Primers on Social Media Use Help Focus your Thinking

In blogging circles they’re called Evergreen posts, or Linkbait. Those helpful lists, tips, checklists and primers that give you “12 Surefire Ways to …”

There’s a reason you see so many of them. They work.

Take Kami Huyse’s Corporate PR 101: A Primer for Companies Interested in Social Media. A clear, easy-to-understand explanation of how organizations can put blogs, podcasts, wikis and similar tools to use. She boils her suggested approach to three steps: Active Listening, Outreach and Engagement. Two minutes of reading, and you have a frame for how your company could move into social media. Better yet, it’s written in a way you could use it as a resource for educating your management group.

Steve Rubel has a series of posts about Hacks you can use for personal or corporate use of a variety of social media tools. Clear, simple tips on how to get the most out of tools – most of them available free online.

Debbie Weil often uses the back to basics approach in explaining how companies use blogs, how to blog, and what not to do. If you want her Beginner’s Guide to Business Blogging, you can download it. Debbie also provides a handy list of links to various Social Media 101 posts that she’s found.

You shouldn’t limit your reading to this kind of online information, but don’t turn your nose up at them, either. There’s nothing wrong with a distilled view of a theme or idea. In fact, it often helps you find new ideas, or remind you of some facts about things you already know about.

Update:  In an act of shameless self-promotion, Debbie reminded me that you can also download the first chapter of her The Corporate Blogging Book (or go crazy and buy the book).  It’s a good read for anyone thinking of incorporating blogs into their corporate communications mix.
Tags: blogging, tips, checklists, primers, hacks, corporate, public relations, business