Michael R. Tucker

Create your own ecosystem. Use images, graphics, text, audio, video, contests, events; anything you can think of that makes sense. This defines your world to everyone outside of your organization. Send bits of your world across multiple distribution channels. This stuff is valuable, so if you want or need to, you have the right to ask people for money for it, but giving a fair amount of it away is always a good idea. It builds credibility and trust. You'll have to find the right mixes for you.

Engage with your audiences where they hang out. Cultivate their appreciation with usefulness and relevance. Treat them with respect. Get to know them. Learn what they like- chances are they like the same things you do. Bring your "A" game to your audience time and time again. Always let them talk back publicly. And always, without fail, listen. Social media is your friend. Develop clever and insightful invitations for people to join you. Then, learn to listen.

I read an excellent blog post today that was written for executives of nonprofits called "How nonprofits can succeed in the new sustainability paradigm: 6 big lessons from social media." While my colleagues and clients are not the target audience for the post, it offers solid lessons that we can all learn from the social media phenomenon. These are summarized below:

1. Be nimble, but think long term
2. Experiment and analyze
3. Build and use networks strategically
4. Let the public in
5. Engage young people
6. Focus on impact

This is one of those posts that knocks you back in your seat a bit because it nails the "why" question some business owners and media publishers have concerning social media. Entrenched, old-school business tends to write off new technology and methodologies as passing fads. While I'm all for sticking with what brought you success, you have to evolve to stay relevant.

Social media is about embracing change, letting the public in, and engaging your audience in new and organic ways. In a very interesting parallel, the open source software development community grows and continues to deliver very solid products that deliver functionality people demand. Obviously, distributed development with an engaged community is a good thing for a growing software and services business. So, we're learning from these lessons.

How are you positioning your business to benefit from embracing new technology? Are there lessons here in these six that speak to you?

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