1. Stop trying to duplicate what others are doing and be your own brand.

2. Think outside the blog, the Twitter, Web 2.0 and make sure your virtual self is aligned with the real you.

3. Make your content count. Repurpose, repurpose, repurpose.

4. Congruency is key.

5. Community is power.

6. A good story is what most inspires and initiates action. Tell a good story and keep em coming back for more.

7. Encourage discussion on your blog by asking more questions instead of giving all the answers.

8. Remember you are the brand so attract partners, peers, clients that will bring out the very best in you.

9. Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate.

(And #10 - in honor of the Carl Jung action figure Santa brought me for Christmas!)

10. Remember, “The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.” (Carl Jung)

Let this list inspire and invigorate you toward prodigious social media endeavors in the New Year, aligned with transparency, honesty and value.

Top Ten “Triple Dog Dare You List” for Social Media:

1. Let your blog power your message, your expertise and your willingness to share them freely to benefit others.

2. Don’t take part in petty blog flame wars.

3. Raise your blog visibility by registering it with Technorati. And give readers of your blog the opportunity to Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit and Deli.ico.us your posts.

4. For pete’s sake (and all the rest of us) join the blog fracas! Read other blogs, subscribe to their feeds and take value in highlighting their wonderful content as well as yours.

5. Stop asking what a blog can do for you and ask “What can I do on this blog for my readers?”

6. Use more images, vid posts and humor in your blog. Even Bill Gates likes a good chuckle now and then so don’t be so staid. And while you’re at it, start Twittering too.

7. Occasionally share a personal story. (No, not the one about the Red Rider BB Gun you did not get as a child. And , not the one about what your mother-in-law does after she gets overnogged at Christmas.) Instead, share a personal insight about your work method or focus, or your own story about your overcoming a challenge.

8. Post to your blog on a regular schedule and use more tags and categories for each post.

9. Participate in a blog carnival.

10. Write a mission statement for your blog. You’d be surprised how writing a mission statement helps empower your content and what you will deliver to your readers.

P.S. (Go to YouTube and see the real Triple Dog Dare here.)

From my favorite movie “A Christmas Story”:

Flick: Are you kidding? Stick my tongue to that stupid pole? That’s dumb!
Schwartz: That’s ’cause you know it’ll stick!
Flick: You’re full of it!
Schwartz: Oh yeah?
Flick: Yeah!
Schwartz: Well I double-DOG-dare ya!
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] NOW it was serious. A double-dog-dare. What else was there but a “triple dare ya”? And then, the coup de grace of all dares, the sinister triple-dog-dare.
Schwartz: I TRIPLE-dog-dare ya!
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Schwartz created a slight breach of etiquette by skipping the triple dare and going right for the throat!

E-newsletters help folks connect with you, and using them enables you to inspire, engage and initiate real connection.

Before I share some of my favorite e-newsletters, I had to share Joe Pulizzi’s fantastic post titled, “10 Content Marketing Tips To Start Now for 2009″ and urge you to go and read it.

Good content builds trust. Good content empowers relationships. Good content engenders community.

Some of my current favorite e-newsletters include:

Junta42’s newsletter

Cincom’s stellar Expert Access e-newsletter

B.L. Ochman’s “What’s Next Online” e-newsletter

Publishers Lunch e-newsletter

All of these offer value to the reader, a unique take on the world at large and inspiring content.

Don’t leave e-newsletters out of your mix.

One of the best speeches I’ve seen in the past couple of years was the one that Al Gore delivered at Disney during a business conference I was covering. His opening line was, “Hello, I’m Al Gore and I’m a recovering politician.” With that singular line he held the audience’s rapt attention.

Self-deprecation is a surprisingly good tool in the current economic stratus because we all need a bit of a lift when it comes to surviving these challenging times.

Gore’s past speechwriter and best-selling author, Daniel Pink, noted three important elements in speeches, during an interview with Tim Ferriss who asked, “What are the necessary ingredients of a good speech?”

Pink said, “I’ve said many times that the three essential ingredients in any good speech are brevity, levity, and repetition.”

(To see the full Ferris interview.)

Effective speech giving is being able to naturally and authentically incorporate the real you into the speech. We all long for true connection especially in these days of Web 2.0, 3.0, 80.0 and beyond, we still want to be inspired and genuinely touched.

When I interviewed Doris Kearns Goodwin, I asked, “What is the most rewarding thing about being a historian?” and her response was, “It is a great gift to really get to know people through their letters and speeches because that is often where you will find the real person behind the historical persona.”

One of the best things you can do when you prepare a speech is to be a real person.

A stunning and still inspiring speech was Pierre Omidyar’s keynote speech, in that speech Omidyar says,

“Build a platform - prepare for the unexpected… … And you’ll know you’re successful when the platform you’ve built serves you in unexpected ways. That’s certainly true of the lessons I’ve learned in the process of building eBay. Because in the deepest sense, eBay wasn’t a hobby. And it wasn’t a business. It was - and is - a community: An organic, evolving, self-organizing web of individual relationships, formed around shared interests.”

Reread the last line. Isn’t Omidyar really describing what social media is today? “An organic, evolving, self-organizing web of individual relationships, formed around shared interests.”

Go to this link where 100 of the top speeches are compiled and listen to them for similarities in the speeches.

It’s surprising how many speeches on the top 100 list and others come directly from the heart and search to connect with the audience’s heart. Omidyar’s speech is an example of that, as is Dr. Pausch’s stunning Last Lecture, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.”

(Go to this link for the full transcript of Dr. Pausch’s speech.)

One of my favorite quotes from Pausch’s speech is, “Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.”

It aptly describes how one must come prepared to inspire the audience. Too often, CEO’s assume that their title or place as the head of a company entitles them to rapt attention and that alone should inspire.

In reality, having a CXO title only means you can demand an audience, but it does not mean you can capture their hearts.

As mentioned previously, Pink notes these three elements: brevity, levity and repetition. (See how I repeated his tips, did so briefly, and with levity?)

And there are four other elements you must try to include in a speech:
• Imagery
• Metaphor
• Humor
• Honesty

If you take the time to listen to or read inspiring speeches, you’ll be amazed at how you can quickly identify and nurture the best practices for your speeches as well.

Over the holidays I while I was working on this article, I was sent this tweet, “

encouragement4u @NettieHartsock N.E.T.T.I.E. means Nurture Every Thought To Inspire Everyone 4:17 PM Nov 24th from web in reply to NettieHartsock

It’s interesting to have received it because I think it sums up what you want to do in speeches as well, “Nurture every thought to inspire everyone.”

Here are three resources to kick-start your “speech-listening” research:

1. Search YouTube for “CEO speeches” you’ll find over 600 available.

2. Check out the Carnegie Mellon’s “Last Lecture” series. This includes Dr. Randy Pausch’s which has a viewing of over 7 million and counting.

3. See all the TED speeches . Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s speech is extraordinary and so is George Smoot’s.

P.S. (Do you remember the speech attributed to Vonnegut’s MIT commencement speech which made the rounds on the Internet and proved to be false? It was actually a column written by Chicago Tribune journalist Mary Schmich titled, “Wear Sunscreen.” Either way it’s a wonderful speech to read and to listen to it you can go here.)