Zen and the @garyvee keynote

Excuse his profanity, but this is a good keynote from Gary Vaynerchuk on the importance of marketing in the time we live. I suppose it's a little ZEN. Be here now.. and here now... and, well, you know. And by marketing, we know a lot of that is social media.  

Are you more focused than a goldfish?

This entertaining and powerful video is by Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics, How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business.

 This is the fifth version of the most watched video series on Social Media.

And, to answer the question, if you watch this for more than 7 seconds, you are doing better than a goldfish.

Social media is about relationships: That's forever

It sure is hard to tell how old something is on the web sometimes.

This Quickstarter Social Media tutorial from Constant Contact looks like a great place to dip into when you have questions about social media use for business.

Tools change. Facebook frequently updates how it works. Twitter often comes up with new ways users interact. So some social media information becomes dated quickly.

But tips about how social media (and the Internet as a whole) is all about conversations and is about the relationships we establish and grow there will be valuable always.

I discovered this Quickstarter Social Media looking for ways to coach you on what to say.  This looks like a good place to dig in to it.  What Should You Say?  |  And here's the beginning of the tutorial:  Why Social Media Marketing?  

Twitter. Facebook. Signed up, now what?!

It's true that social media sites aren't necessarily the best places to learn about how to use those very sites.  Once you sign up and log on, you've got to figure it out.

Asking friends, family and colleagues for help is a great start.  But, honestly, if you dig around, there are a lot of people out there talking about best practices and social conventions on social media tools.  Don't be afraid to ask.

Here are a few good starting places.

I asked Mark S. Luckie, manager of journalism and news at Twitter, where to send you for basics on his favorite social site.  He says the various resources on Support/Twitter are very helpful.  I also find the official Twitter Blog interesting.

Facebook used to have an official blog, but they now direct us to their Facebook Newsroom.  Facebook's Help Center  can give you directions for specific problems -- resetting a password or adding a profile photo.  Try it.

But sometimes the best way to learn a web tool (and all these social media sites are tools), is to practice, try things out.  Figure out what works for you and what doesn't.  Maybe you'll pave a new path.