Adam Pieniazek is a Boston blogger and social media consultant at The 42nd Estate. In his rare off time, he enjoys bicycling around Boston and reminiscing about the greatest TV show of all time, Battlestar Galactica. Adam presented his social media company, The 42nd Estate, to the BYE group this past month. He joins us on BYE.com with some advice on using social media to its fullest extent, with an assist from some of his favorite bloggers.

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Boston area bloggers are a great resource for social media news, tips, and tidbits. Here’s five awesome articles that will help you use social media to its full potential.

Building an Online Presence

So you know you should have an online presence but this whole internet technology thing is just so damn confusing, right?

Wrong!

Dan Schawbel breaks it down for us (all of us) and lets us know that creating an online presence can be as easy as 1-2-3. Today there are plenty of blogging services that allow you to put up a web-site within minutes. Now, there’s a difference between creating and building effectively. For the latter, it’s wise to hire a social media consultant to guide you. Building and managing an online presence that works does require some good old fashioned hard work and determination.

But getting started is relatively easy and with free easy to use blogging services there’s no excuse to not try. You can always hire a consultant down the ride to improve your online presence. Hiring an accountant and lawyer before you start a company makes it easier for you down the line, and the same goes for talking with an internet advisor before you start crafting an online presence. Still, if you’re strapped for cash the technology is out there to get set up quickly and easily yourself.

Just Be Yourself

Chris Brogan tells us to be naked. No, not literally. When engaging people on social media outlets, be yourself. Don’t stiffen up into a corporate robot. Frankly, no one wants to talk to a robot (OK, admittedly it would be cool to walk into a coffee shop and chat up a robot but you get my drift). It’s a big reason advertisements in the mainstream media are failing to pull in customers. People go onto social media sites to engage with a human, not just get the web version of your pushed TV commercial or telephone automaton.

My favorite tip:

“Speak like a human. Try removing jargon and business-speak. No one says “next generation” in person.”

Social Creativity Leads to Productivity

Seth Simonds informs us about how he uses social media for creative inspiration. Many traditional employers frown upon social networks as a time sink that distracts employees from their “real work”. On the contrary, social networks provide an outlet for workers to communicate and recharge themselves. Social networks actually increase productivity.

Begging is for dogs

John Haydon explains that you shouldn’t beg for social votes. Instead empower your biggest fans to promote the heck out of you so you won’t have to beg. It’s a crucial point and John’s post really gives great tips for all sorts of outreach efforts. Prime amongst them, first connect with the person you’re contacting, then ask them to help you out. Better yet, don’t even ask them to help. If you truly connect with the person on the other end of your phone, e-mail, twitter conversation and your product/company is great, you won’t have to beg. They’ll vote for you because they know you and your company rocks.

Don’t Stop, Drop and Shut ‘em Down

So, you’ve started an online presence, exposed yourself, allowed your employees to use social networks, and learned not to beg. Your social media campaign has rocked and rolled and now you can clap your hands together and shut it all down, right?

Not quite.

Stuart Foster tells us that there is no right time to end a social media campaign. Well, that is unless you want to sever all those connections you’ve built up with your fans and customers. Then the right time is now. Instead of shutting down shop, Stuart advises you to warn your social media contacts that you’re shifting focus. Severing your social outlets without any notice leaves your network stunned, confused, and skeptical of your future efforts.

A bonus post. if you’re already hooked into social media and are loving it but want to connect with people in real life, check out my post about three Boston tweetups happening June 4th, 9th, and 11th. Connecting with people online is great, but there’s something about shaking that person’s hand that takes the relationship to the next level. So get out there and start connecting!