What brings this to mind today is I planned to tag a friend/client in a post on Facebook and she did not appear to be there. I finally found her after typing in her email address and learned that she is using her legal more formal name for her Facebook profile. Even though she is published under the shorter name and all her friends and clients know her by that shorter name.

Pick a name, one name, always spell it the same and use it everywhere. Be consistent. I even see people using a middle name or middle initial some places and other places not. I see women trying to use their married name for business and their maiden name for business- this no longer works. In this era or being able to find someone in an instant, it is important that you do not make it tough for people to locate you because they will quickly look to someone else and this can cost you business. Make a final decision, pick one and stick to it.

I know about this because I did legally and for business change my first name several years ago.

Let’s have some fun and give away a few prizes. Here is a Caterina trivia question: Can you tell me what my name used to be? Those of you that knew me before I was twenty are excluded from this. Your choice of a copy of one of our latest books from http://www.powerdynamicspub.com for the first three respondents that get it right.

Think of yourself as the admissions director to your own University of Facebook. You can only allow 5000 people to be accepted to your very exclusive institution. You want them to be the ones that most fit the kinds of students or friends you want. People that will be interested in the courses (your posts) and people that will most resonate with what the administration has to offer- your products and services.

To determine who is best suited for admission you need a strategy and a criteria. To create your strategy answer the following question.

Why are you on Facebook? For fun, to reconnect with your high school and college friends, to stay in touch with your current clients, to attract new clients, to increase referrals? You are the only one who can answer this question. I suggest you have a business focus.

2. Based on your answers for question #1 you can now create your criteria for who you let in your online network. If you know them personally and you like them –let them in. For people that you do not know personally they have to meet your criteria, meaning they fall into one of the groups of the kind of people you want to connect with. They meet your ideal client profile or they are a good strategic alliance partner for you. If you think they are super interesting or cool you can of course still let them in.

This also means if you come across people you would like to add to your network you can friend them too. I suggest always including a note about why you would like to be their friend for a higher approval rating.

You can only let 5000 people into your exclusive network admit them wisely. Happy friending.

If you already have a regular website, look at adding a blog.  However, if you are just starting to have a web presence, you can take a look at using the blog format instead of a standard website format. They can both be value-based.

One last thing about using a blog format for your website—I have heard that search engines really like blogs, since you are always adding new content and it is easy for those robots to find.

Check out my Thriving Business Group on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58925660247 

If you are not yet on Facebook, sign up now and invite me onto your friend list.

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/caterinarando

In this article, you will find tips that you can use when using social networking sites to build your business.

Those tips are:

•    Read the terms and conditions
When joining a social networking site, read the terms and conditions to see what type of advertising restrictions they have. If you violate those terms, then your account may be deleted or worse. Sometimes it pays to avoid heavy marketing on some of the larger sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The smaller sites such as Yuwie tend to be more lenient toward advertising. Some even encourage it.

•    Aim for smaller social networking sites
Marketing your business on the big social networking sites can be quite tempting because there are so many people on them. Thinking of that type of exposure can seduce common sense and land you in some trouble. As stated in the first tip, it is good to avoid any heavy marketing on the larger sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Sometimes you have to avoid it all together since sites like MySpace have a function where those you are marketing to can mark your messages as SPAM. There have even been instances in which lawsuits have been brought against those sending out what is considered SPAM. Even if your intentions are pure, it is good to resist the temptation.

•    Use social networking blogs
Many of the social network sites have a blog function. Some of them such as Livejournal and Blogger are centered around blogs, but offer social networking options for users. You can use the blogs to talk about your service to those who visit it. You can also use your other social networking accounts to market your blog by providing a link to it somewhere on the page. Even talking about your business in your MySpace blog is not a bad thing. That is one way you can get away with marketing on the large social networking sites.

•    Market to other businesses
You would be surprised how many businesses have created social networking sites. Market yourself to those businesses, especially if you have services they can use. Then again, they are increasing your exposure by adding you to their friends list. If you can, reach an agreement with that business for the week to list you as a top friend and you will do the same for them. That way, you can help each other out.

•    Utilize all of the site’s functions
Social networking sites provide a number of different functions to their users. As stated before, blogging is one of those functions. Other functions include networking, groups, classifieds and forums.

You can use the networking function to connect with individuals who have an interest in your services. Be sure to hook up to these available networks. You can also join groups of people with the same interests and create groups of your own. When you create a group, you can invite individuals to join. They then have the option to accept or decline your invitation. They also have the option to search for a group such as yours. This is a great way to market to individuals who have a genuine interest in what you do. You can also use the classified ads to post ads about your business. The only tricky one is the forums. You don’t want to SPAM people’s posts with information regarding your business. You want to look for posts that are relevant to your business or business in general. There may be even more features for you to use to your advantage, so be sure to explore every aspect of the site so that you can form a plan.

Despite the amount of marketing that occurs on social networking sites, these online meeting places are still largely untapped. You can develop your own strategy based on what portals the site gives you to market your business. You can also create one profile page or you can create multiple profile pages to highlight each and every one of your services. If that sounds good to you, simple Google a list of the networking sites on the web and get started utilizing social networking sites to build your business.