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Why we should care about Google? Is the same as why we should care about getting found in Social Media? Maybe, because is a great way to engage and connect with potential customers. Most people you know hang out sometime during the day at the social media watering holes, so this is  where you need to hang out if you want to engage with them.

There are so many social media sites on the web, and each has its different uses and most share the ability to create a user profile, connect to others, and interact and share information with a vast community of people. To get started we need to start building a social media presence and one of the most general aspects is creating a well planned user profile. Spend a generous time thinking about how you approach building your brand in social media and how to get found in social media sites:

Pick a Username Based on your Goals:

Pick the right username, don’t create a fictitious person because is a violation of terms of service of these sites and is likely to get kicked off. Based on your goals, different approaches to username might make sense for a business or person to grow marketing reach for product or service. Use your real name, make it simple and clean, and avoid using numbers. Use a name that is available on all prime social media sites and keep it consistent across all sites as possible. The goal is to build your brand online so people start recognizing you.

Create a Profile Image or Logo:

Along with your username a profile image is a crucial part of your online identity. It’s very discouraging to follow or accept a friend request when the person or brand does not have a face. Use the same image across all of your social media profiles. If you are setting up an account for your business, the image should be some variation of your logo. Your profile image is part of your overall brand and it should be something distinctive, memorable, and consistent.

Take Advantage of Web Site Links:

Social media sites allow you to submit one or more links to web sites where people can learn more about you or your company. Unluckily, these links do not generate SEO value but can still generate traffic to your selected website, so you should take advantage of them.

Create a Facebook Business Page and Build Brand Advocates:

In addition to your personal page, you should create an separate page for your business. This is what Facebook calls fan page. Over five million users become fan of pages each day. But you need to have first a personal account  to create a fan page, you shouldn’t  use a standard user account for your business because is a violation of Facebook’s terms of service and your account will be terminated. Don’t create a fake account and be genuine and link to your Facebook page from your business website and from other online platforms.

Create a LinkedIn Account and Start Connecting:

I’m particularly fond of LinkedIn, because is a website for professionals social networking and is all about business, the average age on the site is 35. Unlike other social networks like MySpace and Facebook, which focus on a wide set of users. Their fundamentals are similar to Facebook. You register your account and build you profile including a brief summary or bio and employment history. LinkedIn allows you to connect to others and mostly work colleagues. Such a valuable information about million of professionals, including their connections is what make this social network a powerful tool.

Create a Twitter Account and Start Gathering Followers:

Twitter is micro-blogging platform with millions of current users and thousands of new users every second. You post articles, comments, tips and stories in real time with a maximum of 140 characters, these short updates are called tweets. You can start by creating your Twitter account with a simple registration that take few minutes to get you up and running. But the most important step is to decide whether your username is based on your name or the name of the company. Twitter let you to complete an online profile. I recommend to take few minutes to complete your profile because I found that the more complete your profile is, the more likely people will connect with you. After you are all set up start posting few tweets and sharing some useful information or insightful comments. You need to do this before you start reaching out and connecting with others and building a following. People are unlikely to follow an empty twitter account, also make sure to have a photo in your image profile, this’s another mistake most people have and others will find it odd and won’t connect or follow you.

Driving Incredible Traffic with Digg:

Digg is like a big newspaper with hundreds of readers who visit the site to find the best articles across diversity of topics. However, these articles are not written by Digg journalists or editors, they are selected from thousands of different web sites and submitted to Digg by the users themselves. The user decides through a voting process, instead of an editor which articles will be shown. Social news sites like Digg are remarkably powerful way for businesses to spread their content to an incredible amount of users.  Articles that get visibility on the front page of Digg can get hundred of thousand of views a day. A good deal of Digg users are bloggers, and they are more connected and influential than average web users and can help to spread content on other social media sites, generating more traffic for your site.

Get Discovered with StumbleUpon:

StumbleUpon is a social discovery site that help you to discover new content that you might like. Like most social media sites, you register and create an account, and is free to use. You indicate your areas of interest from a variety of different topics. Download and install StumbleUpon toolbar for your browser, start voting and liking, is very much like Digg. Web pages that get more votes are shown to more users and receive hundreds of visitors. With StumbleUpon, you get gradually more traffic as you get more votes because there are not a front page concept like Digg. Also the traffic here is longer lasting than Digg because continues to be sent for a long time through the years.

Now you can start submitting content, spend time familiarizing yourself with the community, engage in the conversation, connect with others, tell your story, participate, follow up quickly to comments, set the tone for your community, and treat people as you would like to be treated.

Build trust, which is the foundation of any great relationship and social media is all about building relationships. Social media is a long road and a way of doing business, it’s not a campaign.

Alirio Pirela is Founder of Pirela Creative Solutions, Creative, Love Analytics, Blogger, Designer, Art Director and Content Marketing Strategist working as a Community Manager for several small businesses, providing tools and advice for social pros and business owners. @aliriop

Post filed under Brand, Content, Facebook, LinkedIn, Marketing, marketing strategy, social media, Social Networks, Twitter and tagged Facebook Page, LinkedIn, Social Media Sites, StumbleUpon, Twitter.