Bio: Sam Schuurman is keen student of the new business world, the founder of iThnk.com, and a co-founder of TEDxDunedin

Sam Shuurman @SocialSammy and iThink.com

I’m not usually big on talking about best practice or making rules for social media. People who try to place rules and constrictions on things as dynamic as social media are usually proved wrong and made to look rather foolish over time….but when Social Media NZ asked me to write this piece I thought it’d be a great chance to mash together some of the best practice that I've seen with some of the insight from my research to try and make it useful for others.

• If you suck - stay on the curb - I don't mean this as an insult...to put it simply if your marketing sucked and people hated you prior to social media coming along then don't think it'll be the easy fix you were after (this vid explains it nicely). Stay off the band wagon and take the time to get your house in order before jumping head first into the socialweb. - One of the most common comments from my research participants was "oh but it kinda makes sense coz they're a crap company anyway".
• It’s all about community – “It’s not a monologue, it’s a dialogue” - @Ophil. Embrace your community encourage them to share with each other and maybe your community will take on a life of its own – the more open the platform you provide the more co-created your social media efforts will be and the more engaged your community is likely to become.
• Add value – I know that this seems rather ambiguous as there are so many different things that people find valuable. Thinking about what you find valuable and why is always a good place to start. Your value add could be…terrific insight, aggregated info, humor or even just pretty pics - and if all else fails then just try and bring some joy to the people around you.
• Find Your Purple cow – Every single participant in my research seemed to believe that having a distinguishing and obvious "reason for being" was critical to successful online interaction.
• Reference sources - retweets, mentions for twitter - hyperlinks and trackbacks for blogs. Why? Well it’s not about proprietary info and it’s not just about courtesy…it’s about placing yourself within a wider conversation. It gives your viewers/readers the chance to watch what you’re watching and read what you’re reading and then form their own opinions.
• Talk about more than yourself – There are loads of experts who get this so wrong. One who gets it right is Guy Kawasaki – he doesn’t just tweet about AllTop he tweets about all sorts of interesting things, bits of news, funny vids and posts from sites that aren’t related to AllTop in the slightest.
• Try not to patronise– All bloggers are egomaniacs by definition - we think we have something important to say and that the world should listen - what a bunch of jerks we are! My research tells me that the more street-cred you've got the more condescending you can afford to be e.g. I often find Seth Godin’s ramblings quite belittling...but then if I take a step back and consider the wicked experience and insight that back up his posts all of a sudden it doesn’t seem quite so bad...so in the end it's probably just a value judgment about how cool you think you really are.
• Be transparent– easier said than done - if you mess up admit that you messed up and be willing to laugh at yourself. Flickr are pretty dam good at this...if you want proof check out their post tittled "Sometimes We Suck".
• Don’t be afraid to be human and have a personality – tiz always a struggle to suppress the inner bot but try to have fun...professionalism is great but no body wants to engage with a stiff- if you're looking for inspiration this is a great collection of funny bloggers.
• Be a real person – This might sound stupid but my research tells me that pseudonyms and fake avatars are a no no if you’re wanting to build cred! “If you’re gunna say something have the balls to sign your name to it, or don’t say it at all” -research participant #6
• Online/Offline cross-over is key! Being able to link your offline world with your online persona is key to building cred and making what you say tangible. This is might be tricky for those who only live in the online world...but my research participants seemed to believe that this was one of the keys to developing your own Purple cow.
• Tweet, post and comment regularly– social media aint no one night stand, to be good at it you need to give it consistent love and attention it deserves. Click here to read about why this can be so important…but remember no one likes a spam artist.
• Write well– once upon a time it was cute to have typos in your blogs posts – it was part of the real-time human interaction…no more is this the case. Sloppy writing leads to disinterested viewer. For my site iThnk we started off pretty sloppy but then I found out about the Typo Eradication Advancement League and we decided to put a proofing process place. - eeeek hopefully there's no typos in this post.
• Ask for feedback & use it – One of the biggest benefits of social media is the real-time feedback that you can get free of charge – whether you do this in a poll, an add-on service like uservoice or through examining your comments is irrelevant, the point is, that if people care enough to tell you about what they want to see then you should care enough to listen - it could turbo charge your business.
• Experiment with new tools to understand the mediums – One of my research peeps put this better than I ever could…"people don’t understand how easy it is to make their posts dynamic, if they did they wouldn’t just expect it they’d demand it”. – So try to insert polls, vids and other saweeeeeet tools…
• Sexy Matters - Just ask Apple....sex sells - always has and always will, so spending the time to make your social media assets sparkle is never a waste. Anyone who tells you otherwise has probably lost their soul. (looking for inspiration...check these blog designs).
• Say Thank You - reward your community, make them feel special give them preferential treatment and they're more likely to keep coming back.

The truth is social media is tough to get right. Hell, I just tested myself against these points and only just passed. Some of these insights are easier said than d0ne, while others are newish insights whcih I haven't had time to put into action (watch this space). Now I must have missed something along the way so fill me in/tell me I suck and lets start a conversation about how social media could be done better in NZ! img from http://insidenorthpoint.org/