“Transparency” is a big buzzword right now, and there’s a good reason: It’s less of a trend than it is an inevitable part of doing business. Companies like Google are getting ever faster and more sophisticated at cataloguing and organizing the massive amounts of raw data that exists on and offline, giving your customers, clients and competitors near-instant access to huge amounts of information about you, your products, and your actions. What you say in a press conference tomorrow will be still be somewhere on YouTube ten years from now. That flippant response to a rude customer on your blog will may as well have been embossed on your letterhead.

While all this should terrify any sane person, in the long run it’s better for consumers and companies alike. For example, Apple is one of the few companies who can still get away with pretending problems don’t exist. They’ll refuse to acknowledge that defects or problems exist for months, or even years, before suddenly offering a fix as if nothing ever happened. They can get away with it for now because they’re big (and popular) enough, but they’re not immune: Steve Jobs occasionally has to come down from up on high with an email to a jilted customer or the media when Apple’s message control gets out of hand.

Pundits will pontificate about the value or worthlessness of social media and its uses, but undeniably the best part is that now you have a powerful platform without any filters between you to the people you’re trying to reach. As a company, you have unprecedented power to control your narrative and connect with the people that matter most – your customers.

So what’s the first rule of social media? Be honest. Be open with your customers. Remember that the coverup is worse than the crime. If you mess up, fess up. Your customers will respect you for it, and be more willing to give you the chance to make it right.

No matter our business or area of expertise, we all need to connect with new customers, shape our public image, and build a network in order to grow and succeed. We are just getting past the infancy of this new baby. Everyone’s thrown up (or spent a fortune on) their new website. Can you guess what I’m going to say is the Next Big Thing™?

Twitbook or LinkedFace are a part of the answer. But there are thousands of social media hubs out there, and I’m sure there will be hundreds of new and trendy sites and apps for years to come. While many of today’s darlings (cough, MySpace, cough) may well go the way of Friendster, none of these sites, by itself, is “Social Media.” But if you want to get, stay or be in business it’s absolutely essential that you participate in at least a few of the ones that appeal to you. Why? Any Millennial will tell you: Social media is you. If you’re not there, you don’t exist.

That’s what makes this media different from all other media: A dynamic presence online can tell others infinitely more about you than any flyer, article, commercial or static website (and not being there says just as much).

So far there are very few examples of businesses who “get it” when it comes to social media, and that’s probably because the social media is not really about business. Social media is where people go to see their friends. If you come galumphing along trying to sell everyone something, you won’t be all that welcome. To be successful here some people may want you to take your shoes off at the door, or say hello first, or tell me something I don’t already know.

Social media isn’t about finding some faceless “customer” or “constituent” to push ourselves and your wares upon. This is a world where people are trying to connect with other people who are excited about something. Now it just may be they could be excited about you and what you have to offer. And it might even be a place where you can find out more about what your present and future customers might be looking for. But underneath it all there is one huge moral force that guides social media: Be yourself.

Of course, it’s not all that simple. The social media landscape is rough and uncharted terrain, and like anything worthwhile, it requires a bit of hard work to get where you want to go. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, and there are lots of mistakes to be made. But even if you know nothing else, you won’t go wrong if you stick with the first rule of social media: Authenticity is everything.

That’s our promise to you, too. We’re always going to be us as we help you make the most of this wonderful new world.