A 10 point plan.

Where to start with Social Media is a concern we face when working with clients, people feel overwhelmed if they just jump in, or hold off trying anything for fear of doing it all wrong.

So you’ve got a project to kick off, what do you do?

Here’s my guide to dipping your toe in the water:

1: Name Check
Don’t brainstorm a name in a meeting and start your branding without checking if all the relevant social media places are available first. Hit up http://namechk.com and use this whilst brainstorming, and then do a domain check for any websites you need (if this website dies, search for others, as one is sure to spring up, or add us to your delicious links and we’ll keep an eye on it for you).

2: Blog it
Don’t wait around to start blogging and documenting your story, set one up, use it regularly to get some practice playing with tone and content plus keep it ‘private’ for now until you’re ready to make it live…

and only then do you…

3: Go public!
Launch your blog, designed and branded and pre-filled with content. Its much better to launch with plenty of content than to send round links whilst you’ve nothing to look at or read about. A delay between starting your blog and launching, cures that problem.

4: Pimp your spaces
If you need to follow through with the company image, design and implement your branding across all your other social spaces. However if it’s not important, again don’t wait to set up ‘the look’, as this can take time and you can work on that later. It’s more valuable to start using your networks and filling them with content.

5: Join Groups
Identify similar groups, orgs, people and places that are in the same industry / project niche as you, and join them. Whether its facebook groups or mailing lists or tracking down people on http://wefollow.com: be part of the conversation.

6: Keep an eye out
Set up RSS feeds for search results and #hashtags, that may mention your brand/name and/or topics that you’re interested in keeping up with. Don’t forget comments either, good blogs allow you to subscribe to comments, which can be just as valuable, if not more, than the blog post in the first place—its where all the conversation happens!

7: Make time
Set aside time to reply to posts and comments, keep up with tweets and networks. There’s no point being in this space if you don’t work to keep these new friends—people will comment on your content, if you comment on theirs.

8: Storytelling
Use your blog to tell the story of your project, as this is often the most insightful and interesting to the reader. Tell it either as it happens, or one step behind, and remember regular posts equals regular visitors. Don’t have a story to tell? Start one. It can be as small as a simple challenge to yourself, or as large as a multi-million pound corporate mission, so there’s really no excuse.

However don’t…

9: Don’t be a bore
Tell your story by all means, but don’t talk about yourself all the time and force people to leave your party! Find people that can utilise the strength of your brand or network and help tell their story. The Karma Police will love you.

10: Distribute
Update all your social spaces in one go with http://ping.fm*.

OK, there’s my top 10 essentials. It’s important to behave exactly as you would in a face to face situation: replying, adding, and bringing value to the debate. Don’t ever lose sight of the humanistic and reciprocal nature of actually engaging in conversation, as without this, all your online efforts will be wasted.

What have I missed?
Whats your golden rule?

Let us know in the comments below.

Author: mark - 17/04/09