Social Media Cheat Sheet

This social media cheat sheet from Reuters’s social media editor has been floating around the web for the past few months. I wonder if there’s anything here you might tweak to make it more communicator-friendly, or what tips specific to communicators you’d add to a cheat sheet specifically for them?

Twitter

* Build and monitor lists of targeted reporters and high-authority bloggers.

* Decide if you’ll limit your tweets to your field (as my colleague @crisisguru does), or if you’ll also tweet about your hobbies (as my friend @jmascott does).

* Even if you don’t cite your employer or profession in your bio, remember that everything is Googlable—especially your LinkedIn profile—and what you say ultimately reflects on your company.

* If you tweet about a client, make sure to disclose that fact. New Media Strategies asks its staff to “always include the hashtag #client for any tweets or re-tweets involving marketing on behalf of our clients.”

* Ask if your employer will allow you to list your Twitter handle in your email signature, on your business card, in your bio on the company website, and/or at the end of blog posts you write for the company blog.

* Whenever you’re quoted by a reporter, thank that person publicly using their Twitter handle and link to the article. (Sound familiar?)

* Schedule your tweets so they’re spread out over the day. Software such as SocialBro optimizes your schedule for maximum exposure.

* Instead of using http://bit.ly, use Bitly to create your own short URL. @fmanjoo, a tech columnist, does this with http://fm4.fm, as does @EdelmanPR with http://edl.mn.

Other

* Decide what percentage of your tweets/messages/pins/posts will pertain to news about yourself and what percentage will pertain to news about your industry. You don’t want to be known as the guy who’s always talking about himself.

* Register a website for yourself—it behooves you to reserve the URL. Typically, such a site consists of your personal blog and/or resume, but if nothing else, you simply can redirect it to your LinkedIn profile or Twitter channel.

* If you’ve ever delivered a presentation that pertains to communications, consider making it public through a website such as Scribd or SlideShare (known as “YouTube for PowerPoint”). I use SlideShare, and am delighted that my deck on “how to win friends and influence bloggers” have been viewed 12,000 times.

* Manage your reputation. Set up a Google Alert not only for your name, but also for your personal website (“link:”). Similarly, set up a Google+ profile to better influence the all-important top 10 results for your name.

* Consider guest-blogging for a prominent publication. As I wrote last year, “Put the time and effort into crafting a thoughtful piece, and you’ll likely experience a rich range of rewards. At minimum, you’ll demonstrate thought leadership, make a name for yourself, and earn a byline in which you can link to your resume or website. Even better, you could land a promotion, secure a job offer, or generate new business.”

Addendum (9/13/2012): Success!