Looking for fresh ideas to add to your 2012 Social Media Plan? We’ve sifted through our most-shared posts from 2011 and compressed them into 30 Ideas.

You’ll learn how to integrate social throughout your entire business, train your employees, find the content sweet spots, listen for business intelligence, delight your fans, handle your detractors, and measure your growing influence.

Want to make 2012 the year you leapfrog ahead in social media? Read on!

Have you ever heard a story that stuck with you? One that was passed down through your family or around your hometown for years? It became well known, legendary and everyone knew the tale. The oldest epic story in the English language, Beowulf, survived through the ages in a verbal and then written form, long past many other stories of the same type. The quality of the work is subjective to the reader, so why has this story survived in a verbal, written and now video format across many years and different societies?

Each time this work is introduced to a new audience, whether it be through a band recounting the rhythmic lines from memorization or through an adaptation that features a certain Hollywood leading man with a well-known accent, it begins a new campaign to grasp the minds and imagination of a new audience. If the author of Beowulf was known, he definitely would be quizzed on how he managed to set off one of the most long term PR campaigns ever.

One advantage that Beowulf shows us is that different mediums allow different messages to be told with the same story line, while appealing to the particular audiences’ preferences. For some, verbal languages comes through clearly, while for others, the written words speak stronger. And for some, both of these mediums need images or video added to them to really hit home. Think of how Beowulf has traveled across the ages, first being spoken aloud, then written down and then immortalized on film. It’s the same message but overlaid to a new medium as society developed. Adding a layer of social media to your campaigns is no different then the evolution of a story throughout the ages.

Just like with the Beowulf story, you do not have to re-imagine what it is you are trying to express to the audience, but rather allow your message to explore a new medium.

Here’s a few thoughts on how traditional media can be transposed to the social realm by simply moving some of your traditional elements to their social counterparts.

Campaign Slogans –> Status Updates
Commercials –> Online Video Clips
Billboards –> Paid Website Banner Ads
Radio Ads –> Podcasts
Flyers –> Emails

No matter if you are telling the epic tale of a warrior out to defeat an evil beast or just trying to get your new product launch the attention it deserves, you don’t need to start with a whole new story. The mediums you choose will allow your story to travel across the

What ways do you transform your traditional campaign elements in to social elements? How much time do you spend re-working ideas to fit different mediums? Are your traditional and digital efforts combined?

If you’d like to read more about how you can add a little social to your campaign efforts check out Chapter 2 in this month’s ebook.

Thanks to everyone for the great turnout at our Engaged Brand Twebinar today with Chuck Hemann from Dix & Eaton. The audience participation was so awesome; we had plenty of great, thought-provoking questions for our speed round.

Chuck shared so much fantastic information it was hard to keep up. He started with his brilliantly simple 4 step process for a Social Media campaign:

1. Listen
2. Create a strategy based on what you learned from listening
3. Engage the community
4. Measure the response

He said that “If you don’t listen and benchmark to begin with, it’s hard to measure the success of your Social Media program.”

He also shared the list of blogs he keeps in his RSS feed. Plus, he had some great nuggets of wisdom, such as “Engage people where they live, not where you live.” And “The conversation about you and your brand are going to be happening whether you participate or not.”

To hear more great nuggets from Chuck please download the Dix & Eaton podcast from BlogTalkRadio. And be sure to follow Chuck on Twitter at @chuckhemann so you don’t miss out on anything new he might have to say.

Thank you all for listening and participating. Here’s a few of the interesting tweets that occurred during the Twebinar:

TWEET FROM: LZONE
Like @chuckhemann, I agree that SM works best when it becomes a part of a company’s culture and doesn’t just reside in one dept. #radian6

TWEET FROM: CSLEDZIK
@lzone @alexiaharris Makes sense to start slow as Chuck said. Even listening ahead of time can help you be proactive. #radian6

TWEET FROM: ALEXIAHARRIS
@chuckhemann I read the blogs you suggested. I guess I’m on track #radian6

TWEET FROM: SONNYGILL
Ding ding. @chuckhemann touches on shaping corporate culture to be ready for SM within the business #radian6

TWEET FROM: GOKTGO
“The corporate culture has 2 b ready 4 social media…they have 2 b willing 2 collaborate w customers more than just push products” #radian6

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EDIT: We thought we’d add Chuck’s great list of social media blogs for all of those who’d like to check them out.

Aaron Strout: http://blog.stroutmeister.com/
Amber Naslund: http://altitudebranding.com/
Dave Fleet: http://davefleet.com/
David Griner: http://www.thesocialpath.com/
David Mullen: http://www.davidwmullen.com/
Don Bartholomew: http://metricsman.wordpress.com/
Geoff Livingston: http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/
Jason Falls: http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/
Katie Paine: http://kdpaine.blogs.com/
Olivier Blanchard: http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/
Radian6: http://www.radian6.com/blog/

Thanks to everyone who joined us for today’s Engaged Brand Twebinar with Kodak.

The positive response was outstanding and we really appreciate Tom Hoehn and Jenny Cisney sharing their insight into Social Media and the way it can make business better. There were so many great take-aways from the Twebinar that if you missed it or want to listen to it again please download the Kodak podcast.

Be sure to check out more fabulous Social Media Tips from Kodak where they talk about everything from the landscape of Social Media to some of the current Social Media myths to some of their personal Social Media tactics. There is so much great info in there that you’ll want to read it more than once.

And don’t forget to follow Tom – @TomHoehn and Jenny – @KodakCB on Twitter for any new tidbits they might be sharing or to ask any additional questions we could not get to during the Twebinar.

Thank you for listening and participating!

If you missed yesterday’s Twebinar with Brad Dancer from the National Geographic Channel, you’ll want to download the podcast to listen to later.

Brad shared some great insights with us about how the NatGeo Channel is embracing the consumer-generated media revolution,why social media and their community are important to them, and his take on the future of broadcast media in general.

I only wish we’d had another hour with Brad (maybe sometime soon) because it’s so obvious that he’s passionate about what he does – he’s been with the channel since it launched – and he has a level-headed but enthusiastic viewpoint about the impact of social media on the traditional media world.

So take a listen while you’re working today. It’s well worth the 45 minutes or so. And we’d love to hear your thoughts and insights on the topic, too.

Stay tuned for details on our next Twebinar with GE on August 5th, detailing their TweetSquad team and how they’re using Twitter to get the word out about GE innovations. More to come!

Social media is evolving the public relations industry, and Golin Harris is keeping stride with the changes.

Jeff Beringer, SVP and team leader for the firm’s Dialogue integrated media practice, joins us this week on The Engaged Brand to talk about how he and his firm are embracing and leveraging the advantages and challenges that social media has presented to the PR industry.

Full of great examples of both B2B and B2C companies and their listening and engagement efforts along with a healthy take on the social media ROI discussion, Jeff’s interview is full of insights and first-hand experiences about social media in a business framework.

If you’ve got 30 minutes to spare, download and listen to the episode and hear what Golin Harris is up to in the social space.

Special thanks to Jeff for taking the time to chat with us!

Interested in chatting with us about how your company is listening, engaging, and making the most of social media? Drop us a note.

For businesses outside the tech space, social media can sometimes be a tough sell. It’s one part evangelism, two parts patience, and a good dose of determination and creativity.

This week’s Engaged Brand Podcast features George Smith, social media specialist for Crocs – those crazy and fun shoes that have legions of raving fans (and almost as many people that think they’re silly looking). George is an army of one, working tirelessly to demonstrate the valuable and game-changing nature of social media to tap communities and brand evangelists.

We talk with George about how he’s making the case for social media inside his company, what he thinks the future holds, and how he’s created a social media presence for Crocs that’s changing the way they connect with their customers.

So if you can spare about 45 minutes, download the Crocs podcast, and learn a thing or two from someone in the trenches.

Have an idea for someone you’d like to hear from on The Engaged Brand? Is it you? Let us know.