There might not be the right way to use different social networking sites, but I think there is smart way to use them - using different sites for different purposes. This way you don't have to bore your family with the your everyday work-stuff and your business contacts don't need to be reminded how tasty burger you had for lunch when visiting relatives over the weekend.

Don't use all the social networking sites the same way

Chris Brogan made a post, wondering what LinkedIn was thinking when they linked into Twitter, taking people's tweets and posting them on LinkedIn. Chris made a good point that Twitter is a service where anything goes. "It's the scratch pad, watercooler, the phone" - as Chris said it.

But LinkedIn is not like that. LinkedIn is more "serious". For me, LinkedIn is a way to connect with business contacts, job contacts, etc. I don't want to go "WooHoo, boobs!" there EVER. (I probably don't want to do that in Twitter either, at least very often, but at least the CEOs of the companies I work with don't see it when they check my recommendations).

I left a comment on Chris' post, explaining shortly how I use the different social media sites, connecting them selectively together. I have partly covered this before in my post showing how to connect different social media profiles together, but on that post I didn't really explain how I use the different social networking sites, which I think is the smart way of using these services.

Different social networking site, different use

With so many different social media sites, it is easy to get overwhelmed and lose touch on how to use the sites effectively...

First, you should be where the people you want to connect with are too - Often that means focusing on the biggest social networking sites, using them in a way others are using the site - and to an extent, the way others expect you to use the system too.

This is probably what got Chris writing about LinkedIn and their Twitter integration, suggesting people to stop importing your Twitter feed into LinkedIn indiscriminately. For people using Twitter very differently than LinkedIn, connecting Twitter to LinkedIn is not a good idea, if you're using LinkedIn like most people are - for more "serious" business.

The same goes for Facebook, MySpace and any other social networking site you're using. You use them the way you like, but you should consider the people you are there for too... depending on how are they using the service and why you are connecting there.

Three social networking sites, four different purposes

For me, there are three main social networking sites I use. And I use them in very different way. The main services I use are

• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Twitter is my main channel of communicating. There I share things I do, links and info I found interesting and think others will like too. On Twitter I can discuss with people and connect with people I otherwise couldn't.

On Twitter, I follow everyone and connect with wide variety of people, because I think that's what Twitter was made for. For me, Twitter is the service where "anything goes".

I tweet...

• links I like
• about things I do
• what I'm thinking
• new blog posts
• photos, videos, etc...

I use Twitter...

• to connect with people
• to promote others
• to engage in quick and easy discussions

Twitter is the fastest way to connect to me.

I post things on Twitter that I wouldn't post to LinkedIn. LinkedIn I use for business and work related things. I connect with people who I've done business with. This makes LinkedIn very different environment for me. I don't post all the links and articles I like there, only the ones that are related the "business and work side" of me.

Also, LinkedIn was not built to get 50 updates a day from you. It just doesn't make sense for me to flood everything I do in there. This keeps the focus on what I like people there to see. And in case someone is interested, I have the links to my other profiles there.

On Facebook, I use personal profile and Facebook page to separate my "private" life from everything else. If you've read my Posterous post about personal Facebook fan page, you know that I have saved Facebook personal profile only for my family and close friends.

I don't accept friend requests from people I don't know and haven't met at some point. For that purpose and to connect with everyone who wants to connect with me, I created my personal Facebook page (check my connect page for the Facebook widget, I moved there to unclutter my sidebar).

There are people who are using Facebook very differently, and they have rendered their personal profile unusable by "becoming friends" with thousands of people. There are people who "connect" with everyone in LinkedIn, not just the ones they have done business with.

I'm not saying it's wrong to use these services like that, but I know that for me, all the services are usable, beneficial and fun - for different reasons. Thus, I can recommend using the different social networkings sites, well, differently and for different aspects of your life.

Summary

I use different social networking sites for different purposes.

• Twitter for everything,
• LinkedIn for business,
• Facebook personal profile page to connect with friends and family, and
• Facebook page for blog (business) related things

By using the three services in four different ways, I am able to connect with people from at least 4 different aspects of my life and keep them somewhat separated. Also, I don't get distracted by personal stuff when I'm in the "work mood" and I don't get dragged into doing work when the only thing I want to do is check what my family's been doing lately.

What about you? Are you using the different sites for different purposes?

Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:
LinkedIn is not Twitter is not LinkedIn

1. Are You Using Social Media Like You Should or Are You Social Notworking?
2. Where Is The Money in Social Media?
3. Quick and Easy Market Research Using Google and Twitter

• Follow someone
• Wait for a day or two for that person to follow back
• Unfollow everyone who didn't follow back
• (in some cases, unfollow even those that did follow back)
• Add automation tools to make this work while you sleep

If you use Twitter (or any other social network site) like this, you are the lowest scum the interwebz has ever known. A spammer.

Here's what hit and run looks like on your follower stats

Here's what's been going on with my Twitter followers during the last week (I'm guessing I made the mistake of following someone who has tons of spam-followers doing this **** - and I have a hunch who it was):

Twitter Hit and Run Following: People follow you, wait for a day or two if you follow back and then unfollow you (they might unfollow you even if you do follow back)

Hit and running morons

There are thousands of a-holes who do this, especially in the "Internet marketing space" (which is sad, as it's a plague that feeds itself). I now have a growing list of over 500 of these spamming morons (because I use Twitter automation tools the right way, like getting email notifications of new followers and those that unfollowed me).

If YOU do this, get the *** out of my blog. Stop using Twitter now. Hell, get the **** out of Internet. Don't waste the time of good and honest people with your ****. You will FAIL at life, end up in debt, hopefully in jail, and die unhappy because you have no idea what really matters.

Do you know what's worse?

Those people have had some  "guru" tell them to do this. Telling them that this is the way to go if they want to make money online. They have probably paid hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for this top-notch Internet marketing stuff.

They think the only way to make money online is to talk about making money online and they copy the methods of this "guru", perhaps even waste money on PLR product that the guru wisely put out there on how to make money from Twitter by shenanigans like hit and run following.

There are hundreds of automatic cash system and get rich without working -products that tell people to do this (and similar automatic content and traffic generating stuff). Thousands and thousands of people look into them as the next big thing, the silver bullet to success and waste their valuable time and money trying to make it.

The ever-growing plague is fed by everyone who promotes automation tools and services that enable shady tactics and not educate their followers how to use them right. Automation is awesome, but using that power for stupid **** like this is just wrong.

Uphill battle

Twitter is a tool for interactions and communication, sharing things you do with others, discuss and all that good stuff. You know, that's why they call it social - there are real people you can communicate with, not robot spammers.

These hit-and-running moth******ers have no idea how to do business and Internet marketing properly, here's how to avoid them:

• do not autofollow everyone
• wait for at least a week before you follow someone back if you insist on reciprocal following
• if they unfollow you during that week, you know they are spamming ****ers

Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:
Twitter mistakes: hit and run following

1. Beginner’s Guide to Twitter Review: Good info for new users
2. Here’s a Quick Way to Get Twitter into Google Reader
3. Quick and Easy Market Research Using Google and Twitter

For certain terms, like your name or your website(s), it is good get notifications even when you don't have Twitter open. To achieve that, we can do Twitter searches and then subscribe to the RSS feed of that search query, and get notifications on Google Reader whenever your name, businesses or websites are mentioned.

Because of the superior dedicated clients, I think getting all your Twitter messages to Google Reader would be foolish (it is possible through the API), so we'll concentrate on getting RSS feeds of Twitter search queries to our reader as a kind of social media monitoring.

How To Get Twitter Searches as RSS

1. Go to Twitter
2. Enter Twitter Search for the terms you want
   • Use quotes around multiple words
   • Utilize the operators for advanced queries: OR, AND
   • e.g. search for "your name":
3. Look on the sidebar at the bottom of the page and
   • locate "RSS feed for this query":
4. Click to subscribe and add the feed to a Google Reader
   • Use folder named "me", "monitor" or such to keep things organized

Unfortunately, if you have a relatively common name, or you have the same name as some well-known individual or celebrity, this won't work very well for you, but you can get your Twitter mentions as RSS using your "@username", read on for instructions on that.

And if your RSS feed subscriptions are not automatically going to Google Reader, check the settings of your browser.

• In Firefox (my preferred browser)
  • go to the Tools >> Settings, when there,
  • go to "Applications" and
  • locate "Web Feed". Then
  • choose "use Google"
    • If you use some other reader, select that.

Setting Up Twitter Searches

You can also do a query without going to the Twitter site if you want:

1. Start the search query with:
   • http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=
2. Add the search terms
   • Replace space with %20
   • Replace quote (") with %22
   • Replace @ with %40
3. Insert the full search query URL to your browser, and
4. The search will go automatically into Google Reader

Example Twitter search queries

• "your name"
  • http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=%22your%20name%22
• example.com
  • http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=example.com
• username OR "your name"
  • http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=username%20OR%20%22your%20name%22

Getting your Twitter "Mentions" as RSS

• Follow the instructions above, and
• enter @username (%40username) as the search term.
  • e.g. my search for @Zemalf, would be:
  • http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=%40Zemalf

If you prefer some other RSS reader to Google Reader that is fine, but if you're not using any reader yet, Google Reader is the best option. You can access it anytime and from any computer, the folder system is great for organizing and sharing posts directly from Google Reader to Twitter, Posterous and other services is very easy.

You can set similar queries in other services too. Keep your eyes open for the RSS icons on the searches. Not all services have them, but most do. And while we're talking about social media monitoring, go and set up some Google Alerts too.

Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:
Here’s a Quick Way to Get Twitter into Google Reader

1. Quick and Easy Market Research Using Google and Twitter
2. 3 Ways To Use Google Reader Like a Pro
3. Quick Remote Working Tips

Summary: Beginner's Guide to Twitter is a downloadable ebook for new Twitter users. Good tutorial and advice for the Twitter beginners. Rating: 2.5/5

Mike Cliffe-Jones' Beginner's Guide to Twitter is a eBook for people who have never used or are just getting started to use Twitter. The eBook goes through all the Twitter basics, nothing new for a Twitter veteran, but great for a total beginner. You can buy Beginner's Guide to Twitter for $12 from the official site.

Beginner's Guide to Twitter by MikeCJ

This is a review of Beginner's Guide to Twitter -eBook by Mike Cliffe-Jones (known as MikeCJ). I first got connected to Mike through his blog and a coaching course we both took. However, I've gotten to know Mike better through Twitter, which goes on to show that Mike knows how to Twitter should be used and because of that, Mike is one of the "tweeps" whose tweets I pay close attention to.

I've written my share of social media posts and articles lately, but I've concentrated on more detailed guides than an introductions to these tools, so I was happy when Mike offered me the opportunity to see what his guide is all about...

Why You Should Be Using Twitter?

Mike, myself and thousands of other bloggers use Twitter extensively. And with great results. It has been proven by many bloggers that Twitter is one of the best, if not *the* best, ways to drive traffic to your blog and the best way to connect to other people while staying connected to large amount of friends, readers and customers at the same time. If you're not using Twitter yet, it's time to get your head out of the bushes and jump in. You won't regret it.

If you haven't used Twitter yet, this eBook from Mike can help you get started. But before we dive into the actual review, I wanted to tell you that Mike gave me this copy of Beginner's Guide to Twitter for review as he figured that this could be useful to my readers. So I received the copy of the guide directly from Mike and I didn't buy it myself (as I'm already experienced Twitter user). Also, if you choose to buy the guide after visiting Mike's blog through the links in this review, I will receive small commission for the sale.

But now, let's take a look at what's the Beginner's Guide to Twitter is made of and is it any good?

Contents of the Beginner's Guide to Twitter

• Getting your head around Twitter – It's like CB Radio
  • At the beginning, Mike gives an introduction to Twitter and does a great job on explaining what it is, even if one has absolutely no idea what Twitter is.
• Deciding on your objectives with Twitter
  • The focus of the guide is on bloggers and this section explains what you can expect from Twitter and set your goals accordingly.
• Choosing a Twitter name & Signing up to Twitter
  • If you are not using Twitter yet, these sections are helpful. I would add that if you haven't started building your Twitter presence yet, you can change your Twitter name on the fly, so it's not too late to get rid of weird name like "Zemalf".
• Understanding the Twitter web interface
  • Good introduction to the Twitter web interface and setting up your profile. I would have liked bit more details about setting up nice background for Twitter profile and such advanced Twitter tricks, but other than that, good solid information for a new user.
• Tweetdeck; Downloading, Understanding TweetDeck columns & Setting up searches
  • Personally, I use TweetDeck and have been extremely happy with it and it's the client of choice for Mike as well.
  • Other applications are not features in the guide, but TweetDeck is the most popular client for Twitter and it's a great starting point. After you gain a little bit experience on Twitter, you can take a look at other clients if they are more fitting for you.
• Twitpic & Using your mobile phone
  • Introductory sections on Twitpic and mobile phone usage, nothing special, but useful nevertheless. These are related to TweetDeck as it has Twitpic and other services integrated and TwitterDeck is also available for iPhone.
• Following people & Checking your new followers
  • The guide does not go into detail on how to build followers, but on a beginner's guide level, the chapter does explain the basics and how to start looking for people to follow and how to get followers yourself.
  • As a side note, I like how Mike stays away from autofollowing services and similar "shady" services, this section is no exception.
• What to Tweet about & Mistakes to avoid
  • This is probably the best section in the guide and will help any Twitter user to become "a better Tweep". The only downside is that the section is only one page long, as I had the hunger for more.
• How to become an authority
  • No silver bullet to glory here, but "how to use Twitter the RIGHT way". Mike's own Twitter usage is a great example that these principles do work. Last time I checked Mike was in the top 20 for most influental bloggers on Twitter (according to WeFollow.com).
• Celebrities on Twitter
  • The takeaway from this is that there are celebrities on Twitter and then there are those who pose as celebrities. The "Verified Account" symbol is explained here as well.
• Other Twitter tools & Some URLs for Twitter Tools
  • To finalize the guide, Mike lists couple of useful Twitter tools and links

In total, all chapters are one or two pages long, giving introduction to the topic, without going into too much details. The 29 pages of the guide are an introduction to Twitter, a true beginner's guide, so experienced Twitter users won't get much, if anything, out of this one. But as the guide is meant for beginner's, it does a good job giving out everything that a new user needs to know.

Is the Beginner's Guide to Twitter for You?

In short, if you're a new user or haven't used Twitter at all, this eBook will be useful for you. On the other hand, if you're already using Twitter, there's very little this book can give you, thus the "Beginner's" in the title...

This guide is for you, if you are

• New Twitter user. You have registered an account but haven't really started using as you've been confused about the whole thing
• Not using Twitter yet. The guide explains everything you need to do and know when starting to use Twitter
• Looking for one-stop source of information what Twitter is about and how you can use it yourself

I think this guide is not for you, if you are

• Using Twitter already. You have probably learned the ropes already and know what you're doing
• Looking for detailed guide on specific issues with Twitter. This is a true beginner's guide and none of the sections are detailed "How to's" on the subject.
• Want to spend time, search and look for information from the Internet instead of paying a bit to get fast.

Beginner's Guide to Twitter - The Review

Summary

The information on the Beginner's Guide to Twitter is nothing that can't be found around the web already, but the guide does a good job putting it all together and providing everything you need to get started in one eBook. And the price of $12 the guide is very affordable.

Now that I've used Twitter extensively already, the guide has very little little new things for me, but it took me several months to "get it" with Twitter when I started using it, and this kind of guide would have been very useful back then.

Would I have paid $12 for it? I'm not sure, I'm kinda cheap on things I can find for free on the Internet. But is it worth it to spend time to search for the information from multiple sources, get distracted and even then not be sure if there's something missing? Probably not, the smart me would've said: Pay the $12 and use the time for something productive, but occasionally I can't help myself.

With that said, Twitter has become one of the most important ways to build relationships and connect to other people, and if you're not using it yet, you definitely should. This is particularly important for bloggers. With that, if you're not in Twitter yet, I think you should start using it today. And Mike's Beginner's Guide to Twitter will help you get started and on the right track from the start - as you can download it to your computer right way, you don't have to wait a bit.

Mike is super helpful and friendly fellow and best of all, Mike keeps it real, there's no "black hat" Twitter tactics, abusive methods or anything like that in the eBook.

So, if the above "is this guide is for you?" -part applies to you, you might find the guide useful. If you find that this guide wasn't for you after buying it, Mike is giving the guide a full 60 day refund period. So if you feel like you could use some help to get started, buy the guide, keep it if it helps you get started. If not, you can get your money back.

Where Can I Buy the Beginner's Guide to Twitter?

If you're interested in getting started with Twitter, you will find all the details about the eBook and buy the guide from Mike's blog...

CLICK HERE to buy Beginner's Guide to Twitter from MikeCJ

p.s. If you have any questions or something else on your mind about this review or the Beginner's Guide to Twitter, go ahead and leave a comment!

Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:
Beginner’s Guide to Twitter Review: Good info for new users

1. Here’s a Quick Way to Get Twitter into Google Reader
2. How to Take Your Blogging to the Next Level
3. Beyond Blogging Review: A great book about successful bloggers

There are hundreds of social media sites out there. There is no way you can be active member and contributor in all of them, so you will have to choose the ones you focus on. However, there are ways to automate certain tasks, making things easier for yourself AND help all your social media followers at the same time.

For example, it is very likely that you want to share the new blog post you just published, your new YouTube video, etc. In addition to my own content, I also want to share the best blog posts, articles and videos I've read or watched.

As I want to send these to Twitter anyway, I should make that process as easy for myself as possible, right? I'm thinking automation! And in the end, it's quite easy too! So if you want to send the "standard" updates automatically too, this the post is for you!

In this post you will learn

• how you can integrate the different social media networks and bookmarking sites together
• how to use Twitterfeed and FriendFeed to send automatic updates to Twitter and Facebook
• how to automate the updates you would be doing anyway

Social Media Mayhem

Before we go into automation and other cool things like this, I want you to take a look at this picture, as it illustrates what we're doing here.

In short we're integrating all the services to FriendFeed, utilizing the power of RSS feeds with Twitterfeed and doing automatic updates to Twitter and/or Facebook. And by automatic, I mean automatically announce our own updates to our friends and followers. As we connect each and every social media profile, site and network we use to FriendFeed, that becomes our central base, in addition to Twitter and Facebook.

With this kind of integration, you can personally "stay" in Twitter and Facebook, update your blog by writing great content, read your RSS feeds and share your favorites", watch YouTube videos and mark your favorites, Digg cool posts, bookmark great pages with Delicious for reference, have fun with StumbleUpon and all those useful things you do with social media. The automatic integration will take care of the rest.

The "mundane tasks" you do, like bookmarking or Digging a post, will now be logged and shared automatically... Cool, huh? If you just update your blog and use Twitter, there would just be less stuff flying around, but the principles still apply.

With integration and subtle automation, you can make your social media experience just a little bit easier (as you don't have to worry about tweeting your latest blog post anymore).

To explain the individual services a bit further, let's look at the key components in this mayhem.

The Key Components for More Effective Social Media Usage

Twitterfeed

This is where the automation and integration magic takes place. Twitterfeed takes any RSS feed and send automatic updates to your Twitter account(s) and Facebook.

Depending on the settings you use for the feed, Twitterfeed will check the feed every 1-12 hours and if there is something new on the feed (e.g. new blog post), automatic update is sent.

You can send multiple updates at once (if there is, say, 3 new items on the feed), but I don't recommend you to do that, as it'll look stupid (andspammy) on Twitter and Facebook if you send or update three times at the same time.

FriendFeed

In addition to Twitterfeed, one of the other essential social media services is FriendFeed. FF is the place where every social media site and service you use come together. This is the place where you integrate your Twitter profile, blog feeds,Youtube videos and such.

On FriendFeed, you pretty much add every social media profile you have, like Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Delicious, Mixx, LinkedIn, etc. The list goes on and on really. When you add your blog commenting services, like BackType and Disqus to your FriendFeed, it becomes the one place where everything you do is available at one place.

FriendFeed is powerhouse in social media aggregation, as you can link all your relevant social networking and bookmarking sites there, as well as your blogs, and pretty much anything that puts out RSS feed. But the slightly hidden power comes from strong Twitter connection.

You can auto-post everything from FF to your Twitter profile as well if you want (not recommended). But FriendFeed does let you choose which of your linked services gets posted to Twitter.

Google Reader (and the Shared Items)

I'm a RSS feed addict. I think I have hundred or so RSS feeds that I have subscribed to on my Google Reader. I don't read them all, but I do check the headlines when I have the time. As I explained in the 3 Ways To Use Google Reader Like a Pro -article, I mark the interesting articles with star and then read the ones I marked.

From the articles and posts I read, I choose the best and share them through my Google Reader Shared Items. From my public profile anyone can check what have been the best articles I've come across.

But the most beautiful thing about Shared Items is that there is a RSS feed in there as well. And where do all the RSS feeds go? To Twitterfeed of course, and onwards to my Twitter friends!

Using Google Reader and subscribing to all the RSS feeds I can find, I'm keeping on top of things, following the latest trends and information about blogging, Internet business, social media, web design, WordPress, programming, games, gaming and miscellaneous geek stuff.

So I'm reading a lot, I'm learning more and more about the topics and industries I'm interested in AND I'm helping my Twitter followers at the same time as I automatically share the best posts I've found. Great for me, and even better for anyone who follows me as they don't have to go through all the information themselves.

BackType and Disqus

As I explained in the Advanced Blog Commenting Tricks -post, services like BackType and Disqus which aggregate your blog comments to one place AND re-publish them as your personal blog comments RSS feed, we have the opportunity to integrate these with our other services. At minimum, add these two to your FriendFeed.

Also you can enable the automatic integration to Twitter or Facebook (with cool summary about your comments, and once a day or once a week schedule). Or you can even re-route the RSS feed through Twitterfeed and let your friends know right away when you make a new comment.

YouTube

If you're YouTube user, you might have noticed they have new features there for integration with Twitter, Facebook and/or Google Reader. So choose the one that's best for you and go with it, or choose several. This way, your YouTube activity will be automatically updated to those services as well. Depending on the settings, you can send automatic updates for nearly all YouTube activities.

Personally I send auto-updates to Twitter only, and when I subscribe to a channel, Favorite a Video (which I don't do too often), leave a comment on a video or when I upload a new video. So I've skipped updates when rating a video (which I do quite often). And of course, I've connected my Youtube Channel to FriendFeed.

Twitter

You can send these automatic updates to any social media site, but for me, the number one choice is Twitter. So in a sense, it's my "main" social media service.

I'm a big believer in personal interaction, even when it's through service like Twitter. By personal interaction I mean that I'm there, manually and personally tweeting, answering to questions and having great conversations.

With all the tools available to me, I could automate the whole Twitter usage, but that's just wasting everyone's time. Social media is for the people, like you and me, not automated (ro)bots. You can find me on Twitter, it's the best and IMHO easiest way to connect with other people.

Facebook

The big one. Facebook. Hundreds of millions of users, cool groups, fan-pages, applications, you name it. Personally, I have kept Facebook away from my other profiles, at least for now. But Facebook is very powerful way to build your personal brand and do social media marketing, if you're smart about the way you use it, so keep that in mind.

I have mostly family and friends there and I have also kept my FB account mainly in Finnish, so making updates in English or having non-Finnish friends there wouldn't make much sense. For that, I have Twitter. But if you're more active Facebook user and want to share things there, it's as easy as it is with Twitter.

Simple Social Media Automation

I'm assuming you're using Twitter, Facebook or both as you've read this far, so I'll skip those steps. In case you are totally new to all things Social Media, I recommend you check the 7 Must-Use Social Media Sites -article and start building your profiles on the main social media sites.

But now, let's look how to achieve zen-like mastery in social media automation and keep your friends, family, business contacts, customers and everyone who follow you, informed about things you do online.

Take a little RSS, add a pinch of Twitterfeed and soon, you'll be...

Sending Automatic Updates To Twitter and/or Facebook

Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:
How To Connect Your Social Media Profiles

1. Are You Using Social Media Like You Should or Are You Social Notworking?
2. Where Is The Money in Social Media?
3. 7 Must-Use Social Networking Sites

Are they for real?

To be honest, I have no idea. Maybe?

Social Networking Is Not About The Money

Social media marketing is a way to make money with social media. Although I don't like the term "make money" in this context, it is a way to say that there is earning potential in social media, HUGE potential actually.

To grasp that potential you have to concentrate on anything but making money, just like I wrote in the earlier post, concentrate on doing social networking the right way and not wasting your time trying to achieve something that's just not gonna work.

You might gain some results by constantly promoting and selling stuff, but that's not a way to build a personal brand. Unless of course you want to brand yourself as an annoying sales person, but for me, that's not something to be proud of.

Social Media Is a Way To Connect

Getting in contact with your friends, customers, blog readers or anyone who shares the same interest and passion has never been easier. Social media is a way to connect to those people. And those social connections have the POTENTIAL for a business and making money.

Making money on the web successfully is about utilizing all the available mediums and utilizing them well. Tap into the gazillion Twitter users and quad-za-illion users in Facebook and the possibilities are endless.

Utilizing social networks, like Twitter and Facebook, to the fullest is one way to earn money through Internet business, not the only way, but very effective way if used correctly. And at least a great support for any business you're running.

However, if you're looking to make money using twitter, you'll have to understand that it is a social network.

Social Network = Network of People.

Let's not forget that Twitter and Facebook, like any other Web 2.0 Social Network, is about socializing, a service full of other people, like you and me. And interacting with people requires that you behave accordingly, if you're not honest, fair and trustworthy, you will fail.

If you're not ready to work hard and be honest, you might as well go and get connected with others who like to lie and cheat people, I'm sure they'll be happy to see you - oh wait, there are no friends on that "side" of the web...

OK, maybe that was a bit harsh, but it's true.

No-one likes dishonesty.

Or at least I don't.

The power of social media as an Internet marketing tool is based on human-human interactions, friendships and TRUST.

With honesty, friendliness and being yourself, you can go far!

Who Are You In Social Media?

I'm being me.

I'm not making money on Twitter and I'm not sure if I want to.

OK, of course I like money.

Who doesn't?

It's OK to make money, take Nathan Hangen's (and my) word for it.

Yeah, I'll throw an affiliate link out when appropriate and when I think what I link to is actually useful and good (or I believe so), but I'm not direct messaging you to "buy my stuff" and probably never will.

I guess I'm trying to say I'm not in it "to make money" and if me being myself, communicating and helping others gains me credibility, supports me and my blog increasing the earning potential, more power to it!

That's what successful social networking and social media is about for me, building a personal brand.

And it's quite easy when you can just be yourself too!

I learned that from Katie Freiling and her How To Make The Most Money With Social Media video.

Show Me The Money!

Couldn't resist that one. Jerry Maguire is one great movie...

Anyway -- I have already shown you the money.

I have told where the money is.

The money is in the TRUST.

If you're looking to sell anything online, you have to have trust.

And isn't it easier to trust the fellow who you can see and who you know?

Like MikeCJ for example, when he posts a video that making money blogging is easy, you better believe it!

Why?

Because Mike keeps it real.

Who Are You in the Social Media?

Think about is and look at who you are online?

• Do you have your own image on your social profiles?
• Do you use your own name?
  • weird usernames are OK, like my @Zemalf, but my real name is there too
• Are you getting into conversation and answering people,
• or do you just promote your own stuff?
• Are you being real?

Why are you getting involved in the social media?

Are you in it for the money? Or are you in it for something else?

Think about that for a second and leave a comment!

Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:
Where Is The Money in Social Media?

1. Are You Using Social Media Like You Should or Are You Social Notworking?
2. How To Connect Your Social Media Profiles
3. Build a Personal Brand You Can Be Proud Of

I watched a video interview of Katie Freiling at Entrepreneurs-Journey.com today and ended up in Katie's blog. Her post How To Make The Most Money With Social Media had an interesting video in it where she talked about how important it is to build a brand for you, your name, and establish yourself as an expert in your field. The other social media experts have said the same thing, so perhaps there's something to this "personal branding" these people talk about...

Are You Being Yourself?

It’s difficult to sustain writing in a voice and personality that is not your own. Be yourself and you’ll last a lot longer. - Darren Rowse, 18 Lessons I've Learned about Blogging

Being yourself and putting yourself on the line can be scary. It's easy to hide behind the anonymity of the Internet, but in social media, you have to put yourself out there. By being yourself, you will have easier time at it and you will get better results.

The most important thing about branding yourself, and thus your social marketing strategy, is to be yourself. If you go on and pretend you're something you are not, you will fail. That's what scammers and hustlers do, and that's not something to be proud of, right?

If your not genuine and honest, it's very likely others will get that. And like said, it's a whole lot easier too to just be you. Be yourself and you can concentrate on what really matters, doing the things you love and sharing your expertise to others.

Are You Aware How You Display Yourself?

Personal branding is basically the way you market yourself to the world. - Steve Pavlina

This one is closely tied to the first one. If you are not being true to yourself and try to pretend something you are not, you will have hard time controlling how others see you online. If you constantly have to think how you portrait yourself online, you will eventually crash and burn.

By being yourself, you don't have to think "how I should say it", but just say it like you would say it. In some cases, it might still be worth it to ask "how does this make me look", so be aware of things you say and do online.

An important part of building your brand, is thinking about what kind of brand you want to build, how you want to display yourself. This is very likely connected to the things you are good at, things you know and things you do, as you are most likely building your business around those same things too.

Everyone is an expert at something and hopefully you have found what you are good at and what you want do with those skills and knowledge. You should concentrate on the things you are really interested and passionate about and build your business around that. If you already have an established business, your knowledge and skills on that area are probably the most important factors for your personal brand as well.

Personal branding is about concentrating on your strong points that are important to what you do. There are different sides in all of us, so you have to decide which of those skills, characteristics and interests is important to your brand and business. If you are a plumber, looking to establish yourself as the best damn plumber in the world, it's important that you focus on your plumbing skills and sharing that knowledge.

This means, you'll be focusing less on your secondary skills. You might be really good at playing acoustic guitar, but that's not very important to your plumbing business and the expert plumber brand you want to build for yourself. On the other hand, if you'd be interested in building a business around your guitar playing hobby instead of plumbing, your skills as a guitar player and coach would be quite essential to your brand.

Are You Branding Yourself as an Expert?

Everyone's an Expert (about something). - Seth Godin

If you have a business or you are in the process of building one online, it's very likely based on things you are good at and things you are interested in learning everything there is to learn. You are building or have built your expertise on that field, you are good at it and your goals is to become the best. You are an expert. What you know, what drives you and what you are passionate about can be the cornerstone of your personal brand and your business.

Personal branding is about letting others know about things you know and do very well. Your blog and business are means on building up your brand, making yourself known in your industry and establishing your presence at your chosen niche. By becoming an expert on your field and gaining trust and credibility, you have the means to make money with social media.

The Cornerstones of Your Personal Brand

• Be yourself
• Be aware how you display yourself
• Brand yourself as an expert in your field

By branding yourself as an expert and delivering the value your brand promises, you will become a trusted source of information. Do this with honesty and integrity and you can have a personal brand that you can be proud of...

Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:
Build a Personal Brand You Can Be Proud Of

1. Where Is The Money in Social Media?
2. Learning How to Build Your Own Website Teaches You More Than Just That!
3. The real truth about personal productivity

For an Internet marketer, blogger and more and less anyone who is doing business on the net, the concept of social notworking is a bit more complex as building a social (network) presence is essential in today's Internet business. However, social media must be used in the right way for it to bring in any kind of results, otherwise you're wasting time and thus, social notworking.

Social Networking Is Socializing

This is where 98% (no scientific research behind that number) of Internet marketers get it wrong. They are not building relationships, they are not getting involved in discussion, they are just using social networks to promote themselves and their products. Would you be surprised that the 2% (again, non-academic and arbitrary number to visualize the concept) of the businesses and individuals who use social networks the right way are the ones that get 99.9% of the results from social media marketing?

Right -- the people getting the results from Twitter, Facebook and other major social networks are the ones that do it right. They are building relationships, they are being honest and they concentrate on others instead of all-out self-promotion.

Social Networking Is Sharing

Sharing doesn't mean creating 500+ accounts on various social bookmarking sites and bookmarking blog posts and videos to gain traffic and exposure. Yes, that's one marketing strategy and part of social media (whether or not it's "the right thing to do" or not), but it's not social networking.

Sharing is not sending direct messages to your Twitter followers that sell a product or directly promote the person, their website or business in any way. Again one marketing strategy that's is pretty damn close to spamming.

Sharing is not automatically feeding keyword filtered links to a social network profile.

True sharing is telling other people about content and stuff that YOU like, not what your automatic script likes. How can you send a link to someone and say "Hey, this is great!" if you haven't even read or watched it yourself?

I'm not even going to sponsored tweets on this one, that is a whole new topic, but it doesn't feel like social networking and those are definitely not sharing in a sense I understand it.

It's OK to automatically send a link to your latest post, or something else YOU have done, to the social media profile. That is genuinely you, even that you didn't send the link personally -- you still had something to do with the blog post, video, comment or whatever is on the other side of the link.

When was the last time you "promoted" something you liked without expecting anything back? I'm not saying you shouldn't send affiliate links via social networks to the products you've used and want to recommend, but isn't true socializing and sharing about giving without expecting anything in return (because that's when you'll actually gain the most in the end)?

Social Networking Is About Relationships

Are you building a relationship with the people following you on Twitter? Are you interacting with your friends on Facebook? Have you re-tweeted their great comment or answered to the question they asked? Or do you insist on just sending links to your sites and rarely even read the messages from your "friends"?

If you're using social networks just because "everyone else is" and decline to actually socializing online, you might as well quit now. You have missed the train, you have no clue what web 2.0 about. You can go back to your social bookmarking spam-account and create 30 more bookmarks to the blog post no-one cares about.

When you should be building a house, but you like to work on your car instead, you're working, but you're not working on what really matters. It's another matter to use social networks when you should be doing something else, the true social notworking, but "working" with social media and doing it wrong is pretty much the same thing, wasting time. When you're not using social networks the right way, you might as well not use them at all.

This post was partially "inspired" by a couple of individuals sending me direct promotional messages on various social networks that they could've just send as a normal share and a couple of others ONLY autofeeding keyword related content to their personal Twitter account without any human involvement. Yes, I am NOT following them anymore.

It's sad to see people getting results by using the loopholes in the system and plainly spamming. I'm happy to see genuine individuals do well and I'm more than happy to see what they've shared and even what they're promoting, because I know that they've actually checked what they're promoting. And I enjoy discussing with real people way more than talking to a bot.

If you're interested in social networking the right way, go ahead and read David Risley's post Top 10 Signs You ARE Worth Following On Twitter and Yaro Starak's What Is The Right Way To Grow Your Twitter Following? to see what I'm talking about here.

Comments are now open, join the discussion and tell me what YOU think about social media and how one should go about it?

Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:
Are You Using Social Media Like You Should or Are You Social Notworking?

1. Where Is The Money in Social Media?
2. How To Connect Your Social Media Profiles
3. 7 Must-Use Social Networking Sites

Some say "all of them", some say "join the ones you like the most and find useful". Both great advice, but I like to say "join the best social networking sites and be active in them". And I''ll share with you those best social networking sites - which makes this kind of a top social networking sites list.

Social networking sites are great for interaction and socializing with others and build your personal brand at the same time. And for most effective online social networking, you should be where others are as well. You own private 1-person network isn't very social, is it?

First and foremost, to make the most out of online social networking, both personally and financially, you have to be active and get involved. Social networking is about participation and sharing, if you just lurk around, no-one will notice you. If you're into marketing and want to make money, Do *not* only promote yourself and your stuff, but promote others and things you like as well, and build your presence AND trust through being an active, valuable member of the network.

Like said, you don't have to use and be in every possible social network out there (as there are hundreds of them), but choose the ones you like the most to use and be active in them. Look for a niche specific social networks if there is one for you, but usually it's better to be where everyone else is, so consider focusing on the biggest social networks and social bookmarking services..

Top 7 Social Networking Sites

Twitter

• Join Twitter
• Set up your Twitter profile,
• Use your real photo in the profile and
• Create/Get and use a custom Twitter background.
• (or use an graphical/cartoon version which looks like you, but it's been proven that real photo works the best)
• Get a Twitter desktop client to make twitter usage easy and fun
  • Install Tweetdeck and use it.
  • Or install Seesmic
  • Or choose one of the many other clients (these two are the best imho)
• Tweet about things you do, ask questions and answer the questions of others.
• Tweet your blog posts, automate this via service like TweetLater.
  • TweetLater has a load of other functionality, some paid ones, but
  • Setting up the automatic post of your blog posts from your RSS feed is super easy and useful
• Follow @Zemalf
• Tweet this post! (yes, do it now)

Facebook

• Join and create a profile at Facebook
• Link your blog posts to Facebook.
• Connect Twitter to your profile.
• If you chose Tweetdeck or Seesmic for Twitter client, you can use Facebook with those as well.
• Personally I use Facebook to keep contact with people I have personally met, and thus Facebook is more "private" social network to me than the others, but your mileage may wary.

StumbleUpon

• Join StumbleUpon
• Get the StumbleUpon Toolbar
• Use StumbleUpon to find content you like, train the system to know what you like.
• "Thumb Up" your best work (not every post!).
• Get friends, like Zemalf :)
• 

Delicious

• Join Delicious (del.icio.us)
• Install the Delicious add-on to your browser
• Store all your bookmarks at Delicious.
• Bookmark, tag and describe your own posts, articles, videos.
• Share your bookmarks with your friends.
• Bookmark this on Delicious

Digg

• Digg the content of other bloggers and websites you like
• Get friends from people digging the same posts you like
• You can start your friend building with this nice fellow: Zemalf
• Submit your best content in Digg (not everything!).
• Or get your friend to submit your content occasionally
• Digg this post.

Youtube

• Use your Google Account and join Youtube
• Subscribe to the channels / video providers you like
• Friend with people whose videos you like
• Start creating videos and create your own channel
• Link to your blog from the profile and channel

FriendFeed

• Link all the other services you use to FriendFeed
  • Add your Tweets and
  • Your blog(s) RSS Feed(s) for your profile.
• Follow Zemalf on FriendFeed

Bonus Social Networking for Bloggers

MyBlogLog

• Create a profile for yourself at MyBlogLog.
• Add your own blog to MyBlogLog
  • It's free, don't get confused because of the offered "premium" service
• Join the Zemalf.com community

Add Social Bookmarking Links to the Blog

• Add the ones you like to your blog/template/theme manually, or
• Use a service/plugins to enable easy social bookmarking for your readers
  • Some examples (only have to choose one):
    • Tweetmeme,
    • ShareThis,
    • AddThis,
    • Sociable -plugin for WordPress, etc.
• Encourage your readers to share your posts
• If needed and applicable on your blog, educate your readers on using social networking tools
  • what social marketing is
  • how to bookmark/share the posts on social networks
  • the benefits of social networking

Social networking is very important and powerful tool to drive traffic to a blog and creating a brand for yourself (and thus indirectly promoting yourself), as long as you remember that the best results will come from being a valuable member in the community and keeping the self-promoting in moderation. Always create and updated your profile for the social network you choose to join, add your photo, blog URL and the basic information you want to share. If you go the distance with social networking, it pays of to make a document of the data you like to share on social networks, so you can copy and paste the information to a new site.

Join the Discussion!

• Speak Your Mind on the Comments!
  • Which of the social networks you use?
  • Have you found some networks working better than the others?
  • Or is there a social network not in this list, that you've enjoyed a lot or had particular success with?

I hope you enjoyed this article and I'll see in the social networks, OK?

Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:
7 Must-Use Social Networking Sites

1. Are You Using Social Media Like You Should or Are You Social Notworking?
2. Where Is The Money in Social Media?
3. LinkedIn is not Twitter is not LinkedIn

Top 10 Bloggers Every Blogger Should Follow on Twitter

Also notice that this so this is subjective list, so I didn't "rank" these bloggers or their blogs apart from all of them being really good, and I follow them personally and like to read what they write, both on their blogs and on Twitter.

1. @problogger (Darren Rowse)

Darren Rowse is the blogger to follow. And his websites ProBlogger.net and TwiTip.com are the websites every blogger and tweet-fanatic should be reading and many are already. Darren is the most followed blogger on this list and rightfully so. I've been reading Darren's articles on ProBlogger since I started blogging and it has been tremendously helpful for everything I have done with my blog.

Darren's 31 Days to Build a Better Blog eBook has quickly become very successful "workbook" and guide to the bloggers who have purchased and followed it, me included.

Follow @problogger. Read more about Darren Rowse.

2. @yarostarak (Yaro Starak)

Yaro is one of the most successful bloggers and Internet entrepreneurs and his blog at Entrepreneurs-Journey.com has tons of useful articles and information for any blogger and anyone who wants to make money online. Yaro's blog and his free reports The Roadmap To Become a Blogger (together with Gideon Shalwick), Blog Profits Blueprint and Membership Site Mastermind have loads of free information on blogging, Internet business, marketing and just making your blog as successful as it can be. And Yaro's coaching programs are "responsible" for the incredible success of many bloggers during the last couple of years.

Yaro puts great personal touch on everything he does and his videos, articles and podcasts have been a great inspiration to me for many years. Oh, and you gotta like a man with such a lovely curly hair!

Follow @yarostarak. Read more about Yaro Starak.

3. @copyblogger (Brian Clark)

Like Darren and Yaro, Brian Clark is among the most successful bloggers out there. He has been educating copyrighting skills to me and the other bloggers since 2006 at copyblogger.com and during the years copyblogger.com has grown into a powerful hub in the blogosphere, which makes Brian the man to follow.

Follow @copyblogger. Read more about Brian Clark.

4. @JohnChow (John Chow)

John Chow has grown his blog at johnchow.com into very profitable business and John has turned himself into a Internet superstar with his posts and videos showing off the Internet lifestyle he has created for himself. John is the man to hate and to love. Some people like his in-your-face style, some don't. I find his blog entertaining and he is all out with Twitter and runs frequent Twitter competitions and thus, he earns a "must follow" on Twitter.

Follow @JohnChow. Read more about John Chow.

5. @shoemoney (Jeremy Schoemaker)

Jeremy Schoemaker, of Shoemoney.com, is a great character in the Internet marketing and blogging world. Jeremy makes tons of money online and is not afraid to say what he thinks. He also uses unconventional marketing tactics, utilizing Twitter as well and giving out free stuff, like his Shoemoneyx 12 Week Free Internet Marketing Course. His blog is not only entertaining, but very informative as well, as Jeremy has always been very honest and transparent about things he does, and he does a lot - you never know what "the shoe" is up to next.

Follow @shoemoney. Read more about Jeremy Schoemaker.

6. @tferriss (Tim Ferriss)

Timothy "Tim" Ferriss, the author of the best selling book The 4-Hour Workweek, successful business man and also a blogger. Tim Ferriss' Blog is inspirational and educative at the same time and recommended read to anyone, even if you are not into Internet business, as his "lifestyle experiments" are exceptional.

Tim has done more in both his personal and business life than many others combined. Tim's story and book has been covered in so many major medias, both on- and offline that you have probably heard of him already.

Reading Tim's book made me think about my life, job and business in a whole new way and thus, he is partly to blame that I'm here, blogging and sharing my thoughts with you. With that said, it's a no-brainer that he is on this list.

Follow @tferriss Read more about Tim Ferriss.

7. @danielscocco (Daniel Scocco)

Daniel Scocco is a important figure in the blogosphere with his blog dailyblogtips.com. He provides great advice to all bloggers on his blog and he also gives out tips on Internet marketing and online business.

Follow @danielscocco. Read more about Daniel Scocco.

8. @lorelleonwp (Lorelle VanFossen)

Lorelle VanFossen, better known in the blogosphere as "Lorelle on WP". She is called a "Blog Evangelist" for a reason, and her advice on WordPress and blogging has been priceless to me. Her articles show up in Google searches if you just look for something related to WordPress and the advice on her blog has helped thousands of bloggers into the secrets of this wonderful tool, including me. She shares her expertize on blogging and social media on many blogs and websites. Being such a important figure in the blogosphere, if you are a blogger and you are not following Lorelle, shame on you!

Follow @lorelleonwp. Read more about Lorelle on WP.

9. @davidrisley (David Risley)

David Risley, a six figure blogger and a successful Internet entrepreneur. David is a geek at heart (or so I believe) and his PCMech blog is a great blog for any computer and technology enthusiast.

I've been going back to PCMech many times in the past when I needed advice on some PC issues (mostly because it pops up on top of search engines so often, just try "build your own pc" or something similar to see yourself) and through the computer blog, I ended up in David's personal blog. David's personal, more Internet business oriented blog davidrisley.com offers great advice for bloggers on making money and blogging in general.

David wrote interesting free eBook called The Blogging Wealth Cap and followed that up with Six Figure Blogger Blueprint, in these eBooks, David goes out questioning why some bloggers are not making the money they deserve while some non-bloggers do. With these reports, David promotes his Blog Masters Club coaching program and does a great job at it. At least I found David's reasoning and "manifesto" interesting , and after reading those eBooks and his blog articles, I ended up watching a lot of the video tips at his blog. Because I found some great advice there, David earned a spot on this Bloggers to Follow list..

Follow @davidrisley. Read more about David Risley.

10. @lizstrauss (Liz Strauss)

Liz Strauss is my latest blogroll addition, so I'm not that familiar with her yet (meaning that I haven't read her blog several months). But I found that lizstrauss.com site and the Liz Strauss at Succesful Blog to offer great advice on blogging, business and especially, business relationships, which Twitter can be a great tool for and it certainly seems to be so for Liz. She has written a book on blogging, writes, teaches and speaks on blogging and social media, and I think her being #3 on the 50 of the Most Powerful and Influential Women of Social Media alone earns her a spot on this list.

Follow @lizstrauss. Read more about Liz Strauss.

Top 10 Bloggers to Follow on Twitter by the Numbers

Having as many followers as possible on Twitter is not something I rank people with, but I think you'll find these numbers interesting:

(stats at the time of my research on 2009-06-07)

That is my list. Hit me with your comments!

And don't you forget to re-tweet this!

Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:
Top 10 Bloggers to Follow on Twitter

1. Top 7 Michael Jackson Songs and Lessons for Bloggers
2. 8 Free eBooks That Have Helped Me a Lot
3. Beyond Blogging Review: A great book about successful bloggers

• HOW TO: Create Custom Twitter Backgrounds @Mashable
• Twitter Background Guidelines @Croncast

First I wanted to create a new profile image (the small picture) for Twitter...

New Simple Z-Logo

I wanted to create a new "Z-logo" too, to replace the one from Aston Martin Zagato, I've been using for ages...

So I took GIMP again and played around with some colors and came up with this:

Zemalf's New, Simple Logo

The logo is now my Gravatar as well as the Zemalf's Twitter profile image.

Creating Twitter Profile Background Image

I created the basic background image in GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation). I took the Twitter profile background picture sizing from Croncast, as I figured they had done the work and ended up on these numbers. These background creation guidelines are working because with these the information can be seen by most users with different screen sizes, and still look reasonably good for all of them:

• File Dimensions: 2048 px by 1707 px
• Branding Dimensions: 80 px by 587 px
• Coordinates: X=20, Y=14
• Horizontal position: 20 px from the left
• Vertical position: 14 px from the top
  

After creating the background image (more and less solid color), I created this masterpiece to go at the top left corner of the new Twitter Background:

Picture created with online Commodore 64 emulator and some clever GIMPing (image editing)

After combining the solid color background and this picture, I added my new Z-logo to the background and added the URL on the left to promote my blog as well (like the Commodore 64 loading screen wasn't doing it already, but anyway). I didn't test the background too much different screensizes, but I think I should do it at some point when I do more serious attempt on the customized background. The C64 screen on top left will go "under" the main twitter interface on smaller screens, but I don't mind that with this one.

Here's the full Twitter background image I created (and of course, you can see it on my Twitter profile too):

The image is huge in resolution, but not so big on size because it is mostly solid color.

So there's the first version ready and in use now. I'm thinking about going a bit further with the C64 theme and creating full background with just the C64 screen, but I'll work on that after seeing the feedback from this current image. As said, I didn't want to go and try to do anything too fancy, but I like how it turned out...

What do you think about the new Twitter background and the logo?

Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:
Commodore 64 Custom Background for Twitter Profile

1. Twitter mistakes: hit and run following
2. How to set up Google Analytics
3. Beginner’s Guide to Twitter Review: Good info for new users