With 2010 coming to a close, it goes without saying that it has been a tremendous year for social media.
Facebook and Twitter have both enjoyed explosive growth, a growing number of companies have attracted venture capital, and spending on social media marketing is expected to jump.
As we look back on the social media landscape, do you have any resolutions for 2011? Are you going to do anything differently or better, or perhaps approach social media in a different way?
Here are some personal social media resolutions for 2011.
1. Focus on a small group of social media services, and really embrace what they have to offer. For example, LinkedIn is becoming q more interesting service beyond simply building a digital network so it makes sense to investment time to leverage it more and better.
2. While being focused is important, new services will continue to be explored and assessed. Given how quickly the social media landscape evolves and changes, you never know when the next hot service would emerge. Who knows, maybe Tumblr will join the ranks of the top tier, along with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, WordPress and Blogger.
3. Continue to embrace the four E's: enlighten, educate, entertain and engage. If your social efforts achieve one "E", that's great; if they achieve more than one "E", that's even better.
4. Make sure that social media for the sake of social media isn't a productive corporate activity. There needs to be a business goal to justify the investment (time, money, people) on social media - be it sales, leads, Web site traffic, more awareness of products or services, better customer service, or a stronger brand.
5. Continue to engage with existing and potential customers, opinion leaders, analysts, the media and other bloggers. In other words, focus on growing and enhancing the community or ecosystem.
6. Refrain from getting too excited about social media and its potential to do positive things. While social media can help a company achieve certain goals, it works best when there are realistic expectations and a coordinated plan with other tools.
7. Be sure that return on investment (ROI) continues to be discussed and explored. There will be growing attention on ROI as companies look to measure how much and what they are getting from social media, and justify why investing in social media is better than investing time and money on another part of the business.
8. Continue to evangelize social media without being too much of a cheerleader. Despite the huge interest in social media, there are still many companies and individuals sitting on the sidelines wondering why everyone is so excited.
9. Have a disciplined approach to social media to make sure it doesn't suck up too many hours, or impact productivity or creativity. This means being focused on why to use social media, how and when to use it, and what you want to get out of it.
10. Listen as much as talk. By its very nature, social media can be an it's-all-about-me activity. It is, however, important and valuable to listen to what are people are saying and thinking to expand your education, knowledge and ideas.
Note: Mark Evans is director of communications with Sysomos Inc. This post originally appeared on the Sysomos blog.