As small business owners, many of us network at local meetings.  We all have so much to offer each other. But using social media in addition to personal networking helps all of us. Many of us focus most of our time on personal networking and forget the many benefits of “free” networking. Here is a brief list of social media networks that we can all take advantage of.

http://www.linkedin.com relationship management for professionals
http://www.facebook.com helps you conenct with the people in your life
http://www.twitter.com social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time
http://www.pinklinx.com network of professional women from the around the world
http://econnect.entrepreneur.com social network for small business owners
http://www.blitztime.com networking events from your telephone

I can hear it now. “But I am so busy, I don’t have time for all of this.” You can use a program like:
http://ping.fm to update most of your social networks at the same time.

If you want to build your networks through social media, then you should include your social media information on your business card. I know, now your comment is “my card is already full”. Are you using both sides? Your business card is how people remember you (company, name, phone, business tag line, website links, etc., on the front and your 30 second elevator pitch on the back).
Here’s the catch to all of this…just like the lottery…”you gotta be in it to win it”. If you don’t think you can keep up with all of the social networks, pick what you can keep up with. The more you get your message out there, the more you are heard, but the message needs to count!