Access – Social media is an important tool that gives you immediate access to your audience.  Whether they are customers of your business or fans of your book, you can reach them quickly.

Brand – It’s all about your brand. Regardless of if you have a service you provide or a product you sell, utilizing social media to ensure there’s awareness about your brand is crucial to your success.

Contests – What better way to increase your brand awareness, followers and engagement than a contest!  If you’re looking for a third-party contest provider, we recommend Offerpop.

Digg – One of many social media bookmarking sites, Digg is a great place to share your content (think blog posts).

Engage – Be sure to engage your followers. Posting on social media isn’t enough – you need to constantly drive engagement or you’ll lose them.

Facebook – With over 900+ million users worldwide now using this social media platform, you can’t afford to not have a presence.

Google+ – While Google is nowhere near the popularity of Facebook and Twitter, it is making its presence felt. If you have a business, be sure you have a Google+ page.

HootSuite – I use TweetDeck personally, but have heard great things about HooSuite – a social media management dashboard.

Instagram – Share images with your community! Be creative. Take fun shots – of your product, of your team, of your day at the office. Apply fun filters and share.

Just 20% – I always tell my clients to keep their promotional posts (“Buy our product!”) to just 20% of your total content for the week.  The rest of your content should be informative, fun and engaging.  If you only post about yourself 24/7, you’re going to turn away your followers very quickly.  If they want to solely get sales pitches, they’ll sign up for your company emails.

Kelley Media – Looking for someone to manage your social media efforts?  We can help!

LinkedIn – Get involved in groups! Have a blog? Post teasers in applicable groups of your target audience and link to your website for a full read. Watch your web traffic soar!

Mashable – Be sure to follow them on Twitter (@mashable) to stay up to date on the latest in all things social media!

Now or Never – Not on social media yet?  The time is NOW.  Your target audience is on social media and so is your competition.  You can’t afford to not have a presence.

Pinterest – Relatively new to the social media networking world, but a great platform if you offer a service or have a product to sell.

Questions – Questions are great for engagement on social media.  Come up with fun questions and share them on Twitter and Facebook.  On Facebook, use the poll functionality for option questions (A, B, C, D).

Reddit – Another great social media bookmarking site. Be careful posting here though – too promotional and you’ll receive some negative feedback.  Consider adding socialable icons to your blog posts so users can share your content with all social media platforms – from Twitter and Facebook to Digg and Reddit.

Sprout Social – One of my favorite services for social media analysis and reporting. Looking forward to the day when you can bulk schedule social media posts!

Twitter – They say it best … “Instantly connect to what’s important to you.”  Twitter is real-time dialog.  In addition to posting your own engaging content, stay on top of the dialog – especially that being said by your target audience.  Get involved in the discussion!

Understand – Be sure you read up on social media so that you can thoroughly understand it.  It changes so frequently that it’s crucial you stay up to date not only on the latest trends, newest releases and options – but also on the rules.

Vision – Before you start your social media campaign, have a vision.  Plan out your strategy and ask yourself questions like “Who is my target audience?”  and “What are my goals?”  It’s important to have these mapped out beforehand.  While social media can have “wing it” moments, you should have a general idea of what you’re planning to do in place.

Widgets – Facebook and Twitter both offer widgets that you can add to your website.  Include a live stream of your Twitter feed or simply add a Facebook like button – the choice is yours!  They make a great addition to your site and a quick way to access your social media networks.

X – I’m at a loss for X.  What do you have?

You – It’s important that your social media be personable.  Whether you have a face for your company, like Tony from Zappos, or you simply write in a more friendly tone – you’ll be sure to increase your engagement.  People want to interact with people, not a machine.

Zero – No one wants to have zero fans and followers.  On Twitter, follower users in your target audience.  On Facebook, considering advertising.  It’s a great way to grow your fan base quickly.