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.

Since I have so many mom entrepreneurs out there “tweeting” about the upcoming Metromom Online Success Telesummit I decided to use my own hashtag – #MTMM09 – to keep track of the conversations. (If you’re a fan of Twitter you’ve seen hashtags within tweets. They are created by prefixing a word with a hash symbol: #hashtag. Hashtags were developed as a means to create “groupings” on Twitter.)

Please check http://search.twitter.com/search?q=mtmm09 to see any conversations going on about the Telesummit right now… Feel free to retweet!

So, are tweets, hashtags, retweets etc. a complete waste of time or can you really leverage the power of social media and monetize your time? I’m really looking forward to two speakers who will be addressing this exact topic during the Metromom Online Success Telesummit on May 1^st and 2^nd.

Amy Miyamoto @lotusamy will talk about, “How to Leverage the Power of Social Media to Create a Community of Raving Fans and Still Have Time for Your Family and Yourself.” As a mother of 3-year old twins herself, Amy is committed to maximizing the power of social media in the least amount of time. She went from a social media novice to a devoted enthusiast and was named one of the “Top 11 Business Women to Follow” in Sarah Prout’s recent ebook “Twitter Inspiration” in a matter of a few short months.

Here’s what Amy will be sharing:

· What is the #1 thing you MUST do before getting started with Social Media

· The 3 most powerful types of friends/followers to have and why

· The 5 key types of tweets/posts that you must include in order to create a community of raving fans

· The one essential component for maximizing your Social Media success that most people are missing

· The top 3 ways to leverage your social media impact in the least amount of time

I’m also thrilled that Social Networking Strategist, Nancy Marmolejo @nancymarmolejo, will share her “magic secrets” of turning social networking followers into fans and fans into pre-sold leads during her presentation on, “How to Turn Followers into Fans (and Fans Into Leads!)”

Nancy is one of the leading experts on social networking and she’ll share:

· Expert tips on setting up a strong social networking presence so you stand out from your peers and competition

· The 4 Parts of the Social Marketing Cycle that turns followers into fans and fans into leads

· The big 2-part strategy you need to stay consistent and memorable

· Big mistakes social networkers make that cost you fans, followers, leads, and sales (you can’t afford to miss this part!)

· Cutting edge techniques to connect authentically with your market and the tools to get it done

So if you’re serious about taking your business to the next level I hope you’ll join me on May 1st & 2nd. It’s FREE to listen to these calls by Amy and Nancy and many more… Make sure you check out what my other All-Star experts will be sharing at The Metromom Online Success Telesummit. This is the first and last time I’ll ever get all of these INCREDIBLE experts sharing their time and expertise in this way-so you don’t want to miss it! #MTMM09