by Deltina Hay

Social Media Monotony: It was bound to happen.

Like all good things we do for our business every day – balance the books, pay the help, return emails, follow up with clients, floss – we know that networking and marketing are necessary to our business’ success.

My mantra is: If I am not working, I am marketing. If I am marketing, I will be working. And, like it or not, social media is now a necessary part of both networking and marketing.

Lately I have noticed a change in my enthusiasm for social media, and I have a feeling I am not alone. It isn’t that I believe it is less effective or that it is losing its appeal, it is just that I have been doing it long enough to have fallen into a rut.

While trying to think of tips this week, it occurred to me that this may be the best one to offer. Following are some time-honored cliches applied to social media marketing that may help relieve the monotony.

Cure #1: You can’t keep what you have without giving it away.

That is one of my favorite anonymous quotes. I believe that the most successful bloggers write from that place – where it is not about promotion or plugging a product, rather about the sharing of knowledge and expertise – freely, without any expectations.

I know the pessimists in the crowd are thinking that there is no such thing as true altruism, that everybody gets something (if only a way to feel better about themselves) from any seemingly selfless act. And, well, so be it. I get something, the readers get something – sounds like a win-win to me!

Cure #2: Change the circles you run in.

I like to think that my LinkedIn connections, Facebook fans, and Twitter followers are different groups of people. Accordingly, I am hoping that the “circles” I run in on Google Plus also come from a different group.

My strategy is to invite people outside of my usual circles, though, with the intention of widening my network. I try to apply this strategy to all my new profiles.

Cure #3: A change of scenery.

It is amazing how something as simple as rearranging the furniture can improve one’s outlook. Try changing up how you post or where you post from as a cure for your social media rut.

Some of my favorite tools are HootSuite, Ping.fm, and Posterous. Here is a recent post about social media apps that may help, too.

Cure #4: Do something out of character.

My Facebook page posts are pretty predictable. I write about the importance of staying on topic, and try to practice what I preach. However, now and again it may not hurt to mix things up.

Today, I placed a post on my social media book Facebook page that links to a Flickr set with photos from Bastrop State Park in Texas – before the fires – just to break the predictability.

Cure #5: Try something new.

If you have the time and resources, you might consider adding another tool to your social media strategy. I recently started some HubPages and a Winksite to this end. Since I don’t have a lot of time to maintain new profiles, my goal is to recycle my existing efforts into different platforms in hopes of widening my network.

Some other tools presently on my “to do” list include:

• Tumblr
• Diaspora
• awsomize.me
• Netvibes

Hope you find a cure in this post if you are suffering. And we would love to hear what has worked for you!

Deltina Hay is the author of the critically acclaimed book, The Social Media Survival Guide, already in its second edition. She also teaches the online version of Drury University’s Social Media Certificate program. Learn more about Deltina and her availability for speaking engagements at Deltina.com. You may also enjoy listening to her video tutorial series on YouTube.

Subscribe to the Social Media Tip O’ the Day Feed

Supermoon WordPress Theme

Supermoon is an enchanting and clean Twenty Ten child theme with six original headers based on images of the March 19th Supermoon photographed by Deltina Hay.

The theme features a nice Google web script font and transparent navigation items. A shout out to Zeaks at Zeaks.org for his great tutorial on adding opacity to menu items.

A WordPress child theme is a theme that inherits all of the features and functionality of its parent theme, while maintaining a custom look and feel. Social Media Power chose to create child themes using the WordPress default theme, Twenty Ten, because it is regularly updated and has many nice features.

Find out more about this theme and view the five additional header images on the Supermoon theme page. And check out our other themes, too!

Bug on Flower Header

Critters is a refreshing and clean Twenty Ten child theme with five original headers based on the nature photography of Deltina Hay.

A WordPress child theme is a theme that inherits all of the features and functionality of its parent theme, while maintaining a custom look and feel.

Social Media Power chose to create child themes using the WordPress default theme, Twenty Ten, because it is regularly updated and has many nice features.

Find out more about this theme and view the four additional header images (Lizard, Vulture, Heron, and Butterfly) on the social media theme page.

The latest entry in the WordPress segment of the  Internet Empowerment Series of video tutorials, this video walks you through how to configure and maintain the All-In-One SEO Pack plugin for WordPress.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKBqEU7aU60

A favicon is that little icon that pops up in your browser to the left of the address or URL, see the “SMP” image below:

Using a free tool like the Favicon Generator by Dynamic Drive can help you easily create and place a favicon to your site.

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About the Author:

Deltina Hay is the author of the critically acclaimed book, A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization. The second edition of her book, renamed The Social Media Survival Guide, will be released in spring 2011. Learn more about Deltina, her books, and her availability for speaking engagements at Deltina.com. You may also enjoy listening to Deltina’s video tutorial series on YouTube: The Internet Empowerment Series.

Subscribe to the Social Media Tip O’ the Day Feed

If you are tired of creating the same content as all your competitors, then you need to increase your reach. Research content outside of your standard industry article sources or blogs. Using a feed reader to subscribe to news feeds can help you filter through stories easily.

Start with specialty sections within larger sources like CNN,  The New York Times, or The Huffington Post (depending on your personal preference), or with reputable article submission sites like Ezine or Articlesbase.

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Get the Social Media Tip O’ the Day iPhone App!

About the Author:

Deltina Hay is the author of the critically acclaimed book, A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization. The second edition of her book, renamed The Social Media Survival Guide, will be released in spring 2011. Learn more about Deltina, her books, and her availability for speaking engagements at Deltina.com. You may also enjoy listening to Deltina’s video tutorial series on YouTube: The Internet Empowerment Series.

Subscribe to the Social Media Tip O’ the Day Feed

You can place a LinkedIn Share Button on your Website or blog by embedding a small Java script to individual pages or posts. This code works nicely in content management systems like WordPress and Drupal as well.

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Get the Social Media Tip O’ the Day iPhone App!

About the Author:

Deltina Hay is the author of the critically acclaimed book, A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization. The second edition of her book, renamed The Social Media Survival Guide, will be released in spring 2011. Learn more about Deltina, her books, and her availability for speaking engagements at Deltina.com. You may also enjoy listening to Deltina’s video tutorial series on YouTube: The Internet Empowerment Series.

Subscribe to the Social Media Tip O’ the Day Feed

The widgets and badges you place on your site should be part of your overall social media strategy. They should be in line with specific objectives, for instance:

• Highlighting your Social Web presence
• Promoting products or services
• Enhancing your reader’s experience

Create your own objectives based on your strategy to assess whether a widget or badge is necessary. Sites can start to look cluttered with too many widgets.

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Get the Social Media Tip O’ the Day iPhone App!

About the Author:

Deltina Hay is the author of the critically acclaimed book, A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization. The second edition of her book, renamed The Social Media Survival Guide, will be released in spring 2011. Learn more about Deltina, her books, and her availability for speaking engagements at Deltina.com. You may also enjoy listening to Deltina’s video tutorial series on YouTube: The Internet Empowerment Series.

Subscribe to the Social Media Tip O’ the Day Feed

The latest entry in our Internet Empowerment Series of video tutorials, this video shows you how to find LinkedIn badges and how to place them on your blog or Website.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekAubusdZjI

The latest entry in the WordPress segment of our Internet Empowerment Series of video tutorials, this video is an introduction to WordPress themes.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy90nSmSAEU