Most people are engaged with some form of social media these days and this trend is likely going to keep growing.

As a business owner or consultant, this is the ideal time to incorporate ways to succeed in social media into your marketing platform, and it helps to know some basic dos and don’ts. In the article “How to Succeed with Social Media: A Brian Solis Interview, ” there are some pointers for mistakes to avoid and ways to make social media succeed for you. Here are some tips drawn from that article:

1. Don’t Rely on the Past: Social media is constantly growing and evolving. This is an exciting time as it seems that almost anyone can become an innovator. With social media, you can’t just take a template for what to do in social media and expect it to work just like it did yesterday. Because of this, it’s important to be open to experimenting and creativity, just as if you are a student to social media and learning what works. Basically, you have to keep evolving with what is available. 

2. Don’t Forget to Blog: Not only are blogs important to succeed in social media, but if done correctly, they can add value to a website that ultimately has a blog that reads like a good book. The best blogs work to power and inspire others, rather than just add self-serving content or marketing jargon.

3. Do Keep a Facebook Fan Page: If you business doesn’t have a Facebook fan page yet, you’re missing out on crucial ways to build your brand and interact with customers. Not only can you customize the tabs in Facebook, but you can also have your Facebook fan page monitored by Google Analytics. Some experts are predicting that Facebook fan pages could become even more popular than Twitter, but only time will tell.

The most important thing to succeed in social media is simply to engage, be real and authentic, and to constantly be reevaluating and growing with the platform.

For more information on social media read my artilce Make Your Website Stand Out at Social Networking Sites