There are some great free tools to monitor your online presence. Most of these require a few minutes to set up and then a few minutes per day to monitor. There are some that you can use once a month to track how your online brand is over time.

Setup an RSS reader

An RSS reader aggregates web content such as news, blogs, and online searches in a single location for easy viewing. A reader helps you view new information from all the sites and searches you choose on one page. Google Reader is very easy to set up and use.

Google Alerts

Google Alerts let you monitor the web for new content. Just enter the search terms you’re interested in following and how often you want updates and you can monitor any word or phrase. You should set up Google Alerts on your company, your brands, keywords, your competitors’ companies, your key employees, and influencers in your industry. You can get updates via e-mail or add the RSS feed of your Google Alerts to your RSS reader.

Twitter Searches

Twitter searches are feeds of search results of keywords, brands, companies, people, and #hashtags on Twitter. Be sure to search for @mentions of your company Twitter accounts. The results are almost instantaneous and allow for time-critical monitoring.

LinkedIn Answers

LinkedIn Answers lets you ask and answer industry-specific questions. You can subscribe in an RSS reader to all the questions in a category relevant to your company and your customers. You can keep track of the kinds of problems your customers have, answer questions to show your expertise, and follow discussions in your industry.

Check your social media pages

LinkedIn

Visit your LinkedIn home page to see who has visited your profile, read status updates from your connections, and answer any messages you’ve received. Visit groups you’ve joined to see what kinds of discussions are going on.

Facebook

Look at your company’s Facebook page stats and activity using the View Insights link on the pages you manage. Scan your fans and page views count. Visit your Facebook company page (or personal profile if you use it for business) and answer any questions or address comments that visitors have made on your page. If you are a member of a group, check to see if any interesting new discussions are going on.

The ongoing buzz about your company

Sites such as Social Mention and  Addict-o-matic show you the buzz on your company across a wide selection of social networks. Topsy lets you search terms on Twitter over the past 6 months (Twitter’s search only goes back about a week).

Assess the quality of your online presence

There are a range of free tools that can analyze the quality of your online brand. Use Twitter Grader, Facebook Grader, and Website Grader to get a free analysis of how your pages rank compared to others. You can run these analyses once a month to see how changes you make to your site, pages, and online conversations improve your ranking.

Monitor in real time

Use software such as TweetDeck to monitor online conversations in real time. Set up custom columns that monitor @mentions of your accounts, searches on keywords and names, and activity by your Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections.

Use the information you find

Keeping track of your company online can give you the ability to spot issues before they become problems, find opportunities in your marketplace to grow your business, and build a reputation as an expert in your industry. Responding to people that mention you or your competition can help you win new customers and build relationships in your industry.

Six Revisions has a comprehensive list of monitoring options in ”12 Social Media Monitoring Tools Reviewed.”

Last night’s SVAMA panel explored how marketers can use social media for business-to-business lead generation. The answer in a nutshell: create remarkable online content and lead prospects to that content through Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Panelists included Brian Halligan, CEO HubSpot, and author of Inbound Marketing; Mike Linton, formerly the CMO at eBay and at Best Buy, now writing for Forbes.com; and Zack Urlocker, from MySQL, now part of Sun Microsystems/Oracle. The panel was moderated by Lilia Shirman, author of 42 Rules for Growing Enterprise Revenue, and MD of The Shirman Group.

Brian kicked off the discussion by contending that a winning marketing professional today is half marketer and half content creator. A marketer today should create content, optimize it for search and social media, promote the content on social networks, and analyze the results to concentrate on what generates the best results. His caveat is that the content needs to be “remarkable” so that it gets spread from the original recipients to others, extending your reach to new prospects.

Zach was able to get a huge increase in leads in his group at Sun through a series of refinements, including the creation of informational content (white papers, case studies, etc.) and an optional registration form for each piece of content. His team optimizes everything they do around lead generation, noting that each page on a website or blog should have a call to action—otherwise, why have that page?

Mike‘s experience with the B2C market has given him some different insights on the creation of content. Sometimes, the best content you can create is an online dialogue and relationship with your potential and current customers. And, sometimes the customers make the most valuable content. In some markets, the best way to do lead generation is just to keep the conversations going in your community.

All three panelists agreed that you should find out where your customers are and then make sure you interact with them there. Brian suggested that instead of hunting through the jungle of the internet, find the watering holes and hunt for leads there. The watering holes could be forums, wikis, Facebook Fan pages, LinkedIn Groups, blogs, and Twitter.

Once you find your targets, lure them to the remarkable content you’ve created on your website and blog, and capture their contact info for your sales team.

Here’s a quick rundown of the who, what, where, when, why, and how of using social networks to help kick-start your social media plan.

Who

You should use social media if you have a business and want to do any of the following:

• Reach new customers
• Build relationships with existing customers
• Create awareness of your products or services through PR and marketing
• Decrease customer support costs
• Drive traffic to your website
• Find new employees
• Improve teamwork at your company

What

Social networks are now used by millions of people every day:

• Social networks are web-based, online communities of people with shared interests who communicate with one another and share information.
• Social networks allow you to connect with friends, family, colleagues, and customers online.
• Social media marketing is the use of social networks to promote your company’s products or services.

Where

You should create a presence on the following websites:

• LinkedIn: Set up profiles for key employees. See “Getting Started with LinkedIn.”
• Facebook: Create a Facebook Fan Page for your business. See “Getting Started with Facebook.”
• Twitter: Set up a Twitter profile for your company or brand. See “Getting Started with Twitter.”
• Local Search: Set up listings for your business on Google Places, Yahoo! Local, Best of the Web Local, and Bing Local Listing Center, by visiting GetListed.org.
• Reviews: Set up a listing for your business on Yelp.

When

• Today: Set up profiles on the major sites. It takes about a day.
• Every day: Keep up with what’s happening in your industry or marketplace.
• Every week: Spend a few hours participating in conversations with people in your networks.
• As needed: Post news about your company.
  

Why

There are five main reasons companies should do social media marketing:

• It is now considered a best practice.
• It drives traffic to your website.
• It improves your search engine rankings.
• It lets you join the conversation.
• It amplifies your marketing messages.

For details, see “5 reasons companies should do social media marketing.”

How

It’s easy to get started with social media:

• Sign up for LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, local search engines, and Yelp.
• Fill out the basic information (you can add more later).
• Join groups of peers and/or customers.
• Listen and get a feel for discussion etiquette.
• Get social by joining into conversations with your peers and customers. See “Connecting with customers through LinkedIn,” “Connecting with customers through Facebook,” and “Connecting with customers through Twitter.“

More information

• For more in-depth information about using social media marketing, take a look at “5 Steps in a Social Media Marketing Plan“  and “Promote your business using social media.”
• For an overview of the components in an online marketing strategy, check out the Marketing Treasure Map video.
• For details on the most popular social networking websites, check out the slideshare presentation called “Free Online Tools to Create Conversations.”

One of the great things about social media is that people who interact with your company through online social networks have chosen to connect with you. Either they have networked with you on LinkedIn, became a fan of your Facebook business page, followed you on Twitter, or searched for you online. For simplicity’s sake, let’s call these people your “fans.”

In all of these cases, your fans have decided that they want to hear from your company through online networks. But they also have joined with the understanding that social networks provide a forum for conversations, not one-way communication. Your job is to make sure you keep up healthy conversations between your company and your fans.

Post information on a regular basis

Once you have fans for your LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter profiles, everything that you post on your page or profile appears in the stream of information on your fans’ pages. Post regularly to your profiles, including a helpful, informative collection of stories. It doesn’t have to be every day—depending on your industry, once a week could be enough.

Share a variety of posts

The information you share on social networks should help create awareness of your company’s products or services, but you also should include helpful information that isn’t directly self-promotional. You should certainly share information about recent business successes, current products, the latest news about your company, and current promotions. But you also should include information that is helpful or interesting to your customers, but not necessarily directly related to your company. You might share information about your customers’ industry, events related to your products or services, or news about complementary products or services. You can share photos of company staff members, video from events, the slides from a recent presentation, or images of your products in use.

Encourage conversations

Research shows that customers who interact with you online are more likely to purchase from you in the future, so it makes good business sense to encourage your fans to interact with your company. Your fans might like to comment on your posts, share their own photos or stories, and recommend your company to others. You can also encourage participation by creating online polls, requesting feedback on your services, creating a contest, or even asking for product ideas. Register on local search sites and product review sites to create a forum for customer reviews and recommendations. And be available to answer questions asked by your fans. Social networks are a great way to provide instant customer service, getting real-time feedback on your company and creating long-term relationships with your customers.

Lead fans to your regular website
When researching purchases, the majority of Americans use online searches, and most of them visit company websites before making a purchase decision. Having high-quality links to your company’s website improves your ranking in search engines. Creating links from social networks to your website helps lead visitors to pertinent information on your website and helps improve your ranking by providing more links to your site. And when your fans link to your website, their links give your site’s ranking a further boost.

Expand your business
Social networks let you connect with customers, colleagues, and vendors who are anywhere in the world. You can use online networks to reach out to people who you normally wouldn’t get a chance to meet, sharing resources, getting recommendations, and promoting your company in markets or distant locations.

And through the relationships you build online, you can grow a thriving business with a healthy, active online community.

Facebook Profile Page

A Profile can contain information all about you, including both personal and professional details. You can include your work history, your education, your interests, and as much personal information as you’d like to include. You can easily add photos and videos to your profile, plus there is an ever-growing collection of applications you can add to your page to share even more about yourself. If you’re going to use Facebook for business, it’s best to keep the information on your profile very professional.

Once you have put your pertinent information on your Profile, you can connect with other people, who become your Facebook “friends.” When friends accept your invitation, you can see their Profiles and they can see yours. Your friends can be your personal friends and family, or your peers and customers—if you want to use your Facebook Profile for business.

On your Profile, you can let your friends know what you’re doing in a few different ways. You can update your status at the top of the page with a short phrase, or write something longer on your “wall.” Information that you share on your Facebook “wall” or in the status field is visible to your Facebook “friends” and appears on their walls. Depending on your security settings, this information can be shown to the world or just to your Facebook friends. And, your friends can comment on the things you share on your Profile, letting you interact with others.

Facebook Group Page

Facebook users can also create Facebook Groups to give others a place to start discussions, share information and events, and get answers to their questions. Groups can be centered around a common interest, an industry, a hobby, a travel destination, a school, or almost anything. You should join groups in your industry or groups that might interest your customers. Get involved by commenting on the group’s wall, answering questions, or joining in discussions. You can also create a group of your own if there isn’t already one where your customers hang out.

Facebook Fan Page

Facebook Pages are created by businesses, by celebrities, or for products. You should create a Fan Page for your company, completing all the contact information, and be sure to add a link to your website and add photos or videos for your business. You can post information about sales, new products or services, coupons, and more on your wall, plus send messages directly to those who “like” your page. And, your “fans” can comment back on everything you post, making your company wall another place to connect with customers.

For a quick guide to opening a free account on Facebook, check out “Getting Started with Facebook.”

For information about other social media sites your company should be using, read “Social Media Quickstart Guide — 6 Tools You Need.”

Every day, business owners and advertisers hear about how they must keep up with the latest social media networks in order to have conversations with customers. There are now hundreds of options to consider, but with limited time, where is your time best spent? Whether building your company’s brand or your personal brand, the best place to start is with free online social media tools.

Getting online doesn’t have to take a lot of time and effort, as long as you narrow down your options to the sites that give you the best results for your time. Following is a brief introduction to six great free tools for engaging with your customers online. If you get yourself set up on these six social media sites, and devote an hour or so per week, you’ll have a great start on your social media marketing strategy.

1. LinkedIn is a business network with members in countries around the world. LinkedIn has four basic functions that you should use: Profile Pages, Company Pages, Answers, and Groups.

A Profile Page is your online business resumé, complete with your employment history, education, links to your website and blog, and more.

Your Company Page contains basic information about your company, plus a list of all your co-workers who have LinkedIn profiles.

LinkedIn Answers are questions posted by LinkedIn members on any subject. You can read or post answers to questions, or ask your own.

LinkedIn Groups are created by members and enable people with common interests to share their knowledge and questions through online discussions.

For detailed information about these four kinds of LinkedIn pages, see “Connecting with customers through LinkedIn.” For step-by-step instructions on setting up your account, see “Getting Started with LinkedIn.”

2. Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life, including friends, customers, and peers. Facebook started as a personal online tool but has evolved and is now used by individuals as well as businesses. Facebook has three kinds pages that you should use: Profiles, Groups, and Pages.

A Profile Page contains information all about you, your work history, your education, your interests, and as much personal information as you’d like to include. You can add photos and videos to your profile, plus there is an ever-growing collection of applications you can add to your page to share even more about yourself. If you’re going to use Facebook for business, it’s best to keep the information on this page very professional. Information that you share on your Facebook “wall” is visible to the public and your Facebook “friends” and appears on their walls.

Facebook users can also create Facebook Groups to give others a place to start discussions, share information and events, and get answers to their questions.

Facebook Pages are created by businesses, celebrities, or for products. You can post information about sales, new products or services, coupons, and more. And, your “fans” can comment back. All three types of Facebook pages are a great way to keep in close contact with your customers.

For detailed information about these three kinds of Facebook pages, see “Connecting with customers through Facebook.” For step-by-step instructions on setting up your account, see “Getting Started with Facebook.”

3. Twitter is an online service for posting quick answers to the simple question: What are you doing? Twitter is referred to as a “microblog” as it’s a blog with very short, 140-character postings. Twitter is a great way for businesses to share links, news, and events with customers and peers. You can subscribe to the Twitter postings of others by “following” them, and others can “follow” your postings, or tweets. When you go to twitter, you see a page filled with the tweets of all the people you follow.

Setting up your Twitter Profile is quick and easy. Your Profile contains simple information about you: your name, your location, a link to your website, a brief bio, information about the people you’re following on Twitter, and who’s following you. And, once you start tweeting, your profile contains all the tweets you’ve posted so far.

Use Twitter to announce new products and services, sales, share interesting articles you’re reading, link to interesting posts on your blog, and join in conversations with others on Twitter. Customers can share feedback on your products and services, ask questions, and share their own tips. It’s easy, since all you have to work with is 140 characters.

For detailed information about using Twitter for your business, see “Connecting with customers through Twitter.” For step-by-step instructions on setting up your account, see “Getting Started with Twitter.”

4. A Blog is a website, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, graphics, and/or video. Like Twitter, blogs are a great place to share information about you and your company, but in a longer format. You can post long or short posts, sharing company news, information about your industry or your clients’ industries, share your expertise, or write an article that might interest your customers.

One of the great things about blogs is that users can interact with you by posting comments in response to your blog articles. You can comment back, or contact them directly and engage them in conversations. And, people can subscribe to your blog and receive your articles via e-mail or through a blog reader.

Blogs also provide a way for you to create valuable content that is easily found by search engines. Your blog is indexed by Google and other search engines, and if you’ve written your copy with words that your customers might be looking for,  you’ll appear in search results pages near the top. It’s a great way for customers to find you.

5. Google Places is a way for you to help customers find you on Google. Through Google Places you can create a business listing to be sure that local customers find you. If you have a business that serves local customers, you should create a listing using Google Places.

Your Google listing is map-based, so when someone searches for your products and services and includes a location in the search (e.g., restaurants in Santa Cruz) Google will provide a listing of companies that provide that service with markers on a map.

You can provide basic company information, as well as coupons, photos, videos, and more. And, your customers can interact with your listing, providing reviews and comments. If you have reviews, your listing appears in search results with a rating and comments. It’s a great way for you to hear what your customers are thinking. If you have a customer that just had a great experience with your company, be sure to send them a link to your listing and ask them to give you a review.

You should also list your business on Yahoo! Local, Best of the Web Local, and Bing Local Listing Center. An easy way to do this is through GetListed.org, which was launched in early 2009 as a free resource for small business owners to list their businesses at multiple sites online.

6.  Yelp is an easy way to find, review, and talk about what’s great — and not so great — in your area. You can create a listing on Yelp that includes information about your company, and add in coupons, videos, photos, and more. Your customers can give you reviews, rating you on a set of criteria  you select. People looking for reviews can sort by rating or number of reviews and get results with reviews, marked on a map.

Make sure you ask happy customers to give you a review on Yelp after their service. And, read all reviews to see if there’s something you could be doing better for your customers.

Ready to get started?

It’s easy to get started with social media in just about a day:

• Sign up for LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, a blog provider, Google Places, and Yelp
• Fill out the basic information (you can add more later)
• Join groups of peers and/or customers
• Listen and get a feel for discussion etiquette
• Get social by joining into conversations with your peers and customers.

And, with an hour or so per week, you can keep up with your customers and peers online.

I  did a presentation called “Free Online Tools to Create Conversations” that is now available as an online slideshow on SlideShare. The presentation introduces the six online tools outlined above, and includes screenshots of each type of page.

If you’re interested in more advanced use of social media marketing, take a look at “5 Steps in a Social Media Marketing Plan.”

And, if you’d like a video overview on creating an online marketing strategy, check out the Marketing Treasure Map on YouTube.

The objectives of marketing include the following:
•    grow brand awareness
•    build a positive brand association
•    drive business development
•    broaden customer base
•    increase website visits and page views
•    convert leads into customers
•    create a connection between company and customers
•    manage crises
•    provide customer service
•    humanize your company
•    generate buzz

The particular marketing tactics you use to achieve these objectives can be put into two basic categories: outbound marketing and inbound marketing. (Some people refer to the two categories as Marketing 1.0 and Marketing 2.0.) Outbound marketing tactics include TV, radio, print, and yellow page ads; direct mail; telemarketing; e-mail blasts; and events and tradeshows. Inbound marketing tactics include online content creation (including blogs, videos, podcasts, presentations, eBooks, and news releases); social media marketing (such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, and StumbleUpon); and search engine optimization (including optimizing online content for search engines, getting quality links to your online content, and more).

So, why choose inbound marketing tactics over outbound marketing tactics?

Using the internet has become part of what people do every day. Unless you’re providing services to people with limited internet access, chances are you should start with inbound marketing tactics and supplement with outbound marketing tactics, if appropriate. Here are a few reasons why inbound marketing tactics might be a better choice today:

1. Buyers start the purchasing process by doing an online search. More and more people use the internet to locate your solutions, and then find out what other consumers, reviewers, and the media have to say about you before making any buying decisions. You need to make sure information about your company appears in search results when someone is looking for the services or solutions you provide. That means having plenty of online content, optimized for search engines, created by you and your customers.

2. Inbound marketing tactics can cost less per lead than outbound marketing tactics. With traditional marketing, there are cost outlays for design, placement, postage, telemarketing, e-mail blasts, and tradeshows. With inbound marketing, the only costs are time. If you have limited budgets, but you have someone with time to write blogs, participate in online media, or optimize your site, inbound marketing is for you. And, some of this investment of time can yield long-term results. Good site Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and interesting content can serve to lead visitors to your site for years to come.

3. Inbound marketing tactics are more respectful of your customer’s time. An ad during your favorite TV show, a phone call during dinner, a billboard on an otherwise lovely drive: all of these disruptive outbound marketing tactics intrude upon your customers’ lives. With inbound marketing, your customer decides whether or not to read your blog, watch your video, become a fan of your Facebook company page, follow you on Twitter, or click on your URL in a list of search results. If you’ve done your content creation, networking, and SEO work correctly, you will get found when someone’s looking for you.

4. Inbound Marketing tactics allow you to listen to your customers. Back in the day, if someone had a bad meal in your restaurant, they asked to speak to the manager. Now, they post a review online. The only chance you have to respond to someone’s criticism or comments is by participating. Make sure you set up a Google Alert on your company’s name and any important keywords in your industry and you can monitor what people are saying. When someone makes a comment, you should reply with an honest, open response. Don’t try to put a marketing “spin” on your answer, as that will tend to decrease your credibility. Customers today expect total transparency and direct, open communication with the companies they use.

5. Inbound marketing is more targeted. Because the audience for inbound marketing tactics is self-selecting, they tend to be more likely to be ready to purchase. Someone who searches for your solutions or services is more likely to want to buy them than someone you reach out to with outbound marketing. Similarly, someone who subscribes to your blog or belongs to the same online group probably has more use for your services than someone off the street.

The marketing tactics you decide to use depend on your audience, the service or products you provide, and your budget. But, be sure to plan on including inbound marketing tactics in your marketing strategy to take advantage of the benefits and the lower costs.

P.S. Check out “Getting started with Twitter,” “Getting Started with Facebook,” and “Getting started with LinkedIn” if you need help opening and personalizing your accounts.

Part 3 in the Getting Started with Social Media series

While LinkedIn is all business, all the time, Facebook is more of a hybrid social networking site, with both business and personal users. Although Facebook started as a social network exclusively for college students, the fastest growing group on Facebook today consists of users 25 and older and it’s one of the most-trafficked websites in the world.

So, if you’re one of the few people in the world still not on Facebook, here’s how to get started:

1. Open a free Facebook Account. First, go to facebook.com, enter your name, e-mail, password, gender, birthday, and click “Sign up.”

2. Find friends on Facebook. If you want to have Facebook check if any of the people in your web-based e-mail (Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, etc.) address book or IM list are on Facebook, enter in your e-mail and password and click on “Find Friends,” or click on the “Find people you Instant Message” link. You can skip this step and do it later if you prefer.

3. Tell Facebook what you’re doing now. Enter information about your high school, college, or current employer. Or, click “Skip this step.”

4. Let Facebook know what school you attend(ed). Enter your school name, or skip this step.

You’re done! You can stop here if you want to. Just add new information to your Facebook page as it changes.

Getting social with Facebook

Now, if you want to get more “social” with Facebook, here are the easiest ways to interact with other Facebook users:

1. Find people you know. You can import your e-mail addresses into Facebook and then decide which of your friends and colleagues you would like to invite to connect with you. You can also invite them one by searching for them by name. Once they are your Facebook “friends,” take a look at who their friends are and you might find some more people you want to add as friends. Make sure you really want to connect with people you select on Facebook.

2. Join groups. Facebook Groups are communities who share a common experience, passion, interest, or just something random such as people who like to sleep. Click on Groups to search for groups that interest you, or that your friends have joined. You might want to start with your high school or college, any hobbies you have, or just search for terms that interest you. It’s easy to remove groups you don’t want to belong to anymore.

3. Add more information to your profile. Facebook makes it easy for  you to add photos, video, and all sorts of personal information about yourself to your profile. You can include as much or as little info as you want. Just click on the “Profile” link and click “Edit My Profile” and complete whichever sections you want. When you’ve added all you want to add, click “Done Editing.”

4. Participate in online discussions. The easiest way to start is by filling in the box on your home page that says “What’s on your mind?” This quick sentence gets posted on your “wall,” which all of your Facebook friends can see. Next, visit one of your friends’ pages and type a message on their wall, comment on a photo, or even post a photo. On your home page, you’ll see a list of all the comments you and your friends have made. It’s a quick glimpse into your friends’ lives.

Your Facebook profile can be a great way to connect or reconnect with your friends and family, or just keep up with what everyone’s up to when you’re not around. Have fun!

Part 2 in the Getting Started with Social Media series

If you want to create an online presence for yourself in a community of business professionals, LinkedIn is a great place to start. Setting up a LinkedIn profile takes just minutes and is a great way to connect with other people with similar business interests.

LinkedIn is a social networking site mainly for business professionals around the world.

Here’s all you need to do to use LinkedIn:

1. Open a free LinkedIn Account. First, go to linkedin.com and click on “Join today” Enter your name, e-mail, password, country, postal code, and current job information (if any), and click “Join LinkedIn.”

2. Complete your profile. Think of your profile as your online resumé. You should add a photo, information about your previous jobs, your education, and any information you’d like to share about your expertise, your interests, your contact information, and more. There are fields for each of these on the Edit Profile screen. Just complete as much as you want. The more you fill in, the more likely you are to make connections with people.

You’re done! You can stop here if you want to. Just add new information to your LinkedIn profile as it changes.

Getting social with LinkedIn

Now, if you want to get more “social” with LinkedIn, you can add connections, join groups, get recommendations, and participate in LinkedIn discussions.

Here are the easiest ways to connect with your colleagues:

1. Add connections. You can import your e-mail addresses into LinkedIn and then decide which of your friends and colleagues you would like to invite to connect with you. You can also invite them one by one in the Contacts->Invite Contacts section of your page. Make sure the connections you make on LinkedIn are quality connections, those with whom you have a professional relationship.

2. Join groups. LinkedIn Groups are communities who share a common experience, passion, interest, affiliation or goal. Click on Groups-> Find a group to search for groups that interest you. You might want to start with your high school or college, any professional organizations you belong to, or just search for terms that interest you. It’s easy to remove groups you don’t want to belong to anymore.

3. Get recommended. LinkedIn users with recommendations are three times as likely to get inquiries through LinkedIn searches. Ask your colleagues to recommend you through LinkedIn. It only takes a minute and it makes a big difference to viewers of your profile.

4. Participate in online discussions. You can choose to see updates from your network and all the groups you belong to on your LinkedIn home page and/or via e-mail. Read the questions and comments people are posting and see if you can add to the conversation. When you feel comfortable, post your own questions or interesting articles for discussion. It’s a great way to connect with members of your business community worldwide.

5. Add applications. LinkedIn has a whole suite of applications you can use to add more to your profile. Display the most recent posts on your blog, include your Twitter updates, add a slide show, share travel plans, and more. It’s a great way to flesh out your profile to really give people an idea of who you are.

Your LinkedIn profile, when complete, becomes a great online repository of information about you, your career, and your business interests. It can help you connect with others in your field, get that great new job you’re looking for, and help people find you online.

On the right we have the innovators and enthusiasts who invented the social media programs we use today (LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs, Twitter, etc.). They’re already at work on the next great idea. Close behind are the early adopters who embrace new technologies easily. In the middle are the pragmatists and conservatives who wait for new technology to be proven useful. And, on the left, we have the skeptics who are the last to adopt any of these here newfangled ideas.

Recently, several of my clients have asked me about how to use social media for themselves. They are savvy computer, internet, and e-mail users, have personal and/or company websites, know how to get their digital photos onto their computers, but haven’t taken that first step in getting involved in social media. On our chart, they are the skeptics, but they are ready to become social media users.

If you are one of these “laggards” (Iowa State’s term, not mine!), this series of articles is for you. I’m going to try to show how easy it is to get involved with the biggies today: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

P.S. Check out “Real things you can do with Twitter” for a list of ways to have fun and do work on Twitter.