You know how often I get asked about how effective social networking is for someone’s business, from my clients or when I’m out networking from random business owners?? Hundreds a month.

It’s amazing. It’s amazing how many of us are on the social sites but also how many are not!

I think if you’re an entrepreneur, no matter whether you do business locally or globally, you should be doing some amount of social networking as ONE source of lead generation in your business.

Of course there are hundreds of other ways to get leads too and I’m only talking about ONE right now (and it’s not always the most effective depending on how you utilize your time but it’s certainly affordable).

Lead generation is ONE goal to have when you network online but it can also do the following for you:

- solidify long lasting relationships – either personal or professional

- provide an easy way to connect faster with target prospects, referral sources or mentors

- establish yourself as an expert in your field by answering discussion questions, posting tips and articles or even inviting ‘friends’ to live events like teleclasses and webinars

- drive more traffic back to your site for special promotions, downloads or interaction

- provides a central place to share photos, videos and basically get more publicity than you could ever pay (or pray) for

Is it worth it to spend my time on the forums or having profiles on these sites?

I say definitely yes.

- You want to ask and answer questions on forums and blogs

- Post comments, articles, events, information, tips, surveys and polls, anything to get the visitors attention

- Record and post interesting or business related videos (nothing too embarrassing!)

- Send people requests to join your ‘network’, ‘fan page’ or ‘group’

- Pursue those in related groups for interaction, advice, joint ventures, etc.

- Dig deeper into the websites of those you’re really interested in working with or those you want to pay attention to you and relate to them on a deeper level if you can – this is the way to make the most of your time I think.

- And so much more….

Whew! I know this can seem daunting and more sites pop up every day right?

I mean, you can even start YOUR OWN social network these days (not that you want to).

So, what should your ROI (Return on Investment) be you ask?

Well, granted this stuff sucks up a ton of time! So, if you’re delegating some of the initial connecting and basic weekly/daily posts and then you’re only in there mostly to dig deeper, get personal and maximize your time; then you can really build a great following. One that’s loyal and interested in new things you send out. A following that clicks and interacts with your profile, your videos and your website.

This is how then you get them on your list over time, get them to attend teleclasses or join your programs or even refer you!

I can tell you that the hardest part of figuring out whether your time/money invested in social networking is paying off though is that it’s not that easy to track results.

So, if you want to really find out if it’s working for you, you have to set up systems that allow for really detailed tracking – tracking your traffic, conversions, customers and more.

Free press is one of the best ways to spread the word about your website, your product, and your brand. However, most people don’t know where to start. Fortunately, it’s really not as hard as you might think.

There are thousands of articles being published every single day on blogs, newspapers, and magazines. Bloggers, writers, and journalists have pages to fill and all of them are actively looking for interesting topics to write about.

Many people forget that PR is about public relations. It’s not just about writing a press release. It’s about getting to know the journalists. Find out what kind of stories they’re working on and see what you can do to help them. PR is really about listening and engaging key influencer’s.

You need to connect. Connect with journalists who are writing about stories in your industry. Send them a quick note to tell them what you like about their writing. Provide them with story ideas within your industry. Provide them with value and they will have open ears whenever you want to pitch your own story.

But remember, a journalist is extremely busy. You must respect their time. Keep everything short and sweet. Get to the point quickly and concisely.

Most journalists can be easily contacted through email, which can be found on their website, in their byline, or within the publication they write for. However, many writers and journalists can also be found on a number of different social media networks, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These social media platforms are another great way to connect with bloggers and mainstream media journalists.

However, what if you could get reporters and writers for major publications like the New York Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal to actually come to you for their information for articles?

This is exactly what you’ll get with PR Leads, a service which connects experts with reporters. At $99 per month, this is one of the best publicity bargains around without actually hiring a full time PR agency.

This is one of the easiest ways to get your name in print. PR Leads connects you with journalists in your area of expertise. They put you in direct contact with reporters who are actively looking for quotes. In fact, you’ll get 3-5 emails per day sent directly to your inbox.

However, if $99 is a bit too high for you, there’s also a free service called Help a Reporter Out that offers a similar service. It’s run by a New York PR guy named Peter Shankman.

Much like PR leads, they connect you with PR people and journalists who are looking for sources.

Each day, they will send your up to 3 emails containing anywhere from 2-10 quiries per email. You can then respond to any queries that are targeted within your niche.

This free service actually started out as a group on Facebook called “If I can help a reporter out, I will.” However, it got so big that Peter decided to start sending the enquires by email. They now have over 3,000 10,000 members getting free PR leads.

You can sign up now at http://www.helpareporter.com/

Have you ever wanted to be a featured guest on National Television?

If you’re looking to get on national TV shows, there’s a specialized directory that will provide you with all the contact info you’ll need to apear on top TV shows, including Oprah, the Today Show, CNN Fox News, CNBC, Nightline, Bloomberg TV, and many more.

This incredible service is known as the “Harrison’s Guide” and will give you 927 key contacts for 259 top national TV and cable shows that interview guests.

You’ll find out exactly who to contact at each show and what to say to get them to put you on the air.

Find out more at http://www.freepublicity.com/getontoptv/

Participation is the key to good press. Get to know the influencers. But most importantly, get to know your readers. In today’s world of social media, word of mouth can spread faster than ever. Everyone is now a content creator, a blogger, a social bookmarker, and an evangelist. These are the people you want to connect with.

People used to say that you had to get out there and knock on doors, but today you need to leave blog comments, interact on social networks, and above all: provide value. Contribute to the conversation.

Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, FriendFeed, StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious, Ning, Google Groups, and many others can bring massive amounts of traffic, links, and attention.
However, many people miss out on one of the biggest benefits of social media…

Feedback.

Your customers are having conversations at this very moment in forums, social networks, blogs, and other media outlets. Connect with them and you’ll be amazed at the amount of valuable feedback you’ll get back.

This feedback can then be used to improve your products, your content, and your customer experience.
Building good PR is a process of building relationships with key influencers, building relationships with your community of readers and customers, and most importantly: creating insanely valuable content.

There are basically two types of bloggers in the world – reporters and experts – and some people perform both roles (usually the experts, it?s hard for reporters to become experts, but it?s easy for experts to report).

If you have ever taken an Internet marketing course or attended a seminar specifically for beginners, you have probably heard about the two different methodologies. Whenever the business model is based on content, and if you blog for money then the model is based on content, people are taught to either start as reporters, or if possible step up as experts.

I?ll be frank; you want to be the expert.

Reporters leverage the content of the experts and in most cases people start off as reporters because they haven?t established expertise. Experts enjoy the perks of preeminence, higher conversion rates because of perceived value, it?s easier to get publicity, people are more likely to seek you out rather than you having to seek others out, joint ventures come easier, etc? experts in most cases simply make more money and attract more attention.

Most Bloggers Are Reporters

The thing with expertise is that it requires something – experience. No person becomes an expert without doing things and learning. Bloggers usually start out without expertise and as a result begin their blogging journey by talking about everything going on in their niche (reporting) and by interviewing and talking about other experts (reporting again).

There?s nothing wrong with reporting of course and for many people it?s a necessity at first until you build up some expertise. Unfortunately the ratios are pretty skewed when it comes to reporters and experts – there are a lot more reporters than there are experts, hence reporters tend to struggle to gain attention and when they do, they often just enhance the reputation of the expert they are reporting on.

Don?t Replicate Your Teacher

If you have ever spent some time browsing products in the learn Internet marketing niche you will notice a pattern. Many people first study Internet marketing from a ?guru? (for lack of a better term). The guru teaches how he or she is able to make money online, and very often the view that the student gleams is that in order to make money online you have to teach others how to make money online.

The end result of this process is a huge army of amateurs attempting to replicate what their teacher does in the same industry – the Internet marketing industry – not realizing that without expert status based on a proven record and all the perks that come with it, it?s next to impossible to succeed.

Even people, who enjoy marginal success, say for example growing an email list of 1,000 people, then go out and launch a product about how to grow an email list of 1,000 people. Now I have no problems with that, I think it?s fine to teach beginners and leverage whatever achievements you have, the problem is that people gravitate to the same niche – Internet marketing – and rarely have any key points of differentiation.

How many products out there do you know of that all claim to teach the same things – email marketing, SEO, pay per click, affiliate marketing, and all the sub-niches that fall under the category of Internet marketing. It?s a saturated market, yet when you see your teachers and other gurus making money teaching others how to make money (and let?s face it – making money as a subject is one of the most compelling) – your natural inclination is to follow in their footsteps.

If the key is to become an expert and you haven?t spent the last 5-10 years making money online, I suggest you look for another niche to establish expertise in.

Report on Your Process, Not Others

The secret to progress from reporter to expert is not to focus on other experts and instead report on your own journey. When you are learning how to do something and implementing things day by day, or studying other people?s work, you need to take your process and what you do as a result of what you learn, and use it as content for your blog.

It?s okay to talk about experts when you learn something from them, but always relate it to what you are doing. If you learn a technique from an expert it?s fine to state you learned it from them (and affiliate link to their product too!) but you should then take that technique, apply it to what you are doing and then report back YOUR results, not there?s. Frame things using your opinion – your stories – and don?t regurgitate what the expert said. The key is differentiation and personality, not replication.

Expertise comes from doing things most people don?t do and then talking about it. If you do this often enough you wake up one day as an expert, possibly without even realizing how it happened, simply because you were so good at reporting what you did.

You Are Already An Expert

Most people fail to become experts (or perceived as experts) because they don?t leverage what they already know. Every person who lives a life learns things as they go, takes action every day and knows something about something. The reason why they never become an expert is because they choose not to (which is fine for some, not everyone wants to be an expert), but if your goal is to blog your way to expertise and leave the world of reporting behind you have to start teaching and doing so by leveraging real experience.

Experience can come from what you do today and what you have done previously; you just need to take enough steps to demonstrate what you already know and what you are presently learning along your journey. I know so many people in my life, who are experts simply by virtue of the life they have lived, yet they are so insecure about what they know, they never commit their knowledge to words for fear of?well fear.

Blogs and the Web in general, are amazing resources when you leverage them as a communication tool to spread your expertise because of the sheer scope of people they can reach. If all you ever do is talk to people in person and share your experience using limited communication mediums, you haven?t much hope of becoming an expert. Take what you know and show other people through blogging, and you might be surprised how people change their perception of you in time.

Reporting Is A Stepping Stone

If your previous experience and expertise is from an area you want to leave behind or you are starting from ?scratch?, then reporting is the path you must walk, at least for the short term.

Reporting is a lot of fun. Interviewing experts, talking about what other people are doing and just being part of a community is not a bad way to blog. In many cases people make a career of reporting (journalism is about just that), but if you truly want success and exponential results, at some point you will have to stand up and proclaim yourself as someone unusually good at something and then proceed to demonstrate it over and over again.

Have patience and focus on what you do to learn and then translate that experience into lessons for others, and remember, it?s okay to be a big fish in a small pond, that?s all most experts really are.

This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and my blog mentor. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.

To get more information about Blog Mastermind click this link:

http://www.blogmastermind.com