Yes, it can. Consider this. If your eyes are the window to your soul, then social media is the window to your company’s soul. People can peer in to see what’s going on inside and gain a better understanding of what makes you tick. They’ll be better able to decide whether or not they like and trust you… and want to do business with you. There’s nothing trivial about social media.

There’s more though. Just as important but often overlooked is that fact that, like any window in your office, social media lets people look in, but also lets you look out. You can learn a lot about the people who would otherwise just stroll by. If they’re on social media you can also see inside their worlds and understand their likes and dislikes. Eventually, if you’re doing it well, you can even build relationships and nurture long-term loyalties that go way beyond anything companies ever thought would be possible before social media came along.

Should you wait until you’re completely ready?

Given the importance of all this looking and learning and sharing and showing, social media is not something you want to ignore any longer. Depending upon your type and size of business and the skills you already have in-house, you may even find social media is not that big a step away from your normal communication style. The same principles of listening and responding hold true, although there will certainly be many elements and techniques to be mastered before you make the most of social media. But you certainly don’t need to know all those before you start. In fact, if you try to be “good” before you get out there, you’ll probably never reach the point where you’ll feel ready to make the leap, because the entire structure of social media is constantly changing. We’re all learning and evolving with each passing day, and that holds true for everyone from the industry experts to the smallest corner store, and the person with just one Facebook account.

When you’re starting though, be sure to resist the temptation to hand the new work down to whoever seems to have the most time to spare. Your posts and tweets will almost certainly be seen by more people than anything your executive team writes or says. Whether you really thought of it this way or not, their words will become your words in the public’s eyes. And while it’s important for you to review major initiatives and promotions, you’ll crush the momentum of your social media activity if you say you need to approve every post and tweet that goes out. You need a trusted voice that intimately understands your corporate vision. Don’t let the new kid in your office be the voice of your brand.

How much time or cost will be required?

Unfortunately there are no set guidelines. For example, a call center will often compete head-to-head with centers around the world. If a business in New York or San Francisco wants to outsource its customer service calls, it may look for possible providers on Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, or any other channel as part of their research. Within seconds they’ll be able to find plenty of centers in India, the Philippines, Latin America, and every corner of North America, as well as others within an hour’s drive of their office. In that kind of marketplace, strategic social media and SEO can turn an unknown company into one of the ones that are more easily seen, for significantly less cost than any traditional global marketing campaign could have cost. However, the level of effort required will of course be far higher than that needed for a bicycle store in St. John’s or a restaurant in Halifax.

Are there any companies that won’t derive any value from social media? Yes, certainly. For example, a corner store in a small community, with a very finite population base to serve and few or no competitors, is not likely to bring in much new local business through social media. But that’s a pretty extreme example of course. For most businesses, social media will open up new ways to build customer loyalty, bring in new customers, identify new operational and marketing ideas from other companies, and quite possibly even create opportunities to expand into new markets or market segments. Even the remote corner store mentioned previously may well find that social media will open doors for them to start exploring new markets, whether through online orders or establishing a name for themselves in new territories, just to mention two possibilities. The opportunities are as boundless as the imagination and aspirations of each business owner or employee.

Does your company need social media? It all comes down to whether or not your company wants to grow, in every sense of the word.

You’re either nodding your heart in agreement or completely offended by that comment. Of course it’s not tough when it’s going well. Nothing on Earth could possibly be sweeter than being in love and being loved in return.

But hey, the truth is in any long-term relationship there will come a few days, sooner or later, when it’s not quite as sweet as you’d like it to be. Those are the days when your relationship can see its finest moments. You dig deep to find all that’s good and true in yourself, and to help bring it out in your partner.

As much of a leap as it may seem, blogging is not much different. There will be those blissful days when your words find an appreciative audience and even — could it possibly be true?!? — positive comments at the end of your post. But there will also inevitably come, sooner or later, days when your words go unanswered, and even unheard. There will even be those dismal days when your words go unwritten, no matter how hard you try to bring them to life. Those, my friend, are the days you and your blog may either find your finest moments… or the first of your final moments.

What’s love got to do with blogging? Everything. Like any relationship, blogging will take you through the full range of emotions. Recognize that before you start. Prepare yourself for all that lies ahead, and make sure your heart understands that there will be days when it will need to soldier on without feeling much in return. After all, if the truth be told, there will be days when you yourself just don’t put as much into it as you know you should. You’ll likely be forgiven for such days in the long run, as long as you work hard to do the same in return.

Being in love and being loved by another can be one of the most wonderful experiences of your entire life. Being in love with your blog? Probably not quite so much. But hey, a blog can still be the source of a lot of pleasure, and the giver of much wisdom and character. It may even be the deliverer of new customers for you and your business. But to stick with it until that happens, you need to show some love. So tell yourself right from the start that you’re in it for the long run. You may be surprised by just how rewarding a run it can be.

In the locker room of the New England Patriots, the air was so thick with defeat that words could scarcely be pushed out. If you had watched the season, and especially if you had followed the teams since their last Super Bowl contest, you knew this had been a legendary match. One of the great Super Bowl games had just been played, and what happened on the field would be the stuff of chats and posts and tweets for a long time to come.

However, for those who didn’t watch the Game, or who had no interest at all in the NFL, the whole thing seemed like silliness. A waste of time. Some decried it as a barbaric match between overpaid men who should find something better to do.  Just as the two teams had battled inside the stadium, in the arena of public opinion two sides would go on sparring long after the final whistle had blown and last bit of colored paper cleared away.

It’s not unlike the debate that many of us see each day in our work or our other pursuits. We have passions that run deep, and are puzzled or even horrified by those who see things another way, or who don’t see your cause as one even worth considering. If it’s your mission as a blogger or marketer to win over others to your point of view, you know that trying to change even one person’s opinion can sometimes seem hopeless.  A heart is never an easy thing to sway.

That’s why, in the flurry of today’s articles about yesterday’s big game, I couldn’t help but be struck by a few writers today who bridged a gap that other writers hardly seemed to know existed. They showed a deeper side to the Super Bowl and its players and coaches. Poignant may not be a word that first comes to mind when you think of the NFL, but these writers captured poignancy and laid it bare for all of us, whether we love or loathe the game.

Take a look at these articles as two of the main players deal with the crush of defeat. Feel the emotion and look at the attention and symbolism given to so many elements that might have been so easily missed. The meeting of the opposing players in the hallways. The stone silence of the locker room. The awareness that there is a big party going on just a few rooms yet a million miles away.

Tom Brady in postgame daze of disappointment after another Super Bowl loss to the Giants

Wes Welker’s dropped pass might have sealed the Patriots’ fate, and he knew it

In my mind, these are not only great sports stories, but real lessons on how to blog; how to sway the human heart. It’s not about statistics or mightiness or power or winning. It’s about opening the soul of the reader and filling it with genuine emotion and insight. The advice has often been given that the best way to capture readers, win audiences, and build markets is not with fact but feeling. Whether buying a car or home or ticket to a ball game, we will be pulled in far more by the emotion we attach than the pure performance or specifications or statistics that may be trotted out by those who wish to win us over. For some the appeal may lie in the fun fervency of the painted faces and bellies. For others in the personal stories behind the players, and their growth through past and present victories and defeats. For others still it may be the physical endurance and outpouring onto the field with each game. As these writers and the players themselves make clear, however brutal and physical a game it may seem, football is first and foremost a game of heart and passion and caring.

As is your blog and your business.

Or at least that’s how it should be.

The Basics

First, to truly start at the beginning, let’s touch on exactly what Twitter is. If you’re familiar with people texting on their phones, then you’re familiar with Twitter. It’s just sending and receiving text messages that are no more than 140 characters in length. That may not sound like a lot, but it actually gives you plenty of room to put together a thought or two. Or three. The sentence that you are reading right now is 140 characters in length and as you can see, I’ve managed to squeeze a full 28 words into it. If u use a few shrtcuts u’ll find u can evn fit plnty mor in there! But we’ll save that for another discussion.

The first thing many people think when they hear about Twitter is, “What would I say? And what does everyone else say there? I don’t want to read about what someone is having for breakfast!” Me neither. But the topics on Twitter are as varied as they are in the rest of your day. Tweeps — that’s a nickname for anyone on Twitter — will talk about work, share great moments in their lives, be silly, ask for help on every topic imaginable, and coordinate anything from surprise parties to protests on the streets of Egypt. Single moms will share their struggles and victories. NFL and NHL and talents from every other sport imaginable will give you a glimpse of life from the sidelines or on team flights. Movie, TV and music stars will share highlights from their storybook days and their Hollywood nights. And there’s more and more and more to be found on Twitter.

One incredible aspect of the site though is the ability to not only see what others are saying, but to join right in on any discussion. Unlike Facebook or LinkedIn, anyone on Twitter can follow and talk to anyone else, unless someone has a protected account set up. Most accounts are wide open though, making Twitter the easiest way to see and be seen by some very interesting people. The key thing to remember is that everyone on Twitter can see every single thing you say there, unless you do decide to have a protected account. On Twitter, it’s all about sharing, and that open environment makes it a great place to meet new people and expand your network, but it does require you to always remember how public your words are.

Like a good board game, Twitter can be incredibly simple to play, but can also entail very complex and multi-layered strategies if you’re there for business. Don’t let the potential complexity of Twitter intimidate you though. It can be as simple and rewarding as a chat between friends, so just keep your expectations at that level for now. There will be plenty of time for learning more complex stuff as you go forward, if you ever do decide you’d like to.

Setting up a Twitter account

We’ve covered the basics, so why not actually set up your own Twitter account right now? It’s completely free, will only take a few minutes, and you can always just delete the account afterward if you decide you don’t want it. All you need is an email address that has not already been used to create a Twitter account, and enough imagination to come up with a name that will be your username.

Username?

Yep. Everyone on Twitter has a name that they chose for themselves, and no two people can have the same username. Given that there are now over 100 million people on Twitter, that means that a lot of the “good” names are gone. If you’re lucky enough to have an unusual name, you can use that or some variation of it, but you’ll probably need to think up a nickname of some sort. You can run words or numbers together to form your username, or you can separate them with an underscore, but no hyphens or other special characters are allowed.

We’ll come back to your username in a few minutes. But you’ve been wondering about this long enough. It’s time to make the surprisingly easy leap into Twitter!

Here we go. First, open up Twitter in another tab by clicking here. Got it? If for some reason it didn’t work, just open a new page or tab in your browser, type in www.twitter.com and then hit Enter. You’ll see one of several welcome screens that Twitter uses, looking something like this:

[NOTE: If someone has previously accessed Twitter on your computer or even left their account open, you may see another screen. If there is no place for you to fill in your full name, email, and password, look in the upper right corner for either a a Sign In option, or the silhouette of a head. If you see the head, click on it and pull down to Sign Out. You should now see the welcome page.] 

On the right side of the page, you’ll see, “New to Twitter? Join today!” After that will be spaces for your full name, email, and the password that you’ll use whenever you sign into Twitter from now on. None of these will be the username; that comes later. So just fill in the blanks, and if you prefer not to use your real name, you can make one up for yourself. I always do recommend that people use their real names though, or at the very least a real first name that your friends will recognize. Once you’ve done all that, click on Sign Up, after which you’ll see this:

This screen lets you confirm that everything is going okay so far. You can review the name and email address you already gave, and if your password was too easy for someone to guess, Twitter will ask you to enter a better one. And below that, you’ll see the spot to enter the name you’ll use on Twitter. You’ll be able to change your username later if you want, but it’s nice to get a good one right from the start. If you come back later, you may find someone else has grabbed the one you were saving. So take a few minutes now to think of what you want your Twitter name to be. You can use uppercase or lowercase letters if you want, but they won’t make any difference. People will find you no matter which case they use to spell your name.

As an easy way out, Twitter will suggest a name based upon the real name that you gave yourself, but it’s not likely to be terribly catchy or memorable. So give it a bit more thought. You can use a pet name or as silly or mysterious a name as you want. The biggest challenge will be finding one that’s not already taken. Oh, and try to keep your Twitter name as short as possible. Even though we’ve seen you can say a lot in 140 characters, you might as well leave as many characters for your messages as possible. A long name is going to eat into how much room you’ll have for what you want to say, and will also make it harder for people to remember and type your name without an error.

Just in case you hadn’t realized it yet, you’ve probably seen lots of Twitter names already on posters, ads, business cards, Website pages, and maybe even a tattoo or two. Twitter usernames always have an “@” in front of them, with no space in between. For example, my Twitter name is @lornepike. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s is @MedvedevRussia, and Zooey Deschanel’s is @zooeydeschanel. Dmitry, Zooey and I don’t get together much any more, but those were good times.

Alrighty, at this point, I’ll assume you managed to come up with a username that Twitter agreed was not already used, and you’re ready to get started. I always recommend you read the Terms of Service that are there on the page. Or you may prefer to just skim through them since it’s Twitter and they already have a tenth of a billion people who have agreed to those terms. But for the record, it was recommended to you that you read them.

Done? Okay, here we go. Click on Create My Account, and you’ll be whisked to a page that will look something like this:

This gives you a preview of what your Twitter page will look like. [Hats off to Twitter. They've improved these first few steps a lot in recent years.]  Click on Next and you’ll go through the first of three pages where they suggest a number of tweeps to follow. Read the examples they provide, and select five you find interesting. You can also type in some names if you have a few friends on Twitter or a favorite celebrity you want to find. Click next, and you’ll go through a couple of similar screens. If you select five each time, you’ll be following 15 people. If you want to skip any of these steps, just click Skip This Step, under the white box in the left column.  But be sure to follow at least a few, or else you’ll end up with a blank screen, which is no fun, even on Twitter.

Sending your first tweet

If you’ve done everything so far, then congratulations… you’re on Twitter! Read what people are saying, and try searching for some favorite sports or entertainment stars or a few political or news people you know. Click the blue Compose New Tweet box in the upper right corner to send out your first tweet. Or click here to find and then follow me on Twitter, and feel free to send a tweet saying hello!

When you get a moment, edit your profile by adding a photo and some information to help friends recognize you when they find you. Check back here for an upcoming post, taking you step-by-step through that process. In the meantime, check out some popular Twitter terms to help make your tweeting even easier.

If you know of any friends on Twitter, let them know you’re there, and ask them to follow you. The more friends you have, the more enjoyable your time on Twitter will be.

Leave a comment below to let us know how you’re doing, and check back here for more posts on how to make the most of your time on Twitter.

Happy tweeting!

Fair enough. But to me, a list of the social media powerful is very different from such lists for any other industry or activity. Social media has been one of history’s greatest levelers, spreading power to the masses in a way that is completely unprecedented. Traditionally, the media and decision-makers were small groups of powerful people, and the rest of us had to do whatever we could to get noticed or be heard. We’d write releases. Perform crazy publicity stunts. Hire a PR consultant or publicist. Do our best to find or build personal connections or generate groundswell of support for our talents or our causes. It wasn’t easy.

Social media changed everything. Suddenly we didn’t need a stamp of approval from a news director or station manager. We became broadcasters in our own right, getting our messages directly to the masses. For some with great talents, that was all that was needed to shoot right to the top. For most of us, it didn’t propel us to fame, but it certainly made us more visible than we ever could have been otherwise, and opened some doors in those traditional media channels and power circles that would never have been unlocked for us without our newfound Internet presence.

Best of all, social media opened up two-way channels for each entity struggling to get noticed, not only to those media power brokers, but to the rest of the common folk who would inevitably start to clump into groups of fans or haters or those who just remained oblivious. Most of us probably don’t look at a list of top movie stars or recording artists or business leaders to see how many we’ve chatted with in the past year. We see such people as being on a different level, and somehow inherently unreachable. But social media influentials are by definition different. They made their way there by communicating and being open, so there’s just more of an expectation that they will remain open and reachable, and that they will honor the spirit of social media. And many of them do exactly that.

For many of us though, our top social media influencer is a local contact who made it seem easy, or a Facebook or Twitter connection who just seems to epitomize the way things are supposed to be on social media. They set a standard, and helped influence the way we in turn will influence those around us. They may not make the Forbes list this or any other year, but they have done more to shape our understanding of social media than any big name ever will.

So take a look at the Forbes list. How many do you recognize? How many of them have you connected with, whether online or in real life? Are there any names not there that you thought would have been? Who are the people who have influenced your understanding of social media, whether in a smaller circle or as part of a much larger group?

And how many people would think of you as their top social media influencer?

Yeah. He’s not coming. Or if he is, he didn’t tell me. But don’t despair. Leonard has a message for you that should help you plumb those darkest depths of your unfulfilled talents.

It all starts though with a day in my high school. I remember reading one of the most depressing lines I have ever come across, before or since. It was from the poet John Keats, who wrote to a friend that, “If poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree it had better not come at all.” I was horrified. I loved writing, even in high school, and while I have known a few days when words just came tumbling out like something inside had burst, on most days I had to push them out one by one and then pick through the scant pile to find even one or two that were of any use at all. Did this mean I should not be writing?

No. Writing is much like music, where a gifted few like Mozart are able to have great works flowing out almost too fast to write down the notes, while most struggle — and struggle with all that they possess — to give voice to the pains and passions they hold within. Because they wrestle, even while that small number have their talents on tap, does not make their writings any less valid. In fact, there is often some nuance that their battles add that just gives their voice more authenticity, and more resonance with those of us who also struggle to find our words and our voices.

This is where Cohen comes in. You know his classic, Hallelujah? You’ve heard it lots of times. But just in case it’s not coming to mind, here’s a great version by John Cale.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckbdLVX736U

Nice. Very nice. But what does this have to do with your blog post? As undeniably gifted a writer as Leonard Cohen was and is, with greats like Bird on a Wire and Suzanne, he has known very well the struggle of not being able to find the right words. It is said he agonized over the writing of Hallelujah for two years — I’ve heard some say it was five — filling two notebooks with over 80 verses before finally settling for the ones that we know today. After all that struggle, when he released it, the entire album was considered by the label to be so uncommercial that they didn’t even offer it initially in the all-important US market. Yet bit by bit the song has made its own way in the world, and that seems only fitting.

Even seven years after the release, when John Cale wanted the lyrics from Cohen to record his 1991 version, the songwriter reportedly responded by faxing him 15 pages of lyrics. It seems that in Cohen’s mind, he was still writing and still struggling. He quite possibly still is.

Compare Cohen’s passion for the perfect word with most of ours. How long do we struggle typically before we lose patience with our lack of talent? How many minutes do we tolerate with nothing coming before we decide it’s just not meant to be today, and so we leave things for a time when the words will come easily or not at all? How much would our writing not only improve but be reborn if we were to agonize and refuse to give in, like Mr. Cohen did?

Granted, our blog posts and business reports can’t wait five years. But could we push ourselves to give even five minutes more to the struggle when we might otherwise just accept what we have so far? And could we believe in ourselves and our talents just a little bit more, remembering that even the great poets and songwriters often battle with the empty page or half-written sentence?

Maybe, just maybe, if we could do even that, we’d find words that strike a more soulful chord and speak a deeper truth. Maybe we’d find ourselves one step closer and one word nearer to penning our own Hallelujah.

Every  time — yes, every single time — I have then met with those companies, we were able to identify within just a few minutes of chatting a number of events that led to such an unhappy situation. Invariably, the sequence went something like this:

1. A group or individual had made a statement or gotten a story in the media that presented their side of a disagreement or issue.
2. The media had then called the company to ask for clarification or to get an interview.
3. The company did not have time to talk, or were caught off-guard and didn’t have time to prepare a reply, or were so offended by the story that their reply was to launch into a tirade and then hang up, or give a terse “No comment.”
4. The story ran in the media, presenting the other party’s claims and giving no fair coverage of the company’s side of the story.
5. Other media picked up the story, calling for interviews or comments. The company, by now absolutely furious at what they saw as misrepresentation or biased coverage, refused to return the calls or offer any comments.
6. The publicity got worse, until someone on the team finally suggested calling a PR firm or media relations consultant to clear things up.
7. My phone rang, or I found an urgent email in my Inbox.

Now, any of us can look at that sequence and say, “Of course they didn’t get the coverage they deserved! They didn’t give the the media their side of the story.” Even the execs themselves recognize that when they look at it in retrospect. But in the heat of the moment, with emotions running high and all deflector shields up, such decisions are easy to make, and even seem prudent. Only later does the illogical nature of such moves become obvious. And if this situation has happened repeatedly for years, the distrust between the company and the media can run extremely high on both sides.

The good news is that, even after such a debacle, companies can often get things back on track and get their story out there… provided they’re willing to be humble enough to genuinely learn from their media mistakes and turn things around. However, the even better news is that they never needed to get themselves caught in that downward cycle in the first place. And neither do you.

Be prepared for the media.

One of the core elements to being able to handle calls from the media is to be prepared. Believe it or not, there is no such thing as an unforeseeable crisis. Every single situation that is likely to surprise you can actually be imagined and addressed before it occurs. In fact, 95% of the crises or serious challenges your company will ever face will almost certainly be some variation of six or seven general scenarios. Even one hour with your management team to brainstorm possible crises can yield a pretty concise list of situations that are likely to ever darken your doorway. By collecting them into similar groups and then identifying immediate actions that would be needed for each, you can considerably heighten your readiness for whatever your worst day may bring.

In the meantime, remind yourself that no matter how high the heat may be, the media is not “out to get you.” They are ultimately looking for a good story, and neither they nor you would be well served by their generating stories that ultimately are proven to be false or poorly researched. Having your facts straight and easily accessible will do wonders to make it a much more productive call for your company as well as the reporter.

Consider media training.

To ensure an even higher level of readiness, consider professional media training for you or anyone in your company who will be in contact with the media. Having the chance to address contentious issues and then assess your performance on video can bolster your confidence in speaking with the media and empower you to present your company in a much more positive light.

Don’t forget your internal communications.

Regularly remind your employees and management team that any media inquiries are to be referred to you or the designated media contact. Make sure that contact information is easily available to anyone who is regularly at a company phone or front desk or email account.

Finally — and this is a point that many companies miss — keep your staff and key stakeholders informed of any media contacts before your statements hit the media, and be honest and consistent. People should never hear news about their employer from the media first, and should never hear one thing from you but something different from the media.

Media relations is not so much about handling the media as it is about handling your own level of preparedness. The more you can quickly respond to a media request by supplying them with accurate and clear information, the more you’ll find your company’s time in the spotlight can truly be a good news story.

If hanging on to our childhood is the secret to creativity, how do you rate?

When we were young we often expected more of ourselves and demanded more of others. We had a vision of what we wanted to be, and to meet it we set our own standards of acceptable conduct. No fries except on Saturday; no wearing out-of-style clothes even when you’re just hanging out with friends. But then everyone aged and along the way, some things changed. We became more mature and realized that beauty was “not as important” as it once seemed. Our ideals were no longer seen to be practical, and high standards no longer realistic. As Dan Hill used to sing, “Freedom takes on new meaning when you’ve got a family of five.”

But in reality, did the ideals become less practical, or did we just become less idealistic? Did we become wiser or did we become lazy?

With each passing day and year, we so easily gain weight, become less fashionable, and then realize through “the wisdom that comes with age” that beauty was only skin deep after all, and that we had been shallow to be so concerned. And so the cycle continues. We become more realistic, and let some standards slide. We realize we’re not going to be rock stars or heroes, and so we stop trying. We discover we won’t reach our goals, and so we stop stretching. And tragically, we forget about when we were all beauties and rock stars and artists and stuff. We were all capable of great things. In fact, at times we were all even doing great things. Until we got smarter. And older. And heavier.

Truth is, sadly, we’re often not growing older; we’re just growing old. And yes, you’re right, we can’t stay young forever. But we can be young again. And again and again.

When was the last time you pressed your hand over your mouth to keep from bursting out in peals of laughter? If you’re under 20 it was probably in the last week. If you’re over 40 you probably can’t remember.

When was the last time you stood in the rain and looked up at the sky as the drops hit your face and streamed down your neck? When was the last time you caught snowflakes on your tongue, or watched a caterpillar on a leaf? When was the last time you jumped with both feet into a rain puddle? Is there really any reason we can’t find magic in a bit of muddy water any more?

So tell me, why don’t you jump with both feet into puddles any more?

Why don’t you jump with both feet into anything any more?

Facebook announced today that the timeline will soon be mandatory on everyone’s profile. Yep, even yours. As they put it…

Last year we introduced timeline, a new kind of profile that lets you highlight the photos, posts and life events that help you tell your story. Over the next few weeks, everyone will get timeline. When you get timeline, you’ll have 7 days to preview what’s there now. This gives you a chance to add or hide whatever you want before anyone else sees it.

So there you go. Every Facebook change so far has brought its share of haters and lovers, but the timeline may be the most polarizing change yet. And while you’re of course free to join any group or protest you want, history leads us to believe that Facebook is not likely to back down on anything significant. So, if you’re stuck with it, you might as well do your best to learn to love it, or at least use it well.

Facebook offers some great pointers on their official blog. You can also click here to find a good video that outlines timeline, and everything you need to get started now. My favorite tip is to remember that you have your first seven days on Timeline to get used to the new features and try things out before making it live for everyone else to see. So take advantage of the time to explore, and jump in.

Think of it as having your own personal time machine, without it having to take up half the living room.

To address this reality, companies often rely on trusted celebrities or word of mouth to increase sales. If we hear someone we trust say they like a product, we transfer our trust from that person to the product. A big company might be lying just to increase sales. But would Mom? The guy next door who knows cars inside out? Beyonce? No way they’d lie. We believe them, and we therefore believe in the products they recommend.

That’s where blogging and social media can come into play.

As marketers we have the opportunity to establish trust in the community by conversing with our customers and getting to be known so that, over time, those customers will trust and like us. Next, as they hopefully become loyal customers, they will share their love of us with their wider networks. The trust in those relationships is then transferred to us and our products. It’s the same way people have shared news for generations about a dentist we trust or car we drive or blacksmith we rely on or church we find comfort in. The technology has changed, but the process has remained strikingly similar.

So, give the importance of trust and relationships, here are five ways to build them using blogging and social media:

1. Establish trust with your own blog.

If we all tend to favor people and suppliers we know and trust, then it makes perfect sense for companies to work very hard at being known and trusted. Few activities can do this as well as blogging. You get a chance to showcase your knowledge, explain your vision and policies, establish your character, set your standards, and build common ground for an ongoing relationship. A key to doing this well is to set up an editorial calendar, so that you schedule and track the most strategic topics for your blog. Becoming recognized as a credible authority in your industry can give you a tremendous sales advantage.

2. Network with other bloggers.

You can bring in readers for your blog by interacting with other bloggers who have similar interests. Put some real thought into offering meaningful comments on their posts. Learn from the bloggers who are doing things well. Ask for their feedback. And look for ways you can be of real value in return. After you’ve built some mutual respect and comfort with each other’s style, suggest guest blogging. If you’re trying to build relationships, it makes sense to start by building some key ones.

3. Support your blog posts through social media.

No one will read your blog posts if they don’t even know you’ve written any. Use social media such as Twitter and Facebook to let your contacts know about your latest posts. Set up a Facebook page for your business, and interact with people there on a personal level. On Twitter, use hashtags relevant to your business to follow key topics and events, and then use those same hashtags to offer your own thoughts. Post links to your latest blog posts, and to the posts of those other bloggers you’ve come to know. They’ll almost certainly respond by posting links to your posts. If you’re not already there, start posting to sites like StumbleUpon, Reddit, or Delicious. But make sure you pay particular attention to the next bit of advice…

4. Don’t be a spammer!

Yes, social media can be a great way to support your blog. But — and this is one very big “but” — don’t spam. If you’re promoting yourself in more than about one in every five tweets or posts, chances are good some people will see you as a spammer. So don’t sell. Relate. Answer questions. Recommend solutions that don’t always benefit you. If you’re on StumbleUpon or Reddit or a similar site, make sure you post at least as many great links to other sites as you do to your own. Listen to what people are saying. Look for ways to just be friendly. Show you have a heart and a sense of humor. Learn what really interests people, not to pull them in so you can make a sales pitch, but just to know them better.

5. Be there to give rather than just get value.

By all means, use social media to support your blog posts. But it’s just as important to support others as well. So, similar to the advice above for networking with other bloggers, look for ways in social media that you can help others. Intangible factors affect how we feel each time we meet a new person or company, whether in real life or online. It often comes down to a “gut feeling” we have about someone. They either click with us or they don’t, and that sixth sense can have a huge impact on whether or not we choose to trust and do business with them. And many times, that first impression is based on whether a new contact strikes us as a giver or a taker. Be a giver.

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There are of course countless ways to do any one of these. You’ll likely find the biggest challenge is often not how to do it, but how to simply find the time to do it. Work hard to make your social media and marketing time a priority; it may prove to be the most valuable few hours you’ll spend each week. And as you set up your blog post and get more active in social media, make it a point to always let your unique personality and style shine through. Be a real person with a real personality. It makes good business sense, and it’s a whole lot more fun than always pushing a product.