Social Media in 50 Steps

courtesy of Techsoup.org

Sometimes when you come across something online, you just know it's a gem that needs to be shared. This is one of those items. Chris Brogan put together a really comprehensive list of 50 Steps to Establishing a Consistent Social Media Practice on his blog about community and social media. It's chock full of good advice, day-to-day practice, tools to streamline your processes, and an abundance of comments with even more good tips from the peanut gallery.

Some of the things off his list that I've found most useful when developing social media strategy for nonprofits are:

• Build an editorial calendar to think about your posting schedule and subject matter.
• On all your presence points, be human, and write a human-sounding profile. Use a human-seeming profile picture. (Did I mention “human?”)
• Use tagging and other metadata to improve your blog’s search features. Most newer blog software has this built in. If not, look for plugins.
• To create consistent content, read daily, and not just for your industry. Skim, synthesize, and post.
• Invite your audience in to guest post where appropriate.
• Look for cross-promotional opportunities for like-minded blogs in your space.
• Set 3 month goals to review progress with upper management. Determine if this is having any impact.
• Though these last 10 tips are about numbers, NEVER treat people like numbers in social media.

Overall, he's got great tips and things to think about when developing your own social media strategy. Check out his list of 50 steps and think about the ones most valuable to your organization. Now, the big challenge is finding someone to add a few extra hours to the day so there's time to do them all!