10.Own your name across as many Social Networks as possible. Use a service such as Namechk to check your name availability across a ton of the most popular social networks. Register that name at as many of them as you can, even if you do not intend to use the service. That way, if it ever becomes the next big thing, you’ve got your name already.

9. Burn your blog’s RSS feed with Feedburner. Your blog should have an RSS feed attached to it, which is usually found by clicking the RSS icon in your Browser’s address bar. It looks like this:

A lot of the time it’s orange. Click it, and then copy the address of the page you’re taken to. Go to Feedburner and where it asks you to burn a feed, paste the address you just copied. It will ask you what you want the address to your burned feed to be and what title ought to be. Once you’ve saved that, you can copy the address you chose and use that as your main RSS feed address from now on. You should then edit your blog’s header file so that the RSS icon in the address bar points to the Feedburner feed instead of the old address – if you are using WordPress, you can install one of many plugins that will do this for you.

8. Set your blog up with Networked Blogs on Facebook. Just go here:http://www.facebook.com/networkedblogs and click “Go to Application” and follow the steps to registering your blog.

7. Make use of Google Analytics: Install Google Analytics on your site and your blog and keep an eye on it to see where people are coming from. this will give you a good idea of what content posted where produces the most visits to your site.

6. Retweet: If you find a tweet interesting, helpful, funny, entertaining or you like it in any way, definitely retweet it. All you have to do is, if you are logged into the web based version of Twitter, hover over the Tweet you like, and a retweet button should appear. Click it. Done. People really appreciate it when you retweet the content they originally tweeted and they usually end up following you. Not to mention the fact that the people who are already following you will always appreciate you sharing great content.

5. Share: If you read an article you like, share it. If you see a picture or video you enjoyed, share it. If you hear a piece of news, or see a new site, or find a new app, share it. Share everything you possibly can. Make it easier to do so, by using the Facebook Bookmarklet, found here:http://www.facebook.com/share_options.php

4. Respond: By far, the most important rule in all of social media, is to make sure that your fans and followers never go ignored. Unanswered comments on your Facebook page can make it feel stale and deserted, and tweets

3. Give people credit: When you share other people’s content, tell everyone where it came from with links or @mentions – not a lot of people know that you can tag friends and pages on Facebook, the same way you @mention people in Twitter. Just type the @ symbol, and then start typing the name of the friend or page you like, and Facebook should complete it for you. The benefit of this, is that it will show up on that person or page’s wall, with a link back to yours. Don’t get spammy with this, though, or you could lose followers and fans fast.

2. Monitor: if you don’t keep one eye on your Facebook page, Twitter account and other Social Media outlets, you’re likely to miss out on opportunities to engage your fans and followers, do damage control and even make sales. Always be aware of the conversation that is taking place in these spaces – it’s not as time consuming as it sounds. Programs and apps for your computer and your smart phone can make it a lot easier, especially if you have notifications set to on. Tweetdeck is one of my personal favorites.

1. Engage: A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that a Facebook page or Twitter stream is just a place to make announcements or tell your fans and followers about deals, news, etc. While these are great ideas for stuff to post in these spaces, it is not all there is to it. Something that I always tell my clients, is that you must talk with your fans and followers, not at them. Social Media is at it’s most effective when it is a true conversation, a back and forth, rather than just a forth. You talk to your fans and followers like you would people in person – you don’t just shout at someone that your newest product is half off and then walk away. You talk, engage and converse about it. This is exactly how you should treat your fans and followers in online spaces.