Yep. You read that right. Good ol’ Rob Van Winkle can teach us something about Social Media.

OK, so I’m taking liberties. The other night I saw Ingrid Michaelson in concert and she did her version of “Ice, Ice Baby,” so the song was stuck in my head. Then I put the first line of the song out on Twitter and apparently got it stuck in everyone else’s head, based on their reaction. So from that first line, here are three things we can learn about Social Media:

1. Stop - That’s right: stop. We spend so much time thinking and overthinking we sometimes just need to stop and evaluate everything. Evaluate our message, our methods, and just about everything we do. Every so often I force myself to take a break from the work I do for my clients just to get it off my mind and take a fresh perspective. We don’t always have to be in marketing mode.

2. Collaborate – With Social Media, everything is collaboration. B y definition, the word “social” implies an interaction and co-existence between people. As a business, your Social Media should be based on collaborating with a lot of different people: your customers (fans), employees, industry partners, and sometimes even your competition. But collaboration with your customers is of utmost importance. You exist because of them. You need them. So collaborate with them. They are the most qualified to tell you how your products and services can be improved. They can also be a great source of ideas for new products and services.

3. Listen – A key element of collaboration is listening. Collaboration is a two-way street, and unfortunately many businesses and marketers only want to talk and be heard. So…stop…collaborate…and listen. Sometimes listening will allow you to hear your customers praising you. But you need thick skin, because you also might hear about what they think you are doing wrong. If your fans think you’re doing something wrong, there’s a good chance you might need to make some changes.

So, remember, in the word of Vanilla Ice: Stop, Collaborate, and Listen.

And to get you in the mood…here it is. Go ahead, you know you wanna. And again, you can thank me later for getting this stuck in your head.

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