More Zumba?  Less ice cream?  More reading?  Less drinking?  More tweeting?  Less napping?  What are your resolutions for 2012?

The following New Year’s Resolutions should be on your list if you consider yourself social-media active.  Commit to making these changes in 2012.  To be a social media strategist means setting small goals that will lead to big changes for your business and yourself.

Tell yourself that you will make it personal this year and actually make comments of your own.  Don’t get me wrong – retweeting and favoriting, sharing and liking… these are all essential to a good Social Media Strategy (and it’s a great way to encourage others to return the favor), but you HAVE to have your own thoughts and ideas as well.

You want your social media audience to realize that you are making a genuine effort to communicate with them.  Don’t just spend 5 seconds saying the same thing or using someone else’s effort as your own.  There are time-savers you SHOULD use.  There is nothing wrong with connecting your social network accounts so that one post goes to all.  There is only so much time in the day.  But keep in mind that each social media account has a different type of community.  You might want to say things differently to your Twitter followers than your LinkedIn peeps.  Invest time in managing your social media presence.

2.  I Will Use More Video

As social media professionals, we understand the power of YouTube, now is the time to finally start leveraging this tool. Reach the world with video, YouTube offers the following:

• Over 3 billion videos are viewed a day.
• YouTube’s average age of viewers ranging from 18 to 54 years old.
• YouTube averaged 700 billion playbacks in 2010 which means users are watching videos over again.

It is easy to set up your own YouTube channel and add your own professional content.  Businesses should leverage this tool to communicate visually with their audiences.  I have a few clients who utilize YouTube.  Craig Builders utilizes YouTube for home and community tours.  The Iris Inn uses their YouTube channel to give possible visitors to their bed and breakfast an in depth view of the inn and the activities they might participate in while visiting.

3.  I Will Use My Mobile Devices More

The hottest holiday gifts for 2011 were smartphones, tablets and e-readers. If Santa got you one, you should take advantage of the conveniences your mobile devices offer.  If you’re going to an interesting seminar, meeting with a new client, discussing tactics with your co-workers… make a little comment about it.  If you’re having lunch at a new restaurant and the burger is tasty and juicy… tweet, facebook or foursquare that.  A big sale on canned green beans at the grocery store??  Tell the world!  These are things that people will appreciate knowing and they are things that will make people remember you and consider you a resource of information.

BY THE WAY… while we’re discussing the popularity of mobile devices, remeber that it is VERY IMPORTANT to have a mobile version of your company’s website.  If you don’t, you may want to look into fixing that.

4.  I Will Monitor my Social Footprint

If you haven’t developed this yet, start out with baby steps. Build your Google Alerts with Google Analytics, it is a very user friendly tool that helps build your ROI (return on investment) through social media.

Consider using bit.ly to shorten the links you post because it also shows clickability rates for each link you create allowing you to monitor if your updates or posts are bringing that link clicks.

Use PostRank, a free social engagement aggregator that brings you data in real time. The tool was recently acquired by Google; a move that I am hoping will only strengthen PostRank as an analytics resource for the Social Web.

I will be a Human Being!

We’ve already discussed being “real” as a social media strategy.  Being “human” is a very important strategy.  Let people

into your head a little.  If your social media audience can make a personal connection with you, chances are they’ll be a lot more likely to make a BUSINESS connection with you.

I can’t tell you how often I run into people and they tell me they’ve been keeping up with my TV commercial antics or that they love my latest website development or simply that everytime they see me comment on Facebook, they’re reminded that they’ve been wanting to contact me… (and many times they do so… right there on facebook because it’s easy).   It doesn’t have to be difficult – but it DOES have to be consistent.  Try to make 2012 the start of a New Social You.

Have a safe and happy New Year!