Listen before you leap into social media

Everywhere you turn these days, people are talking about social media, and rightly so. Social media tools are maturing, demographics are changing and the way that people network and build reputation is evolving.

Should you set up a Facebook page? Should you Twitter? What about blogging? What would you blog about? How much time is that going to take? And most importantly, is this the best use of your time?

Stop and breathe and listen. Listening is key. It can help you find the answers to all of these questions. And it’s probably the best way to formulate clear and achievable objectives for your online efforts should you decide to proceed with any.

Here’s my proposal. Spend the next 60-120 days (depending on how fast you want to move) just subscribing to, searching for and reading topical online materials. Dedicate some time each day to just listening. Then, and only then, can you have an intelligent conversation about where you want to go and how you’re going to get there.

There are many ways you can start listening. Here are a few practical suggestions for getting started:

Sign up for Google Alerts and receive emails about the topics you are interested in. This can include alerts about your business, your area of expertise, your competitors, specific people or market niches, etc.

Create a Twitter account and start following people in your space. You can also search Twitter to discover people to follow. Most media outlets and many influential blogs are on Twitter and the resulting feed you create will be customized to your interests.

Find and read the blogs of key influencers in your space using blog searching tools like Technorati , Google Blog Search or Bloglines. Once you’ve found the blogs you want to follow, set up Google Reader to compile the blog feeds automatically.

Add connections to your profile on LinkedIn and Facebook and pay attention to who is making status updates and what they are telling you about themselves.

On LinkedIn, join some groups in your area of interest and start following the discussions. Also, check out the LinkedIn Answers section to see who are the subject matter experts in your space.

Search YouTube (and other popular content sites like Slideshare) for material in your area of expertise. Track down the individuals behind the content and start following them on Twitter and reading their blogs.

Get familiar with consumer review sites such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, UrbanSpoon, and Epinions. It’s only a matter of time before this type of consumer rating site is applied to practice professionals and financial advisors. Get ahead of the curve.There are many other places to start listening, but these suggestions will serve you well in answering the most important question in social media: What do you want to accomplish?