"Are You A Smart Social Networker?"

I came across this great article from Dan Schwabel publisher of Personal Branding Magazine.

He offers some great tips to CMO's about starting social networking campaigns.

He claims: "...Thirty–seven percent of the US adult population uses social networks and there will be $1.2 billion spent on advertising on social networks this year alone (eMarketer). Even podcasting shows potential, with an audience that is projected to increase to 65 million in 2012 (eMarketer)."

He continues by offering these tips:

Spend more time learning about social media before actually engaging.

This can be done by subscribing to many popular blogs in your space...learn who your new stakeholders and influencers are and identify ambassadors in your company that could interact with them to start conversations.

Become visible in the industry.

Whether it’s you or your direct reports, attendance at new media conferences will provide insight and best practices.

Take risks.

There are very few real social media success stories in corporate America because companies are in experimentation mode. Whether it’s a viral video, a blog, a wiki or a discussion forum, companies are looking to see how others react to their tools and strategies. The Blog Council was formed to help companies, such as Coca Cola, share failures and successes.

Command respect by being transparent.

If you take anything from reality TV, you know that people care about authenticity and not acting. You need to start treating bloggers like real people and not press release submission services. The people that will succeed will tell bloggers exactly who they are and what their intentions are immediately.

Don’t be just another logo on a website.

Just because you brand yourself visually doesn’t mean people will care about you. Make your business come to life and have your employees tell their stories. People remember faces and stories more than anything.

My previous post about "truth" plays into this...we live in a world where customers expect authenticity.

The internet has made the world very public and therefore very easy for your customers to criticize or praise your brand out in the open. It's becoming more impossible to hide your failures...and on the other hand...it's become easier to celebrate your successes!