This is the first post in a series of posts about how to build your small business brand using social media. You can read the second post Small Business Social Media Branding Tips.

Social media is an increasingly popular way for individuals and businesses to build brand equity and brand strength. With more and more businesses turning to social media to marketing their products, services, and programs, it is imperitive that you dedicate the time to not only present your brand consistently across all media platforms, but that you actively protect your brand.

The first thing you need to do is secure your social media brand by registering your name and business name, where appropriate, on all of the different social media sites you will be using.

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I want to share a little secret with you…

When it comes to social media, it doesn’t matter how many LinkedIn contacts, Facebook friends, or Twitter followers you have in your network.

In fact, guess what? No one really cares!

What does matter, and what people do care about is the value you add to your network and how you contribute to the communities you are a part of.

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This post is the second in a series based on the Ali Brown Shine event in Las Vegas. Check out my first post I Didn’t Really Come For All The “Woo Woo” Junk

The Shine event was a mix of Ali and several others speakers. There was a buzz humming through the room on the first day of the event and everyone was looking forward to hearing Ali’s billionaire entrepreneur coach speak.

I was especially looking forward to the presentation because it was on branding. As a trained graphic designer, former corporate branding instructor, and current brand strategist for entrepreneurs, I was interested to hear her insights on branding.

I wanted to hear her thoughts on branding a business versus branding an individual person. I wanted to hear some strategies about building a strong brand and brand equity. I wanted to hear how she would communicate to the room how much your brand can do for your business and what a difference it can make.

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Entrepreneurs need four things to succeed: passion, determination, a big idea, and action.

Each day, more and more entrepreneurs are using the power of the Internet to launch a new business, grow an existing business, or change the way they are doing business.

These entrepreneurs are tired of following the status quo and doing things the old-fashioned way. They are tire of doing things the hard way.

Today Internet savvy entrepreneurs are stepping into and embracing a whole new emerging business model that gives them the freedom to do what they love, to make more money, and to have more time to live their dream life. Internet marketing is what is giving some smart entrepreneurs the ability to as they say it, “Make money in my sleep.”

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As many of you know, it’s the middle of soccer season, which means we have games every Saturday. This is our first year with a child playing soccer and we are having a blast loading up the wagon and walking down to the field with all of our gear. We’re pretty lucky because all of our games and practices are at the park at the end of our street!

Each week, we load the wagon up with our chairs, water bottles, snacks, giant #1 foam fingers and those inflatable “bam sticks” we nabbed at a recent baseball game! My husband Brian, a coach, is out on the field with Natalie and my son Carter and I cheer our tails off on the sidelines.

Thinking about this week’s upcoming game got me thinking about who I cheer for, motivate, and support in my business and who is there cheering for and supporting me.

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If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you’ve probably noticed that your prospects are holding their hard-earned dollars much tighter these days. With the over-saturation of email marketing and infoproduct pitching, you’ve probably also noticed that reaching and grabbing the attention of qualified leads who are ready and able to work with you is becoming more difficult.

The good news is that there is something you can do reach your target audience, get their attention, and convert those qualified prospects into buyers. Almost every marketing professional will tell you the same thing: People do business with people they know, like and, trust. In fact, I have heard this said over and over and several conferences and workshops.

To cut through the marketing clutter and speak to your ideal client, there are three things that you can do right now to build upon the know, like, and trust factor to get more clients and grow your list.

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I’d like to start off this blog post by just stating that I Love Twitter. Being self-employed and working from home has the potential to create some fairly solitary days, especially for many of us work at home entrepreneurs who used to work in Corporate America and big offices with co-workers and water cooler chatter.

You know the kind of day I am talking about. The kind of day where you sit down in the morning to start your work day and then you look up to finally take a breath and it is 5:00. The kind of day where you realize you forgot to take a lunch break and you’re starving. The kind of day, that at the end, you realize you haven’t spoken to another adult all day.

On one hand, these days make me feel awesome. I know I was totally focused, in a groove, in flow, and making a lot of progress and headway on my open projects.

But on the other hand, these days also remind me of how much I sometimes miss the corporate water cooler and the interruptions of co-workers stopping my my cube or office (depending on the job) to say hello, talk shop, or chat about the weekend!

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It is pretty much accepted on Twitter that sending Tweets like the one below are unacceptable. They clog your Twitter stream with meaningless Tweets that don’t tell you why you should follow someone or care that they are on Twitter.

BAD #followfriday Tweet:

#followfriday @bizauthor @jerrykennedy @toddlay @TheTimeTamer @KeithHuggett @CAwealthadvisor @spinhead @SueAwesome @joyklepac @mickeyobrien

One of the people I love following on Twitter is @EricaMueller and she wrote the fantastic blog post “4 Ways to Improve Your #FollowFriday Recommendations” that you need to check out if you’re on Twitter.

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Marketing is often a word that when mentioned around business owners draws out grumbles, moans, and sighs. While the task of marketing your business may not be your first choice, it is a vital part of the success of your business.

Here are three simple things you can do to make your marketing, advertising, public relations, and sales efforts much easier:

Differentiate yourself

When your marketing and sales message is too similar to your competitor’s message, your prospects and customers are left with price as the only differentiator. Trust me. You never want to be in that situation.

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It’s obvious the media thinks we’re stuck in the middle of a bad economy, and maybe we are. It’s on the front of almost every newspaper and at the top of every news station on television. It seems as if it is all doom and gloom.

But I am here to tell you that many entrepreneurs may not agree. In fact several small business owners I know are taking advantage of this economic downturn to grow their businesses, expand into new markets, refine their skills, and systematize their processes. They are taking action now to ensure that when things do pick and up people starting spending money again, they are at the front of the pack leading the way for their industry.

Here are five simple things that you can do right now to build your brand and market your business in any economy:

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