go to your Twitter account and say something like, “Here’s an interesting article about future trends in our industry. Check it out here: http://www.YadaYadaYada.com.”

Phase V: Becoming an Active Social Media User

Start your own group on LinkedIn. If you’re going to do this, you’ll have to update it regularly with interesting articles and/or discussions. You’ll also have to drive people to your group by letting people know you have your own group.
Answer questions on LinkedIn. Go to the search box on your LinkedIn page and drag down to “Answers.” Type in your area of expertise and connect with others. It’s a great way to engage with other people on LinkedIn.
Upload photos of you and your business on Flickr. Tag the photos so that people conducting searches for photos will find yours and engage with you. (Note: Tagging a photo is simply writing a one, two or three-word description of the photo you’re uploading in the appropriate field on Flickr.)
Sign up for TweetDeck or HootSuite. They’re Twitter tools that supercharge your Twitter usage and link everything you do to Facebook and other social media tools. It’s a great time-saver.

Phase VI: Becoming a Social Media Superstar

Start your own blog. There are plenty of tools to do this. Some of the better-known include WordPress, Drupal and Typepad. Google has one, too, called Blogger which is great for beginners, but not so great if you plan on getting serious. If you’re going to start your own blog, you’ll need to write at least 3 posts a week in order for the search engines to see your blog. (You want the search engines to see your site so that people interested in what you’re writing about will find it on Yahoo, Google or Bing.)
Link your Twitter account to Facebook and other social media tools. You can do this using TweetDeck and/or HootSuite.
Post 13 Tweets a day. Unscientific research indicates that 13 Tweets it the optimal amount for an engaged Tweeter. Don’t do it all at once, do it during the course of the day. Remember to write something that’s interesting and relevant to your followers.
Record a YouTube video and link it to your blog. That’s what I did with this post. It’s actually easier than you’d think — just record the video on your webcam, upload it to YouTube, then copy and paste the “embed video” button.

I could go on and on about how to get started using Social Media, but these tips will help you with the fundamentals. I’d be curious for feedback on the tips I missed — surely you have a thought or two on tips you’ve used, don’t you? Let us know about them in the comment box below.