Being a regular reader of Mashable I am constantly tempted by all the social networks and tools available for us marketers.  There's no shortage of them, that's for sure.  I don't know about you but I've got to get some work done, not to mention be a mom, be a wife, among the other hats I wear.  But I don't want to miss out on exploring these new tools so what do I do?  I go old school and look at them as recess and play around with them when my work is done or I need a break.

There are, however, three social networking sites that I use regularly on a daily basis.  They are Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  I've talked about Twitter a lot here at Jessica Knows.  In fact you can read my rules (or lackthereof) for Twitter here. Today I'm going to cover Facebook and LinkedIn and why they have become so valuable in my branding and marketing efforts.

LINKEDIN

I use LinkedIn soley for business networking purposes.  My dad, Mark Bolgiano, introduced me to LinkedIn over five years ago when really only the technology community was leveraging it as a tool.  Now it's gone mainstream (and how!) and it's opening the door for partnerships, collaborative efforts, cross-marketing opportunities, and referrals.  On LinkedIn I keep my professional experience front and center by offering a summary of what I do and the projects and clients I am working with both past and present.

I am also a member of various groups including one for members of my sorority's alumni as well as several marketing organizations.  If you haven't joined any groups on LinkedIn, I highly recommend it.  You might think that it will be difficult to find one with a connection to what you do or what you've done, but it's not.  Trust me.  There's a LinkedIn group for just about everything.  Some groups are more active then others.  A huge benefit of joining groups besides a wealth of information?  It's much easier to connect with those that can help advance your career and whom you can help do the same.  When you request a connection with someone on LinkedIn you either need an introduction or need to belong to the same group.  Introductions can sometimes take days, even weeks, so having that common denominator of a shared group on LinkedIn is extremely beneficial.  You can also start your own group on LinkedIn.  I manage both a Wishpot Baby group on LinkedIn as well as A Chief Mom Officer group (will change to MomForce group soon).  Groups are a great way to engage in discussion and communicate important announcements and events.  It's also a great way to build your brand as members of your LinkedIn group will be sporting your logo on their profile for all of their connections to see.

Recommendations are another extremely valuable tool on LinkedIn.  Those you have worked with both past and present can leave recommendations for you linked to the different entries on your LinkedIn profile.  For those in the blogging, small business, and entrepreneurial world this is huge because if you've added value or knowledge to a project that is loosely defined, this recommendation tool makes it easy for those you've worked with online and off to let potential clients and employers know.

LinkedIn just added a lot of powerful applications to their platform recently and I'm still playing around with them to find out how to optimize them best for my needs.  I will share my findings with you soon here at Jessica Knows.

FACEBOOK

The way I see it, LinkedIn is "work" while Facebook is "play".  But don't get me wrong, I may use a completely different tone for each, but I'm still building my brand with both.

Is it me or does it seem like your entire high school class has joined Facebook in the past six months, too?  I've connected with old friends from elementary school all the way through college on Facebook and it's pretty wild sometimes the people that find me there.  This is why it is so important to use Facebook.  One really easy way to leverage Facebook to build your brand is by using the "Notes" application to serve your blog's RSS feed to your Facebook profile.  Facebook only lets you do this for one feed, but it's been great for those friends that are less blog-oriented to discover my posts.

I also use Facebook to broadcast favorite posts by my friends using the "Share on Facebook" bookmarklet button.  Sure, there are a lot of spammy apps, but if you can muddle through the pokes, the stickers, and the aquariums, there are some great ways to connect with others and build your brand.

My favorite Facebook applications for marketing and building brands are: "Flair" (you can put your logo on a piece of flair a la TGIFridays style and share it with friends),  the Notes app that I mentioned before, Groups & Fan Pages (create one to promote your business or blog and join groups that share your interests too), and Blog Networks (show support for your fellow bloggers and vice versa).

Also, if you're looking for a way to advertise a special promotion on your blog, Facebook Ads are an affordable way to do this.  To make your advertising on Facebook even more effective, establish a group for the promotion or event first, then link that to the advertisement (there's a checkbox that asks if you want to do this or not).  That way when your ad runs, if the person who is looking at it has a friend who's in your group they'll see a familiar face with  your ad.  How cool is that?  I bought Facebook ads the first three days of this series and it was awesome.

The key though is interacting with your friends on Facebook.  I try to click on "Home" at the top of my profile a few times daily to check on what my friends are doing and Facebook makes it so easy to comment on their feeds.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Today I shared just a few of the many ways I use my social media trifecta.  In future posts on Jessica Knows I'll share more tips and tricks but these should be a good starting point for most of you.  If you haven't already, please connect with me on LinkedIn and Facebook.

YOUR HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

If you haven't already, join Facebook and LinkedIn.  Explore groups that interest you and join them.  Post your LinkedIn and Facebook profiles here in the comments section so others can connect with you.  Try to connect with 5 new people on each platform today.  Also, if you have time, write a recommendation for someone in your LinkedIn network.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Surprise: Social Networking Increases Efficiency But Don't Expect Facebook Ban to be Lifted


• Status Updating Service Ping.fm Now in Open Beta


• Facebook vs. LinkedIn: Which is better for business?


• Networking: Online and Off at BlogWorldExpo 2008


• The 4 Four Types of LinkedIn Users: Which Type Are You?