I recently caught Kivi Miller’s article: If Social Networking Isn’t Marketing, Why Bother. She makes some great points about why we should be in the social networking space.

A couple things we need to remember when developing a strategy for participating (which, by the way, individuals don’t develop a strategy, they just participate. We don’t have that luxury):

• Don’t go ‘all in’. Pick what you want to get out of social networking participation and make that a very short list. Do you want them to see your events, chat with other members, share photos, discuss direction? Don’t pick all of those, just one or two.
• Don’t expect large or immediate results. It naturally takes a while for fans of yours to find you immediately online, then be active on your page. These things take time…time to be shared by your friends…time to be discovered by new members.
• Make it easy through linking. On Facebook or Upcoming, throw a badge on your site. drop it at the bottom of your email. Push people to your site from the right places.

We should be in this space, but might be shunned if we over-communicate or over-market. Have a strategy, set limits, and have fun. Thanks for the great post, Kivi.