Now, I’m no ‘Social Networking’ expert by a long shot, and everyone knows all you need to do is Google those words to find a thousand people out there that claim they are, but today I stumbled onto this article by Steven Overly for the Washington Post that absolutely everyone trying to have a business or music career online should read.  In fact, I’ve already emailed this link to every artist and manager that I work with.  Now sure, some of it has nothing to do with the music industry, but if you look at an artist as a ‘brand’ or a ‘small business’ and in that context some of these things are great.  Here are three of the ten ‘mistakes’ pointed out in the article that jumped out to me.  I added the bold.

Giving It To The Intern
Too often, social media responsibilities will be piled on the most inexperienced staff members, or worse, someone who abhors social media. Debbie Weil, a local corporate social media consultant, said proper use of social media requires someone who is not only communication savvy, but comfortable with exposure to the public. You can’t hide behind a brand, Weil said. Social media needs a personal touch.

Only Using The Freebies
Free social network and media Web sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube may be easy to activate, but they don’t give an organization much control. Weil, who also authored “The Corporate Blogging Book,” warns that companies that rely solely on external networks relinquish a certain degree of autonomy. She recommends that organizations and companies using social media have a hub on their primary Web site where users can find links or feeds to blogs, Flickr photo galleries and other third-party Web sites. This also gives customers or constituents a single go-to URL.

Making It About Money, Money, Money
Most nonprofits and other donation-driven organizations recognize the potential to raise funds through social media, but Fair said it is too often viewed as a funnel to the organization’s coffers. She said nonprofits stand to collect more money from a community that participates, through social media or otherwise, in an organization’s cause. You can’t initiate social media as part of a fundraising effort, she said; it has to happen beforehand.

Oh my goodness.  Is this saying that it’s (once again) not about the numbers?  It’s about community and quality over quantity?  Is it saying that ‘Social Networking’ is an important part of today’s society and should be addressed as such?

I love the idea of bringing people together for a cause or a goal more than just selling things.  It’s something we’ve have been trying to do for almost three years now with SkörInc, and I think it’s amazing to see the relationships and connections that have been achieved through these artists interacting online more.  So obviously I’m on board.  Anyone have any other thoughts on this article?  Read the rest here.