When It Comes to Social Networking, Pay Attention to the Essentials

Anyone reading any technology news over the last week probably saw countless articles on Facebook's "vanity URL" registrations. While the move might have generated lots of ink for Facebook, in the context of newsworthy social-media events, I'd call it a yawner.

Sure, I realize that anything the hottest social-networking site besides Twitter does nowdays is going to get covered. However, just because something's newsworthy in the overall context of a single social-media platform or social media as a whole, that doesn't make it something that will help drive one's business.

As many of you may know, LinkedIn has offered the same vanity URL concept for almost a year now. Judging from the profiles I see there, relatively few have taken the few extra steps to register their name. While that may sound negative, I'd actually go as far as to say LinkedIn is probably the best social network for actual business out there.

Social media success comes through participating in the right platform for your business in the right way. For many knowledge-based professionals, for example, that's proving your expertise in the "Answers" forum and writing a clear, concise profile giving people more information about what you can do for your clients or customers.

Realize too that effective use of social media results in an increase in viewership for all your marketing tools. For example, I get a lot of visits to my Web site from my LinkedIn profile and vice versa. Leveraging all the content you create to work together for the benefit of your brand is the best way to ensure you're maximizing the benefit of social media.