Depending on the forum, it’s generally frowned on to overtly promote yourself or your organization when using Twitter and LinkedIn Groups. You wouldn’t join a professional association and attend your first gathering with the goal of only talking about yourself. Networking online involves similar etiquette.

Listen
The first step is to listen. From listening, we learn how we can best contribute to the conversation. For some, this may be offering professional insights, opinions and advice. For others, it may be sharing articles, studies and other resources. Often, it’s a mixture.

Share
Once you’re contributing to the conversation and engaging in the dialogue, consider inviting others into the discussion. Promoting your Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook page not only brings more voices and ideas, it demonstrates that you:
•    Are familiar with these social media networks and can serve as a mentor, or at least as a friendly contact
•    Belong to a community of professionals with diverse skills, talents and experiences
•    Want to share timely, topical information and connect with others who have similar interests

Similarly to promoting your membership in a professional association, consider appropriate opportunities to note your professionally-minded, social media networks. Examples include adding this information to your:
•    Web site
•    Blog
•    Newsletters, e-newsletters and other periodicals
•    Author / speaker bio
•    Presentations and papers
•    Event invitations and signage
•    E-mail signature
•    Business card

Remember that you also can cross-promote one network with another, such as adding a link to your Twitter feed on your LinkedIn profile, or inviting Twitter Followers to join a LinkedIn Group for more in-depth discussion.

More about Twitter
If you have a micro-blog with Twitter and would like to encourage and retain regular readers,
also consider adding your address to online directories such as:
•    wefollow.com
•    twibes.com
•    twibs.com
•    justtweetit.com
•    twellow.com

More about blogs
If you have a traditional blog and would like to encourage and retain regular readers,
also consider:
•    Adding polls and surveys to give readers a reason to return
•    Inviting guest bloggers
•    Featuring Q&A interviews, perhaps as video presentations
•    Soliciting tagged photos and videos, then sharing and promoting the visual collections and portfolios (with credit to the creators)
•    Requesting reciprocity from those in your blog roll
•    Adding your blog to online directories such as blogcatalog.com and to social media listings in traditional media outlets and Web sites
•    Ensuring compatibility with mobile communications
•    Noting in your social media networks when new blog topics are posted, provide a link
•    Join and participate in industry forums and message boards, link your blog to popular threads
•    Make it easy to follow by adding one-click functionality to monitor with RSS feed
•    Make it easy to share with bookmark and forwarding connections such as
AIM
Ask
Backflip
BallHype
Bebo
Blogmarks
Buzz
Delicious
Digg
Diigo
Facebook
Favorites
Fark
Faves
FeedMeLinks
FriendFeed
Google
Kaboodle
kIRTSY
Link-a-Gogo
LinkedIn
Microsoft Live
Mister Wong
Mixx
Multiply
myAOL
MySpace
Netvouz
Netvibes
Newsvine
PropellerReddit
Segnalo
Simpy
Slashdot
Spurl
StumbleUpon
Stylehive
Tailrank
Technorati
ThisNext
Twitter
Yardbarker
Yahoo! Bookmarks
Also see: http://www.doshdosh.com/list-of-social-media-news-websites/

Filed under: So-Called Social Media