There are umpteen numbers of social networks out there to choose from. There are the obvious big ones, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace but once you start searching around, you soon realise there are many other, smaller and more focused one to explore.

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)

How many social networking sites are you a member of now?  There is every chance that if you are active online, then you are just not a member of one site, you are a member of probably 3 or even much, much more.

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

Do you use Outlook to manage your emails?  If so then you may be interested in knowing about a little tool called Xobni. 

It’s free to download and was created to manage your outbox far more effectively through speedy searches and giving you the ability to track email conversations on one page.

But what really floats my boat about Xobni is it’s interaction with Facebook and LinkedIn.  With each new email, the person’s profile shows up on the right hand side of your screen and you have the ability to click directly through to their facebook and linkedin account. 

Why is this pretty cool for your business?  Rather than spending your time randomly connecting with people in each of these sites, why not connect with people you already know?  It’s a great way of building your online network quickly and easily.

Why go out searching for new friends when you probably have plenty to connect with right on your very doorstep!  You can find out more about this cool tool at www.xobni.com

Your inbox is full to the brim. You have a ton of messages in your facebook account. You have had upteen invitations to connect on LinkedIn.  And your Twitter stream is flowing so fast you have trouble keeping up with every tweet, link and reply.

It’s no wonder that every so often you can feel overwhelmed!

Yet, as a business owner you can’t afford to get stuck in to-do-list mode for long.   When you are spending almost 100% of your week working “in” the business – delivering your client work, sending out information packs, responding to emails – your business will soon grind to halt.

Why? Because your business will start to stagnate, shrink or, at worst, fail rather than grow and develop.  You lack the time to evaluate what is working and understand where you may be able to expand or deliver new services.  Your business creativity dries up and you become a slave to your inbox.

Mari Smith announced last week that she was embarking on a 2 month speaking tour and unplugging herself from facebook, twitter and her inbox.  And I greatly admire her for her brave and bold decision to do this.  Her business will no doubt flourish even further than it has done already as she will have the opportunity to embrace new opportunities and perhaps, even turn her business on its head.

Having just come back from a week’s holiday in the sun, I took great pleasure in leaving my inbox to my VA.  And I didn’t even schedule tweets or blog postings in my absence.  I needed to unplug.  And yes, I have felt my business creativity return once again.

So, when are you going to switch it all off?  Even for just 24 hours?

I was speaking at a networking lunch this week sharing some tips and ideas on how to use blogging in one’s business.  And the same old question came up “But doesn’t all that stuff take a lot your time?”

Let’s get this straight. All marketing takes time!

Driving to a networking lunch, spending 2 hours eating, talking and sharing business ideas, driving back from to your office, following up any contacts you met and sending them the info you promised – this all takes time!

Is it time well spent?  Well, hopefully yes especially if you met some interesting new contacts and some of those new contacts told others about you and your business.  Networking is an incredibly effective marketing tool.

So, why wouldn’t using tools like blogging, twitter, facebook and all the other social tools out there take time to use, too?

And if the time you spend on twitter, facebook and writing your blog is used effectively – it will be time well spent too!

PLUS! anything you do online has the added benefit of being there forever.  Blog posts, twitter links and facebook photos can be found today, tomorrow and forever more.  So, yes blogging and social media does take up your time but before you use a lack of time as an excuse not to use these tools in your business, ask yourself how effective your marketing time is at the moment?