“I’m already doing MySpace. I don’t need Facebook or Twitter.”

The Facts
According to current web statistics, there are twice as many people worldwide on Facebook as there are on MySpace. MySpace has a slight edge in the sense that it was the first venue for the social network party, but the concept was vastly improved when Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in 2004 at Harvard.

Since Facebook was launched, Facebook has teamed up with Twitter, YouTube and Google, enabling amazing connectivity. When using the same email address to create an account with these “Big 4,” they can all connect!

My Opinion
Don’t quote me, but I would estimate that MySpace will have antiquated itself out of relevance in a year or two. It just hasn’t kept up with the connectivity game. And I must confess to enjoying scrolling along the updates in the TwitterFon app on my iPhone. Quick little snippets of news with links if I want to dive further. Very effective.

My Setup
I have a Facebook profile, a Facebook “fan” page for GHX International, accounts with Twitter and Google, and a YouTube channel. And I have them all connected, enabling me to share messages, posts, links, and videos to an ever-expanding audience.

Why?
Since implementing all of this, I could safely say that 15% – 20% of new business comes from one of these venues. I suspect that this percentage will grow in time.

I also get a great deal of satisfaction sharing bits of media, information and other things that I think people will either enjoy or find useful.

How did I do it?
There is surely more than one way to tie all this together, but here’s how I did it…

1. Facebook. I created my Facebook account with my business email address (this one). Once you get over the “honeymoon” period with Facebook, the dust will eventually settle as it looses its crack-effect on your brain, allowing you to use it more practically and effectively.
2. Twitter. I created my ‘georgehahn’ profile on Twitter (twitter.com/georgehahn). It’s a beautiful little micro-blogging system, allowing us to post updates of only 140 characters or less. (I only wish my voicemail had such restrictions). Then, when prompted by Facebook to connect with my Twitter account, I said yes.
3. Google. This is NOT to be confused with creating a GMail account. I don’t have one. Rather, this is about creating an account with Google with my work email address, which I did. Among other things, Google has an invaluable tool called Google Analytics, which enables me to track vital statistics on all my web properties (visitors, referrers, city/states/countries of visitors).
4. YouTube. Yes… there is a George Hahn channel on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/georgehahnvideo), featuring some of my favorites in addition to some original content. I created the YouTube account with my email address, and YouTube immediately asked if I wanted to associated it with my Google account. I said yes.

Boom… all the pieces of the connectivity were in place.

Now, when I update my status on Facebook, or add a link or wall update, it automatically shows up on my Twitter. When I add a new video to my YouTube channel, it automatically posts the video to my wall on Facebook. And since it gets posted to my wall on Facebook, guess what? It, in turn, gets automatically posted to Twitter. Beautiful.

I’m also able to more easily and effectively integrate some of these ingredients into this blog, but I’ll save blogs for another Tip-of-the-Week.

The Downside
I have to watch my words. If I post a comment on YouTube, add a Tweet, or comment on a Facebook post, it ricochets like an all-points-bulletin to these interconnected entities. A badly-phrased bit of nastiness could be bad for business. So it’s actually a good thing, since it forces me to re-evaluate my “angle” and choose my words very carefully when posting comments, keeping a more positive and constructive spin on things.

These are all exciting prospects to me. And I think it’s only going to get better. If all of this means making one person laugh, or one person enjoying I link or video I’ve shared, or reaching only one new client who needs a nice website, then the effort has more than paid for itself, especially since all of it is COMPLETELY FREE!

Hope this was helpful.

George

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