LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook…all social networking tools designed to connect people across the globe together. As with all tools offline or online, there are ways to use them or abuse them. A car can be extremely useful if you know how to drive one, but not knowing how to drive a car and taking a spin can lead to disaster. The same goes for networking with strangers online, you can network with hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands; however, if you do not provide value to those networked, all you’ll have is connections, not potential contacts.

Entrepreneurs and corporations think alike in regards to starting out with social networking. “Fantastic, there is a massive customer base here, we need to sell sell sell and get clients now now now!” So like the newspaper, tons of time and money are thrown at advertisements, links and endorsements. Others who have networked with you to get to know you read the headlines of “Amazing Product for $$$, click here to buy!” Months later you begin to wonder why you’re network is decreasing instead of expanding. Once you realize what you’ve done, it is a hard road back to rebuilding a strong network as you may have lost your best contacts. The best way to deal with problems is to not have them occur in the first place! Here are a few techniques to build value in business networking online:

• Spend no more than 40% promoting your business. Connecting with someone’s profile online and realizing all that is listed on their profile is advertisements to their business is an ineffective use of advertising. Less is definitely more in this case. People want to understand the person behind the curtain. What are her interests? What are his passions? What does she do in a typical work day? These may seem trivial; however, trust always needs to be built before anyone dives into any networking relationship. Not having that personal touch flashes a massive Warning sign over your head for others to stay away.
• Provide free advice on your field of expertise. Selling products and services online requires the potential clients to trust you and understand that you really know what you are doing. Let’s take two seasoned and highly motivated individuals in the clothing business, Jane and Roger. They have built their social networking profiles and start with status updates. Roger posts “Buy my clothes! High quality dress shirts here!” 8 out of 10 times he has a status update or a blanket e-mail (a generic e-mail sent to his network) on what you can buy from Roger. Jane writes about how to shop for a quality dress shirt, and a few days later writes on how to properly put on a dress shirt and posts the articles as status updates. Every once in awhile she posts updates on how to buy her merchandise.

Both are promoting their services, but the difference is one is providing better value and building that trust within their network. For every 100 status updates Roger needs to make for one sale, Jane is only posting 10 or 20 for the same amount! Not only that, Jane is building more clients into her network because others see value in her free expertise! Do the same and you will differentiate yourself from the competition.

• Interact with your network. There are people on the other side of your network. They can communicate the same as anyone you meet in person. On Twitter, you can reply to others posts and have criss-cross communication. On LinkedIn, you can answer your network’s questions they post in the Q&A section and everyone will be able to read your advice. On Facebook you can posts tips and advice under your network’s status updates to help that person move forward. The possibilities are endless, but the difference is action. Maybe the person you’re talking to has nothing to do with your customer base, but it still benefits you because others in your network can see that you are interacting and not pre-judging your contacts. Once a day, make sure to initiate or reply to a conversation to at least one person. After a certain time instead of you reaching out, others will reach out to you!

These are three major steps to increase the value of your network. Are these hard changes? Will they take forever? No, part of consistent learning is finding out what is most effective in the least amount of time. Adjust your priorities to less ad promotion, providing free advice and interacting with your network will help you move away from an online ad board to an individual that has a pulse on their online customer base.