1. Log in to Facebook and scroll down to the bottom of your Fan Page. Click the “Share” icon.

2. You have the option of posting it to your personal profile (all of your personal Friends on Facebook will see it in their Newsfeeds). I would suggest instead that you click on “Send as a Message instead.” This option allows for you to give your appeal a personal touch. It also lets you contact anyone (not just your own Facebook friends) and it will avoid bothering your old high school or college friends with something they might see as “spam.”

3. Type the names of any of your Facebook friends that you want to suggest your page to. As you begin to type Facebook will produce a drop-down menu from which you can easily select the name you want. This is very helpful when you want to invite people whose first or last names you may have forgotten. You can also type in email addresses here. If you send a suggestion to someone who doesn’t have a Facebook account, they will have to join Facebook before they can become a fan of your page. Also, don’t forget to type in a personalized message for the person or group of people you are suggesting your Fan Page to (something more interesting than “Hey, check out my Facebook Page!” but don’t try to be Hemingway).

That’s it! Just hit “Send Message” and you are done. Keep in mind that there are other ways to promote your Facebook Fan Page. The end goal, however, is to promote your business and products so be sure that the fans you are collecting will actually be good prospects. Once you have a solid fan base you can begin to market your business through this social venue, enticing first-time customers and developing greater trust with long-time clients.

1. Import your GMail, AOL, Yahoo!, or other email contacts. This is an easy step to take. However, if you have a very long and messy contact list it might take you several minutes to go through your list and remove old or undesirable contacts that LinkedIn would otherwise import on your behalf.
2. Fill out your profile details! Try to put in as much information as possible about your Education, your current and past jobs, and any associations you may currently be a member of.
3. Make it personal. Add your interests (personal and professional), connect with close relatives who use LinkedIn, upload a recent photograph of yourself. All of these things will make your profile snap when someone finds it and give potential clients and partners a better idea of who you are.
4. Set a “custom URL.” Facebook and other sites refer to this as a “vanity URL.” Whatever name is used, the concept is the same. You can’t easily fit http://linkedin.com/pub/really-long-random-url/454545 into your email signature or business card (or Twitter update!). Pick a url that is as close to your name as possible. Avoid adding a number to your name in order to make this step work. Instead of doing that, add a word that describes your career in general (use linkedin.com/in/JohnSmithInsAgent not linkedin.com/in/JohnSmith2009 ).
5. Clarify your “Contact Settings.” At the bottom of the page for editing your profile there is a section for explaining how you do–and don’t–want to be contacted. For example, if you list your job description as a “web programmer” you may want to specify that you are looking for career opportunities and blank out most of the other reasons listed by default. Or, you may want to add detailed information about things you don’t want people to contact you for (for example “I don’t do web-design, just PHP and ASP programming” or “If you want help finding a great health insurance policy I can point you in the right direction, but I don’t resell that product myself”). While all of the other steps are designed to draw attention to your profile, this step should hopefully push unneeded or unwanted attention away from your profile.

Twitter is a messaging system, a microblog publisher, and an incredibly complex community. Huh? More to the point, Twitter allows users to write short posts quickly from their phone or web browser. Those posts become instantly and easily accessible to users around the world, especially other users who have opted to “follow” those messages. The point of Twitter is not to provide detailed commentary or follow every jot of a conversation, but to create a stream of messages and conversations. If a site like LinkedIn is your online resume and business club, Twitter is the office water-cooler, the public bulletin-board, the hip cafe down the street where drinks always cost way too much.

Ok, Twitter is everything but that last bit, since the service is totally free minus the hundreds of hours it will suck from your life. Twitter isn’t just a waste of time though. People use it to discuss everything from breaking political news (I learned about Palin’s resignation via Twitter) to speculations on “the next big thing” in the tech or business world. Hot conversations happen there everyday and chances are that at least some of your clients are Tweeting. As anarchic as it may seem at first, Twitter does have informal rules. To enter this neighborhood and get people’s attention you need to be aware of these rules and taboos, so let’s get started:

The ‘@’ reply. One of the most daunting features for newbies (those who just discovered that Twitter might be amazing) is the system of using @username to send messages to other users. A typical tweet (message) might look like this:

@kchjr That is not possible right now. The easiest way is to click the user’s profile pic, which opens their follow/unfollow page in new tab

What you’re seeing here is a response to an @ reply I made to another Twitter user. Frequently when you are visiting someone’s page you may only see half of the conversation. You might notice a small link underneath that tweet that says “published about 1 day ago in reply to kchjr.” Clicking that link should take you to the tweet that is being replied to. Twitter actually calls this system a “mention,” which only describes part of its use. You can mention a politician in a post. For example, tweets that have @barackobama in them may simply be drawing attention to the Commander in Chief, not trying to gain his attention. If your Twitter profile is public so are your @ replies/mentions. Also, keep in mind that you can insert the @username marker anywhere in your message, as long as there is a space on either side: “I just got back from a party where I met @aplusk how cool is that?”

Direct messages (DM). Spend time on Twitter and you might have people ask you to DM, or “direct message” them with details unfit for the entire Twitterverse (your cell phone number, address, etc). The direct message system on Twitter functions like a very stripped-down email system. To send a direct message just type “d username this is my message text, blah, blah, blah” into the main message entry field (the “what are you doing now” field). Veteran Tweeters also tend to use this feature to welcome new followers to their network. Due to its minimal nature (it is even more bare-bones than Facebook’s message system) you won’t be using DMs a lot.

Re-Tweet (rt, RT, other variants). The simplest way to think of retweets is to remember that they are the Twitter version of “forwarding” an email. Like your other messages, all of your followers will see anything that you retweet and they will assume that you endorse the message being retweeted (unless you make it clear otherwise). Retweets can also (confusingly) be stacked up on eachother “RT RT rt @kchjr @bobthetomato @larry check out http://xyz.com so cool!” Retweets have no formal requirements but retweeting a message without mentioning (@ replying) the original sender is considered poor taste (there are exceptions). It’s okay to slightly alter or trim the length of the tweet and it’s also acceptable to add your own commentary, usually through bold punctuation like two double slashes “rt @StarbucksCoffee free mochas this Tues // sounds like a sweet deal!” Retweeting is a great way to insert yourself into the community. If you promote others a little you may soon find that people will return the favor. Just like your unique tweets, make sure that anything you retweet will be interesting to your audience and not just the Twitter version of a chain letter.

#hashtags. Yes, I did save the best for last. “Hashtags” are markers used to indicate that your tweet belongs to a certain category or topic: #music #mondays #weather are all topical tags. Categories might be #politics #war #worldnews. Hashtags can be used to emphasize the mood of a tweet (#mad #sad #happy). Another big use of hashtags, and one that is more pertinent for marketing purposes, is to designate informal groups on Twitter. Many on the right side of the political aisle pepper their tweets with the #tcot tag (Top Conservatives on Twitter). Copycat ideas include #tlot, and #topprog. You may notice other hashtags that correspond to informal communities or regular trends (#musicmonday #followfriday) on Twitter.

Doing a Twitter search on a hashtag will often help reveal the purpose of that marker and provide plenty of interesting comments for a new tweeter to retweet and engage with via @ replies. Unlike other social networks, talking to strangers on Twitter is quite encouraged, although be sure to keep your tone respectful and don’t expect everyone to like your tweets.

Twitter Lingo goes far beyond the basics of @replies, direct messages, and hashtags. Because Twitter is a rapidly growing community based on instantaneous messaging, new trends are always cropping up. Some of these trends will flourish and others will fall by the wayside. As you take the time to explore Twitter take chances and reach out to veteran tweeters and established communities. Keep in mind that “if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.”

When businesses first began to use Facebook for online marketing they found themselves limited to several (inadequate) options: start a group, tell employees to market the company through their personal profiles, or, start a fake profile (the non-profit Compassionate Action for Animals used to run a “personal” profile by the name of “Chris P. Carrot”). Now however, Facebook Fan Pages allow businesses to stake out a legitimate and rich presence on the world’s greatest social network.

The benefits of establishing a Facebook Page for your business are myriad:

• Only legitimate representatives of a business can set up a Facebook Page for that business (unlike Groups which can have an infinite number of informal fan-clubs watering down the “social capital” of your brand)
• Facebook Pages combine the familiar dynamics of a Profile with the benefits of a public web presence. Like Profiles they feature a fully-functional Wall, structured information, and the ability to integrate with almost any Facebook application. Unlike Profiles, Facebook Pages are designed to be SEO friendly and contain a Discussion Board (aka a “web forum”) by default.
• Free promotion! If you have a personal Facebook profile login and look at the right-side of the page you should notice a section that says “Highlights.” Your business or service’s Facebook Page can show up in other people’s Highlight sections, even if they aren’t yet a fan!
• Detailed tracking. Facebook Pages come with analysis for page-views, fan growth, and content ratings right out of the box.

Hopefully the above details have whet your appetite for social networking, but a few words to the wise before you “jump in” and put yourself on the map. When you create a Facebook Page you are creating a separate entity totally separate from your personal Profile (Facebook doesn’t even require you to be a Fan of your own Page). Facebook, however, is very clever at trying to make you blend the two worlds. Little links on other Pages say “add this to your Page’s favorites.” Watch out and don’t endorse products or brands that aren’t closely tied to your business. You don’t want all of your Fans thinking that you are a paid spokesperson for Mountain Dew (or something more risque). Another pitfall to avoid is cross-posting. Each time you make an entry on your professional Facebook Page Wall you are given the option to forward that entry to your personal Facebook Profile. Exercise this option sparingly and press the “Skip” button whenever you are unsure. Being able to manage both worlds (professional and private) from the same interface is convenient, but constantly telling your fifty closest friends that they can save tons of money on car insurance will only hurt your credentials in the social media world.

In summary:

• Get Fans, not Friends. There is no need to network with total strangers through your personal Profile.
• Use discretion when posting. Even if you don’t share everything that you post on your professional Facebook Page, be sure to keep your marketing efforts sane. Repetitive posting will only annoy your Fans.
• There’s always more to learn. Watch this space for more tips and tricks on utilizing Facebook and other major social networks.

Every successful entrepreneur, marketer, or freelancer understands the value of consumer confidence. You want people to like your brand. You want others to trust you. The end goal of trust and genuine appreciation isn’t just the warm-fuzzies but positive referrals and repeat business. As much as the internet and constant connectivity have changed our lives, this maxim still sparkles: a job well done is the only job worth doing.

If this principle is so basic then why isn’t it always adhered to? How can trust be lost and what does a “lame job” like flipping burgers or staffing the campus dining hall have to do with running a successful online business?

In my experience, the people who fail to follow the above rule consistently are those who think too much of their own position and talents. They haven’t had enough exposure to the real world of work. My high school and college “resume” wouldn’t have impressed any CEOs but I know that it prepared me for a field where customer service (and by extension, customer trust) is vital. While my dad was between jobs I helped him with the grueling task of delivering weekend editions of the Star Tribune. Now there’s a job where you learn not to complain! Complaining means a slow-down and that means less money made per hour and papers delivered too late (many of the customers on our route would be at their doors waiting for their paper to arrive before 5am!). My father and I not only had to cooperate and trust each other, but we had to maintain the trust of our longstanding customers by making sure we followed their preferences and not our own (put it into the screen door, leave it on the edge of the driveway, watch out for Fluffy, etc).

Another “lame job” I could proudly point to on my resume is my time at University Dining Services (UDS, for those in the know). If you were to ask any student employee of UDS about the value of their experience most would look at you with a blank stare. UDS pays relatively well but the job description is far from glorious: here’s your meat-carving station for this day/week/month, keep it clean, put on a happy face, show up on time, oh and make sure you do a bunch of menial tasks before you check out (mop the floor, cart off heavy items, scrub the sink). The UDS reward system consists mainly of being able to choose more flexible hours and locations than the slackers who site around while you (the hard-working employee) rush from task to task, always cleaning up someone else’s mess and frequently staying late. In my experience that job was mostly thankless and mostly unfulfilling. Despite all of that negativity, however, UDS taught me the value of having a great job. I now appreciate having a job where I’m not required to stand for four hours in a row, keep my hands soaked in detergent, or juggle loads of trash and cutlery. UDS also instilled in me the value of pleasing the customer. Even at the furthest rung of the college food chain I was expected to show courtesy, to be prompt and amenable, and to strive my best to answer questions.

The setting of an online business or website may be different, but the fundamental rules are no different than those that apply to a paper-boy or a dining hall dish-washer: treat the customer with respect, take initiative, and above all, do the job right the first time!

What really makes Twitter great are the many free tools for viewing and posting updates. With that introduction in place, my favorite Twitter tools, used frequently and recommended with sincerity, are as follows:

TwitterFox: Do you ever get tired of the Twitter website? Keeping a tab open for Twitter may not be too bothersome, but having to refresh each time you want to check for updates is tedious. TwitterFox will not only free up a tab in your browser but will give a discrete popup reminder each time someone on your follow list sends an update. Also useful is the ease with which you can log into and out of different Twitter accounts. Of all the 3rd-party Twitter-Clients that I have tried I would say that TwitterFox is the most elegantly executed: just install the Firefox add-on and login!

twitterfeed: Microblogging can best be described as blogging for lazy people. But sometimes I feel less lazy than 140 characters and that’s when I want to transfer all of the interest and attention my Twitter followers have to my blog(s). Now, this isn’t to say that the best way to internet stardom is to rush to get 1000 Twitter followers and link your blog articles on Twitter. The reality is that individual attention is always limited. People read what they think will matter to them. All that said, twitterfeed is a great way to combine different parts of your web presence. The work of setting up the twitterfeed is a simple one-time process. Just set it up and relax as your blog entries turn into tweets.

Twitt(url)y: If there is one defect of the Twitter website it is that it doesn’t easily allow you to discover people who share your interests. Twitter directories, sites where users enter their Twitter name and a list of interests, don’t really solve this problem. There are different directories and many people don’t bother to opt in to any of them. Also, the words that are used to define “interests” might be rather narrow. If, for example, I care about search engine optimization then I will follow people who list “SEO” as an interest. But, someone might tweet a lot about topics relating to SEO and never bother to think that SEO is one of their interests (they might use a related term like “googling” or “web design”). Twitturly has many uses: find hot topics, find out how many people retweeted something, easily reference links you have tweeted. It’s best use, in my opinion, is quickly and easily discovering people who share a common interest with you. Click on one of your tweeted links and suddenly you know everyone else who found that subject interesting and what they had to say about it (in 140 characters or less).

So, that’s my list. If you find something I’ve missed or want to give a shout out to your favorite “Twitter tool” (no spam please) follow me on Twitter and send me a message by typing @kchjr into your tweet.

It’s probably been years since I’ve done something that was so plainly moronic. Maybe I’ve had too much time to build up false confidence in the college world. Not a lot can go wrong when writing up a 10 page paper on multicultural American poetry (or can it?). The worst thing that could happen while pursuing a degree in English would be plagiarizing, even unintentionally, and getting caught. Fortunately nothing like that ever happened while I attended the University of Minnesota. Apparently my writing style was too sophisticated while I was in high-school; at least twice I was asked, very seriously, if I had actually written an assignment. While that may be humorous, messing up in the “real world” of business is not so funny. I had to realize that again today. It’s easy to do things flawlessly when the only person at stake is yourself, but when you know that one mistake can cost headaches and losses for dozens (or more), suddenly every keystroke is loaded with tension.

I can’t get too hung up on my mistakes, or I’ll never have the courage to keep learning. I can however incorporate a more careful and conscious attitude into my work life. Focus is important. Attention to detail does matter. Someday I will make another big mistake. Mistakes are inevitable in all human affairs. It doesn’t have to be another “stupid moment” where I take my ability and knowledge for granted and ignore the obvious: I’m in the “real world” now.