Every social networking site is different. What you can and can't do will vary depending on the site.
Your first step, prior to creating your profile is to find one or more networks that interest you. General networks include: MySpace, Orkut, Yahoo! 360, FriendFinder, FriendWise, Facebook, and Classmates. There are plenty of others, but you may want to check these out first to see if they offer potential friends and business associates you might be interested in connecting with.
The advantage of these particular networks is that they do have a lot of people. The disadvantage is that these sites have a lot of people, and it will take you time to find what you are looking for.
If joining a general network isn't of interest to you, then you'll need to find a topic specific network. You can do this by searching for your topic combined with the keywords network, social networking, etc. Put your search term in quotes and you can get tighter results. Choose two or three networks. I wouldn't recommend choosing more because social networking can be somewhat time consuming. Use a valid email address as you will need to confirm your account. You can always change this later, but if you want to receive account notifications, you'll want to use an email account you actually use.
Once you've chosen your network, or networks, your next step is to start setting up your account.
Your first step in setting up your account is to add a picture. You will get far more friend requests if you add a picture to your profile. If you're promoting yourself for business, you want to use a photo that is somewhat professional. The picture you use will determine somewhat whether or not someone wants to join your friends list.
Your photo communicates the image you want to present. Impression is important, and you want to use your picture to help communicate why you are there.
Once you've added a photo, your next step should be to craft your title. On some sites this will be your name, but sites like My Space allow you to craft your own title to associate with your profile. If you are there to promote yourself for business, then you definitely want to include the keywords you want to associate with your business.
For example, if you sell travel services, then craft a title like: John Doe: Travel Agent. You could also use a short slogan. To help you craft the title that is right for you, browse other profiles on your topic and see what you find. Use what you find to help you create your own title.
Next, you'll want to decide whether or not to include your full name or location. Depending on what you sell, you may want to include both, especially if you are interested in connecting with others in your area who are interested in what you are selling. If you're there simply to make new friends, leave off your last name, and you may just want to include your state to protect your privacy.
Depending on the site, you may want to learn a little HTML so you can include links to your site. Be careful here because some sites don't want, or allow commercial activity so you'll need to exercise caution when adding this information.
Fill in your other interests. If you're there for business, you'll want to tell what kind of people you want to connect with and make sure that you let others know that you're there for networking. Otherwise, you may get a lot of friend requests to connect with others that has nothing to do with what you are there for. Some sites will even allow you to add RSS feeds to your profile, allowing you to provide constantly updated content to your profile. If you have a blog or website with an RSS feed, you'll definitely want to include your feed in your profile.
Once you've added the information you want to include in your profile, then get out there and start making new friends.
About the Author
Want to learn how top marketers use social networking to expand their businesses? "Social Marketing" teaches you how to easily bring in more profits in just a few minutes a day. Meet me on MySpace.
Jinger Jarrett is the author of "Internet Marketing for Free: The GUIDE." (On Amazon).
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