Jay Bears Baer’s first video blog talks about the Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media and how to avoid them.  While not polished or professional, his short 3 1/2 minutes are jam packed with good content.  His suggestions are relevant whether you are part of a large corporation or a small business owner.

Click here to download his outline and then read some of my additional thoughts below

  1. Listen First – Read blogs by others, observe how they use the medium.   While I agree, I also think you can listen too long, sometimes you just have to jump in!
  2. Right Now – The web moves fast.  This is not a Monday to Friday process.  Conversations continue on weekends, and if you wait, the conversation has moved on. Unlike traditional journalism, you don’t have a month to work on a story.  A month from now the story is gone
  3. Caution –  You have to empower employees or team members to participate as they see fit.  I first bumped into this idea while reading Groundswell, and it changed the way I looked at the Roundpeg blog.  Today, Taylor, Annalise, and Amy all write posts. And sometimes I cringe at the writing style, but never the messages.  Along with the empowerment to write, were conversations, about what I hoped we could do with the blog overall. When they understood the goal, it was easier to let them write as they saw fit.
  4. Be Truthful – Lots of people have written about authenticity, so I won’t belabor the point.  Just keep in mind, there are no secrets on the web
  5. Be Generous – Link to and promote others, share good information, and credit the source.   Just like face to face networking, your on-line network will grow as you connect people with good information.
  6. Social Media complements, but does not replicate off line.  Jay makes a great point when he reminds us we can not just take a print ad and post it on our web site.   Your core message can, and should remain the same ( afterall your brand doesn’t change when it goes on line) .  However, how you deliver it needs to fit the medium
  7. Have a sense of humor.  This was a hard transition for me to make.  It is not that I don’t have a sense of humor, I do.  But I always thought my business writing needed to be ” serious”.  Just read some of my early newsletters and blog posts – informative, but dull!  Good social media writers let there personality shine through, making them seem more three dimensional.

Refine your skills with research and practice, practice, practice. Because of the low cost of entry and the ability to reach so many prospects, Social Media levels the playing field, creating huge opportunities for small business owners, if they just jump in!

Find the right way to bring social media into your business by giving Roundpeg a call today