Earlier today during the F8 Conference, Facebook announced some of their new social plugins that can be used through any website. I instantly got excited about this because now I can enable my websites with a Facebook Plugin that will allow viewers to not only share the specific page on my website they were viewing but also “like” it as well.

Installing this plugin on a static HTML website is quite easy, but installing it to work on a WordPress website, such as the website you are reading this blog post on, is a bit more tricky. I am sure that someone will quickly release a nifty plugin for WordPress that will make adding this functionality even easier but for now you can watch my tutorial and get it done yourself.

Items you will need:
A self hosted version of WordPress – http://wordpress.org
A FTP Client (Mac: Cyberduck, PC: Firezilla)

With all of the self proclaimed “social networking experts” out there it is hard to decide who to believe and trust. Most of them want money from you in trade for what they call their “experience”. However what makes me smile is that almost none of these people have any business experience at all. If they do, it’s not any experience that has yielded something they could brag about. How does one decide who to trust to direct your business in the most public display of communication that your company has ever engaged in? Which social media sites do you participate in and why? To be an expert in something you must have experience. I have never found that one person has had all of the right answers.

For years now I have been using these sites to build SEO for my websites and expand my personal brand. I have been posting articles to StumbleUpon and Digg for years and have seen great results, posting images to Flickr and communicating through Twitter and Facebook. These sites have been huge contributors to the traffic many of my websites receive. There are many different social media websites, each of them with a different purpose.

While browsing around online I came across a single PDF Roadmap that explains everything in plain english. You can download a large PDF here (right click, save target/file as). Drew McLellan put this beautiful breakdown together and it’s content is very sound. As I explained before, different social media sites help with different functions of your purpose and brand. Use it to figure out where to post which types of media for the best results.

It is not rocket science, it just takes someone to put it all together in plain english. If you do not have accounts on these websites, get them. If your website is not set up with buttons such as the buttons you see below for sharing content, then contact your website designer and have them added. Encourage your readers to share your content if they enjoyed it. And please for the love of all that is sacred, stop encouraging the talking heads out there, take initiative and do it yourself.

Finding tools like the CMO Social Landscape help me continue to get better at promoting myself, my business and the content I create.

The other day I posted an audio blog about using social location sharing apps to promote your business. I decided to walk through the apps on my iPhone to give you an example of how to do this. The apps I suggest using in the video are Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp and Brightkite.

The great thing about location sharing is that everybody is doing it right now and it’s free. Get a little creative and figure out how you can drive new business using these free services. I believe location sharing services will only get more popular over the next year, so get an early start.

On Yelp you can customize your listing, add details and photos. My business, Jerad Hill Studios, is listed on Yelp and I have customized my listing to provide information for people who have never heard of my business before.

I would love to hear how you are using Social Location Sharing Services to promote your business. Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comment box.

Everybody is on Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite and Yelp, so where are you? These are great tools to spread the word about your business and help promote it.

Download the audio.

Mentioned Links:

http://Foursquare.com
http://Gowalla.com
http://Brightkite.com
http://Yelp.com

Jerad’s Foursquare Profile: http://foursquare.com/user/jeradhill
Jerad’s Gowalla Profile: http://gowalla.com/users/jeradhill
Jerad’s Brightkite Profile: http://brightkite.com/people/jeradhill
Jerad’s Yelp Profile: http://jeradhill.yelp.com

iPhone App Downloads:
Foursquare for iPhone
Gowalla for iPhone
Brightkite for iPhone
Yelp for iPhone

For Android Apps, please visit the Android Market from your Android Phone.
For Blackberry Apps, please visit the Blackberry App Market from your Blackberry Phone.

If you have questions about this podcast or if you would like to share your ideas, I would love for you to do so in the comment box.

If you liked this podcast, please share it with a friend, Tweet about it or add it to your Facebook wall.

Watch the following video below and think in terms of how you view social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter.

Does social media marketing, initiatives, and strategies pay off? Definitely. But, only if done really well. But what exactly is the payoff? What is the true measurable ROI?

I’ve had more than a few conversations recently about how effective social media is for ministry, especially the ROI, or Return on Investment.

But, ROI also can be measured by the success of a particular campaign, product launch, or initiative. Social media can help make those things a success and a positive ROI. The key here is measurement and what exactly you’re measuring.

This is an age where we can manage our marketing spending much more effectively. Gone is the day where you just throw money at it.

We are entering a new age where human interaction sells.

I know that most of you have had it up to hear with people telling you how you can find business in the social networks but hear me out. If you listen for the right cues you will notice that people are asking for your help, they just don’t know it. We naturally want to help people. In real life it is awkward to interject our thoughts into a conversation we were not invited into. Online we have the opportunity to make suggestions through private emails or direct messages. Watch my latest video where I share thoughts and ideas on how to find referrals for yourself and other people in your contacts list through online social networks.

Jerad Hill is a personal brand strategist helping people get referrals online. For more videos from Jerad subscribe to the RSS feed or the iTunes Podcast!