Social media evolves and changes quickly, and even the experts learn something new every day – if they want to remain “experts”, that is.  Sometimes it can seem as if the rules for social media are constantly changing.  The best way for social media marketing to keep up is to try new ideas, and constantly look for new sources of information.

This week, we picked up these five social media tips.  What new social media tips did you learn this week?

1. Blog as frequently as possible. Think writing a blog post once a week is enough? High-traffic blogs post new content at least once a day, every day. A new post doesn’t need to be long – and it doesn’t even need to have words.  A great photo, a licensed cartoon, or a video you want to share may be enough.  If blogging is part of your social media marketing strategy, don’t forget to follow an editorial calendar that will help you publish a range of content that’s designed to appeal to your target audience.
2. Remember what your mother said: mind your manners online. “Please” and “thank you” are still the magic words.  Thank your new Twitter followers (and now with an auto responder). Tell people that you like their content – don’t just retweet it blindly.  Thank people who help you get the work out through RT’s, shout-outs, mentions, and likes.  It matters.   Of all the rules for social media, good manners is the one that may just be the most important — and the easiest to forget.  Social media searches now crop up in everything from credit decisions to divorce cases to hiring decisions.  Forgetting your manners online today may come back to haunt you in the future when you’re up for your dream job, so think before you post.
3. Cross-link everything. Bring in more followers and fans by placing links to your Twitter feed, Facebook fan profile and blog URL in your email signature files, on business cards, in printed collateral, and (of course) in your social media profiles.
4. Focus on telling stories about your most important characters:  your customers.  Yes, it can be hard to get customers to agree to let you use their names in case studies and promotional copy. But in most cases, you don’t need permission to say, “One of our customers, a large telecommunications company, needed to solve this problem.  Here’s how we helped.”  As long as you don’t give away proprietary information, you’re probably safe.  (Forbes columnist David Coursey recently published an eight word social media policy that can come in very handy in situations like this.  The 8 words to follow?  Don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t steal, don’t reveal.)
5. Get involved with experts in your field. Even if you’re not famous (yet), social media is a great place to link up with people who are well-known experts in your field.  Invite them to participate in a webinar with you, or contribute a guest post to your blog. This will attract new “Likes” and followers while also leveraging the existing network of experts who participate.