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It can be overwhelming trying to figure out who to connect with on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Should you friend and/or follow everyone? How can you really use the social networking platform in a truly authentic way?

I gained some valuable insight into this process when I spoke with my friend Amy Miyamoto,  at the Metromom Online Success Telesummit. Amy, who has thousands of friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter, and has developed them into authentic sharing relationship, provided many great tips on how to make meaningful connections.

The first step is to really be clear on who you are. How would you define yourself in one word?

Personally, I’ve always thought of myself as a “connector” but after reading the book “The Go-Giver,” I’ve decided those two words feels much better to me. A “Go-Giver” is someone who’s more concerned with “how can I give” than “what can I get.”  The beauty of choosing your own “word” is that once you sit in the space of your  word, it dictates how you put yourself out there and therefore how you come across to others.

Next, at the heart of authentically showing up in all that you do is recognizing the importance of being known, liked and trusted. People want to see who you really are, which then allows you to attract the right people, whether its mentors, potential joint venture partners or potential clients.

Amy also shared three different kinds of friends and follower to have in the social media landscape:

1. The “Influencers.” These are usually the first ones you look for—the experts in your industry. Ask yourself: Who do you want to learn from? Who are the mentors you want to get involved with? You’ll want to start friending and following those people.
2. “Colleagues.” These are people both in your industry as well as connected with people who are working with your same target market. They are a wonderful source of potential joint venture partnerships.
3. “Potential Clients.” This would include people who might be connected to potential clients. For example, my clients are entrepreneurial moms, so I would also want to look for people who know these moms.

By creating these types of connections you’re building a foundation that opens up many doors of opportunities. Each one is like making a deposit of social capital in your social bank account. If you spend time creating a quality base in the beginning, versus just focusing on numbers for numbers’ sake, you can appreciate that the exponential growth will be quality related.

This is only the beginning when it comes to social networking, To listen to my entire interview with Amy Miyamoto, “How to Leverage the Power of Social Media to Create a Community of Raving Fans and Still Have Time for Your Family and Yourself”, click here. FYI – She shares the one essential component for maximizing your Social Media success that most people are missing.

In my last blog post I spoke about the importance of having your own unique website. You can’t stop there. There are additional tools you need to utilize to maximize the benefits of your site.

Let me share with you a few effective internet marketing tools that you must be using if you want to generate business online:

1. A Facebook Presence is a Must

Facebook is a great place to maximize your results because there are so many people on Facebook – millions actually – who are there to do business. What are the benefits of using Facebook? A good presence builds your online visibility – people and search engines love it. It also builds your online credibility – by sharing information with others, creating articles and providing insightful comments you become recognized as an expert in what you do. Read a blog post by one of my favorite online experts, Nancy Marmolejo to see why social networking is worth your time and energy – Want Social Networking ROI? Read This.

2. Become a Blogger

Blogs are great because they’re very flexible. You can blog daily or weekly, you can post long or short blogs, you can be have informational posts or entertaining ones. A blog is a fantastic way to let your individual style and approach to business shine through. It’s also a very interactive format so visitors can leave comments and/or questions for you to respond to. According to my SEO guy, a blog can be the easiest and most inexpensive tool to drive traffic to your website – another BIG bonus of blogging.

3. Develop Your Own Freebie

A freebie is at the core of your list-building strategy. Most people won’t buy your product or sign-up for your service the first time they visit your site. So you want to persuade them into sharing their email address so you can add them to your list and continue developing a relationship. This freebie can be something as simple as a tip sheet or free report. We all have something we know that the average person doesn’t and more importantly, it’s something that our target market wants to know.

4. Sent out an Ezine Regularly

Once you have a list you need to communicate with them regularly to convert them into loyal customers. With an ezine (newsletter) you’re keeping your company in your customer’s mind on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. To maximize the value of your ezine send it regularly and make sure it contains content that’s of value to them, not just information about you and your products.

So now you have my list of the basic tools for promoting yourself online. I’ve used them all personally so I know they work. They’re also very inexpensive and easy to implement. The next post in this series will provide more in-depth strategies for creating a website that sells.

(If you would like more in-depth training on any of the tools I’ve mentioned in this article make sure to check out the learning at the Metromom Online Success Telesummit #mtmm09)

This blog is part 2 of a 4 part series of online success tips.

As someone who is a natural “connector,” social networking is something I am incredibly fascinated with. I’ve started dabbling in it. You can check-out my profiles up on Facebook , LinkedIn and Twitter. Please feel free to connect with me on those sites if you use them too!

The internet is always evolving so it’s very important to be up-to-date on what’s available and how it can serve you and your business–especially if you do home-based work online. As a side note, soon I’ll be interviewing an expert on as part of the Metromom Power Call series on how we can use social working to grow our communities in our home-based businesses.

If you’re just getting started I recommend that you create one bio about yourself that works across all of the social networking platforms. It needs to be something that gives a sense of who you are as a woman and a little bit about your business. It shouldn’t be salesy by any means, it should be information that leads someone to say, “I’d like to go the next step and learn more about her.”

One of the key premises of the social networking sites, is the word “social” is a critical part. It is about creating relationships, not just about constantly selling your product. People are very conscious of that. If they haven’t gotten to know you, and you’re already telling them about the wonderful product you offer, they’ll tune you out. Most want you to get to know them first, and then there is a reason for you to be sharing that information with them.

The social networking sites are a vehicle that takes time, like relationships. It’s another way to be out there connecting with people. I’ll be sharing more with you as I learn how best to navigate this world.