Companies, large and small, with a web presence are using social networking to get the word out and improve their search ranking.  From Coca Cola’s MySpace page to Popeye’s chicken on twitter, it has become evident that social networking websites reach the mass market... and that can translate to better SEO.

What are the bigger social networks and what do I need to know about each?

• Twitter: www.twitter.com – limits each post to 140 characters or less and embedded urls to 25 characters or less.
• MySpace: www.myspace.com - very mainstream
• Facebook: www.facebook.com - typically a very young user base

Here are key tips:

1. Use an avatar (photo or image) that includes a smile or positive outlook. See this article for more details: http://www.seo-writer.com/blog/2009/02/19/10-ways-to-make-your-avatar-sell/
2. Follow the leaders: Use the social networking websites to follow other leaders in your field: such as links to articles, blog posts, other experts, tools, etc. These will act as an unpaid research department, keeping you up to date.
3. If your business is local, follow people in your area. http://www.twellow.com/  allows you to search for a location. Follow those in your area, which induces some to follow you back.
4. Don’t forget Social network posts are forever: Remember that anything you type into Twitter will be read by just about anybody and may be there for years. Be tactful and be professional, as well as warm, human… and yourself.
5. Tweet the right things: such as credible posts that that will advance your reputation and your business. Avoid pointless nonsense that few people would care to read.
6. Take length notes off network: Use Twitter to network, but if you start an in-depth conversation (which is good), take it off-twitter. Phone and email are better. Your other followers don’t want to be bombarded by one side of a conversation they are not party to.
7. Be rewarding and helpful: If you give first, and help others, that will be noticed and will encourage others to follow you. Send ideas, referrals and pats on the back to people following you.

What should you “Tweet”?

Hopefully, it is obvious that tweets that are off-topic, useless or simply boring should be avoided! Instead:
1. Tweet useful resources related to what you do. You become the “go-to guy”. Example: Find information about bedbugs here: www.ehso.com/bedbugs.php
2. Tweet interesting factoids that your followers might find interesting.
Example: “Since 2001, bedbug infestations have increased by 71% and are common in hotel rooms that cost less than $50!”
3. Tweet your successes. But do it without sounding too boastful or self-congratulatory. If you make it sound like a news item, that’s perfect!
Example: “ABC.com’s new website just appeared on Fox News. See this page: www.foxnews.com/yourstory.htm”
4. Poll. Asking questions to do research helps you learn about the audience.
Example: “Consumer Reports says people now keep cars an average of 10 years. How long do you plane to keep your car?”

Tools to help with Social Networking

• TweetDeck helps you set up groups of people you wish to follow
• TwitterTools is a plugin that creates an integration between your WordPress blog and your Twitter account. It allows you to pull your tweets into your blog (as posts and digests) and create new tweets on blog posts and from within WordPress.
• Twhirl is the most popular client, using adobe air technology. Leave this on your desktop, instead of going to browser, also these clients may be more accurate in seeing who’s replying to you, unlike the browser version.
• Summize  helps you see who’s talking about you, your brand, or a topic you’re interested in.
• Quotably is the top ‘conversation’ tracker, it threads together the discussions that members are having by looking at the replies, interesting to see how conversations spiral into different threads.