1. Don’t just sign up for a Twitter or Facebook account

Creating a community doesn’t happen overnight, so certainly it wouldn’t happen within the fifteen minutes it takes to set up a Twitter or Facebook account. Follow, be followed, earn respect, and become friends with each and every person in your community.

2. Never look at social media as a means of quick traffic

Social media has the potential to drive heavy amounts of traffic to your website. However, creating the audience takes patience and work. Always keep a close eye on your Google Analytics (or individual monitoring software). Find out where the traffic is coming from, and build on those foundations.

3. Forums and Blogs aren’t a place for advertisements

Too many times have small businesses hastily ruined their reputation on notable forums and blogs by using their sites as a link displayer or traffic diverter. Forums and blogs can be powerful community builders, but respect is a necessary tool for any engagement. Always read and obey by the user guidelines, make sure to introduce yourself, take the time to meet the forum/blog owners and moderators, give them the credit they deserve.

4. Anything with the word bot or automatic is usually bad.

Social media is done by hand, heart, and mind, a business should never use programs that promise to auto-anything (whether they auto-follow, auto-post, or auto-email). *Friends aren’t made through repetitive robot scripts.

5. Stray far from spam

The big question should be: Will your niche community find this link beneficial, entertaining, or educational? If you answer no for any reason, it’s spam. Spam can only damage your presence on the social web. Share with others as they would share with you.