Social networks can be used for any of a number of reasons from securing new business and winning new contracts to promoting new products to your existing client base. They can be used to generate new business, retain existing customers, and even to virally make new connections with the friends, family, and colleagues of your customers but the first step in this is to determine your goals and to use the most appropriate networks to help you achieve them. With so many to choose from this can seem daunting but it doesn’t need to be.

Location centric social networks such as FourSquare are an innovative way to promote local businesses and venues. They are particularly engaging for clients that use mobile GPS devices such as mobile phones and they encourage your customers to spread the word for you.

LinkedIn and Naymz are two of the most popular social networks for businesses, but there are a great many others. Social networks that are dedicated to start ups, entrepreneurs, web designers, and marketers exist in abundance and these can be great for developing working partnerships with other professionals, services, and businesses.

Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace can be used for a variety of purposes but offer tools that are especially useful in communications and Internet reputation management. Encourage your visitors to follow you on these networks and you can use the opportunity to increase the profit life of your customers. You may also develop new fans, and therefore new potential business, from the networks of your customers.