To cut to the chase, the 5 tips might surprise you, because they have little to do with using Facebook or mastering Twitter. It's a short list of the things I've observed to be the real barriers to even getting started with social media – you can see it in the right column.

I wrote this list as part of an article I wrote for the July issue of the Fundraising Institute (FINZ) magazine, and I'm sure it'll come in handy at a few upcoming workshops.

I believe in a basic truth that the barriers to most things in life are the barriers we impose ourselves. There is an expression; "If you don't know where you're going, you'll wind up somewhere else." Perhaps, "somewhere else" is where most of us wind up, but is it where we want to be?

One would think we don't want to determine where we should be going because 'fate' is more powerful than a well thought out plan. Psychologists would say it's all about our subconscious thoughts dictating the things we do, or more likely, the things we don't do.

So the FINZ article is all about the shortcuts people make with the fundamentals – "Avoid the basic mistakes in using social media for fundraising" – which mean they "end up somewhere else".

Author connections: facebook.com/frasercarson2  www.fresco.co.nz  wwwflightdec.com

Fraser Carson is a thinker, problem solver, innovator and commentator. He has particular experience and interest in marketing, communications and social media. In 2012 he launched Flightdec.com, a radical new concept to build online communities.