Making Social Work. Great tips from Chris Brogan, WOMMA, Mashable, SEOmoz and More (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest – September 16, 2011)

Social is great, right? I mean, “Friends” and “Followers” and “Likes” and LinkedIn and Twitter and Tumbr are totally the most bestest things ever, aren’t they? Well, yes. And no. Done right, social is an amazing tool in your arsenal. But done poorly, you can easily spend a lot of time, energy and money with nothing to show for it.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to add to the social media backlash. But, how do you make social work for your business?

Easy. Just listen to these folks for some great ideas on how to make social work:

• One goal many organizations pursue is increasing those friends, fans and followers I mentioned above. But is that the right goal? Maybe not. Social media guru (and all-around good guy) Chris Brogan explains why following does not equal attention.
• So, if following isn’t attention, how do you get the attention you’re looking for? And, more important, how do you get your customer’s endorsement? Check out John Moore’s post on the Word of Mouth Marketing Association blog, “How to get people talking about your brand”.
• I’ve said many times that “social is people.” And people love their mobile phones, which is why social and mobile go hand-in-hand. Search Engine Land dives into this topic and looks at why social must be part of your mobile strategy.
• While tools are less important than strategy, they’re not irrelevant, either. As Thomas Edison said, “Vision without execution is hallucination.” Michael Brito over at Edelman Digital examines the use of Buffer to increase engagement on Twitter.
• Inc. Magazine has a great guide about how to take advantage of online review and answer sites a.
• Nielsen is out with its Q3 social media data. If you don’t have time to check out the whole thing, Buffer’s company blog looks at 6 social media facts it found suprising and Hubspot looks at 6 compelling stats of their own.
• Building on that research, Mashable looks into how consumers interact with brands on Facebook.
• We all assume social and search have a lot in common. But does the data back it up? SEOmoz tries to answer whether social signals drive traffic. Here’s a hint: Yes, they do.
• And, finally, no social media strategy can afford to ignore Facebook. Social Media Examiner, um, examines 9 Facebook marketing success stories for you to model.

Alright, all you social savants. Try putting these tips and tactics into practice to make social work for your business. And have a great weekend. We’ll see you back here next week for more stories on how to succeed with social, mobile, local and search.

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