Facebook is great for your “water-cooler” chat and sharing photos. Twitter works for the “cocktail hour” chat, buzzing with link sharing and playful banter.  But LinkedIn is the platform that many professionals and business owners feel “safe” online.

LinkedIn is your suited-and-booted business networking environment where people are there to talk business.  And more and more of you are signing up.

But, for some reason, most business owners seem to think of their LinkedIn networking as a completely separate activity from their “real” face-to-face networking.  Once you are sat in front of your PC, it’s easy to slip into virtual mode, isn’t it?

But if you make the time for “real” networking, how often do you look up the people you’ve met on an online network such as LinkedIn?

Virtual relationship building does work.  But what really turns up the power on your virtual networking is making is real.  And what better way of making it real than by reaching out and connecting with people you’ve already met.

It’s quite simple really and yet very few people I meet at networking events do it.  After each event, look up the people you’ve met and wish to build upon that initial meeting and invite them to connect on LinkedIn.

Your online world becomes much friendlier and works far better for you when you link it up to your offline one.

Have you got any more LinkedIn tips? Leave a comment and share your thoughts

How many times have you checked someone out on the internet before meeting them?

Perhaps you are off to a conference or networking event and you’ve checked out the speaker’s credentials before attending.

Some may call it stalking! But for most of you, being able to read someone’s LinkedIn profile or look at their website before picking up the phone to them, is a useful gauge on what this person is all about.  You get to check out what they may stand for, their tone of voice and even a find a picture to see what they look like.

But when was the last time you Googled yourself?

And what did you find when you did?

(Quick Note: When I refer to Google, I am referring to all search engines)

Hopefully Googling your name produced some great results.  Possibly professional looking online profiles, a comprehensive About Us page from your website, half a dozen articles authored by you and perhaps even a link to a photo of you accepting an award the other month.

But what if you find something that you would rather not have others see?

Here are some of the common pitfalls to being found on the web and what you can do to overcome them.

1. Your social life is there for all to see. Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace are packed full of photos and videos.  And what happens when one of your friends decides to upload photos from last weekend’s party and you get tagged?

Tagging is a process of adding someone’s profile link to the photo, thus allowing this photo to appear in a search of your name – easy to do but perhaps not something you want to be associated with.  If you find anything you don’t want to be associated with, go and un-tag yourself.

2.Business v Social. You use Facebook for friends & family but what happens when a business contact wants to become your friend?  Rather than ignore them or reject them, make use of the privacy settings.   You get to set the privacy settings specific to your needs.

For example, did you know you can update your status and set it so only certain friend lists are able to view it?

3.Your abandoned online profile is ranked higher than your website. Sites such as LinkedIn and Ecademy are ranked very highly by Google because of the size of these sites and the continuous updates and activity.  So it is very likely that your online profiles can appear above a link to your website’s contact page.

And if you are not active on those profiles or, even worse, they are out of date and don’t reflect what your business is all about today, it could sway the judgement of the person who is Googling your name.  If you have an online profile that shows up on the search, make sure it is up to date.

4.You don’t appear anywhere. Ooops! No record of you anywhere on the internet? Perhaps not critical for some businesses, but for the majority of you who read this blog I would expect a link to your website to come up when your name is Googled, at the very least.

Perhaps your name is not mentioned anywhere on your website – a common preference for some businesses who like to promote their “corporate” brand over their “personal” brand.  Unfortunately when using this approach, your name is nowhere to be found so add your name on your website somewhere, even if it is just in the “About Us” page.

5.Too many other John Smiths! A common problem for name Googleability is having a common name.  This is where sites like LinkedIn and Ecademy can really help get your profile ahead of others who share the same name.  Also submitting articles on sites such EzineArticles.com can get you found more easily.

One other consideration is to use a middle name or even a pseudo name – authors and bloggers often do this to help their name be found more easily.

Getting found on the web is not always easy.  But whether you want to be found on the web or not, is immaterial.  Hide yourself away and protect your identity by all means.  But think of your potential clients out there.

How many of them are able to find you?  And if they can’t find you, what do they do?  Do they try a bit harder and find another way of tracking you down – or take the easier option and move on to the next supplier or contact that has been recommended to them?

Let me know what you find when you Google your name!

Quick Note: This is a huge topic and it seemed to get huger, huger (!) as I wrote it – so if there is anything you are not sure of, or I have glossed over a point too much – do get in touch.  Delighted to answer any questions you have.

I was asking around a few months ago for some personal recommendations of a business coach/mentor.  One guy came highly recommended from someone who was working with him at present and I was given his name and contact details.

I always like to check someone out online before phoning them to see for myself how they represent themselves.  So I eagerly put his name in to Google.

He didn’t have a website, which was a little disappointing as I felt that I needed to work with someone who marketed themselves online.  But I decided to have a further look, as he was recommended.

There was a linked-in profile, but not up to date.  There was the odd reference on Ecademy but that was all.  Then on page 2 on his Google search I found a link to his Christmas letter which he obviously sent out via link to a webpage.  Not only could I read his Christmas letter, I could read the past 6 year letters in all their glory – photos, personal references, the full works.

A quick scan and I realised that he wasn’t to be the right personality fit with me.

What is the moral of this story?  Check yourself out on Google today and see what comes back.  You may not be able to control everything that you find and yes, there may be other people out there with the same name.  But if someone out there was to Google you, what would they find out about you and your business?

It’s worth a look!

Got a comment to add? I would love to read your thoughts and ideas.

But join too many and there is the danger that you get sucked in to the time-wasting vortex.

And let this time-wasting vortex put you off social networks altogether and you could be over-looking a huge marketing opportunity for your business!

Decisions, decisions – which one should you belong to?

Believe it or not, there is one simple question that will clarify this problem for you.

And that question is: Which social networks do your potential clients belong to?

This may should obvious but too many business owners make decisions over social networks based on their own personal experiences.

“Facebook is full of kids sharing drunken party photos”

“LinkedIn is only for people looking to get head-hunted”

“MySpace is great for free music downloads but that’s about it”

Just because this is your “perception”, it may not necessarily be the “reality”.

So before you make any decisions about which social networks may work for your business, take a moment (and preferably several!) to ask your clients which networks they belong to.

After all, your marketing efforts are NEVER about you! They are always about your clients :O)

But doesn’t this automation actually go against what Twitter is all about?  Twitter to be used as a conversation tool?

During the proactive times of my business, I schedule my tweets on a Monday morning, using a system like Tweetlater.

One of these scheduled tweets  a couple of weeks ago, included this recommendation as a tip and somebody came back to me with a tweet “Yes, but this automation is all very well, but isn’t Twitter about conversation and not automation?”

Great point!  Being totally automated on Twitter is extreme and I wouldn’t recommend it.

But by automating some of your tweets throughout the day and week, these can actually help generate your conversation.

You can’t be on Twitter 24 hours a day; you’ll go mad!  And you would probably drive your business to the ground.

But by having certain tweets giving out tips and information when you are not actually live on Twitter can actually help people respond back to you and start a conversation.  When you do log back in to Twitter, you can respond back and have that two-way conversation.

So is Twitter about automation or about conversation?

It is about both.  You need to automate some aspects of Twitter to be able to remain sane, to be able to develop it and drive it forward as a marketing tool for your business.  But if you automate too much it becomes lose the power because Twitter is about conversation, it is about replying and about building relationships.

Your thoughts and opinions: How much do you automate on Twitter? Or do you use Twitter for real-time tweets only?  Leave your comments in the comments box below.

But behind every successful online presence there is usually a very successful offline one first.  The two go hand-in-hand.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Building an online presence is important and, in fact, integral to many small business owners, particularly those of you who sell services and their time on a 1-2-1 basis.

But when someone meets you face-to-face and your online presence it is not backing up the online presence – is not congruent to what they’re expecting – everything you have built online will just crumble instantly.

So when building an online strategy, never ever forget the power of networking, the power of standing up and speaking at events, the simple act of handing a business card to someone physically.

Always remember that behind every successful online presence there is usually a highly successful offline one too.

And if you are an active online social networker, are you building a friend list of thousands or growing organically?

Everyone on the internet may have different strategies and ways of building their brand online – but how many of these people network online the same way that they do offline?

Most social networking sites, such as facebook and LinkedIn, have the facility of letting you add a message when you send out a friend request or invitation to connect (wording depending on which site you are on).  Yet, hardly anyone uses it.

If you were are at a face-to-face networking event, would you consider barging in to a group of people and start shoving your business card in to everyone’s hands?

No, probably you wouldn’t. (At least I hope you wouldn’t!)

You would introduce yourself.  Probably shake a hand and ask who the other person was.  You would start a conversation.

So, why can’t people do this online?  It seems too easy to go down a big list of contacts and click the friend request button in the vague hope that the other person will confirm that request quicker than you can wink.

Now, if you are building a mailing list so that you can start sending out sales messages, then you go for it.  You may as well start shoving business cards out at networking events and hiring a team of telesales reps to call from a list of yellow pages.  You will get the same hit rate!

If you are networking online and using the social networking sites to build your brand, raise awareness of your business and generally reach out to potential clients and customers, then stop and ask yourself how you are inviting people to join your network.

If you would shake someone by the hand and introduce yourself at a face-to-face meeting, do the same online.  It may take longer in the short term, but the relationships will be stronger in the long term.

Have you got any tips to making friends on facebook?  Leave your comment below