#68 Utilize your social media outlets for research. Ask your connections via LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. Also, think about Twitter as a search engine.

For some of you this will be old news. Or perhaps you have thought about it, but have yet to utilize your networking resources in this new way, as a research tool. Let’s say you’ve built a small (or large) army of connections on various social networking sites. Use them! Ask them a question or throw out an idea to see what kind of response you get. Your network will hopefully give back some honest opinions, insights, and other thoughts to consider. To make the most of it though, remember: be honest with what you’re looking for, participate if someone else asks you, and don’t get carried away. (No one wants to be your personal opinion survey).

Also, consider Twitter’s search function as a powerful tool to find live trends on any key word. To search, go to search.twitter.com. Type in your word and get ready for real time thoughts of what the masses are thinking. For more on this concept, read this article from Tech Crunch.

For more great Twitter thoughts, check out our last post on Twitter here.

How are you participating in your social networks? How are you using them? New business? Research? Or what else?

#65 Consolidate & promote your social media with apps like extendr & card.ly by using as links in email signatures, website or other networks

One of the best aspects of social media is the sheer amount of options you have. But, at the same time, it can also be the most overwhelming. How can you promote your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blog, etc. all in one place? Should you? I’ve found that our clients and friends want to connect with us in various ways, but was having trouble finding a good way to consolidate our web footprint.

That is when we found Joseph Rueter’s extendr product. We have used extendr as a corporate wide email signature promoting our social media footprint and other sites. It has been great to give clients access to all of our networks in one simple spot. (We also have a version just for our websites.) Another interesting idea is the online business card. I have not used it as much yet, but check out card.ly. Although it seems a little limited right now, it’s a nice, simple set up. We put a quick one together here.

So if you want to simplify your promotion of the various sites you are on and have a more robust email signature, consider using something like extendr and card.ly to make that easier. Any other options out there? How do you promote your sites now?

#51 Issue additional titles for employee initiatives like SMO - Social Media Officer - to encourage ownership and get things done.

As your firm grows or responsibilities change, you will soon find you can’t do everything. And sadly, it is easy to let things slip when you have plenty of work or you’re out trying to drum up new biz. We’ve found that the best way to keep information flowing and stay on top of things that are important is by aligning those tasks with others interests. For example, we have a designer who is very concerned and committed to getting us to be more ‘green’. So recently, the “Green Diva” took the lead. We talked about what goals I wanted and she related the things she was interested in. In a year’s time, we had an internal intranet with green terms and a checklist for our work. We began recycling more and developed goals and steps to reduce our carbon footprint. In addition, the “Green Diva” alerted me to talks, websites, resources and organizations we could join to raise awareness, support and follow-through.

This same result is happening with our social media footprint. We delegate responsibility for the various sites we’re on to different people depending on their area of interest. This way, we stay up to speed as participants, but also know about updates and changes that we can bring back to our clients.

Now, this all still takes time. You have to plan and be purposeful. But with a little practice and communication with your team, you can make it happen. If it’s just you alone, assign some of these responsibilities to days of the week or times of the day. Trust me, with some planning and discipline, it is possible.