Whether you’re a veteran small-business owner who has run a company for years or a new college graduate just launching your career, chances are social media is now a part of your life.

Social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter are all the rage. People initially adopted them to keep in touch with friends and family. Now, many entrepreneurs are seeing these sites as opportunities to market themselves and their businesses.

While some small-business owners still prefer old-fashioned handshakes for building a customer base, the number of entrepreneurs using social networking sites is on the rise. That’s the finding from Discover Small Business Watch, a monthly index of the economic confidence of the nation’s 22 million businesses with five or fewer employees.

Last spring, the index asked small-business owners if they were a member of any online social networking community such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace or Twitter. Only 38 percent said yes. But that number was up from 22 percent who answered a similar question in October 2007.

“Of those who use the Internet to network, more say they use it for purposes other than getting new business leads,” said Ryan Scully, director of Discover’s business credit card division. “I think this speaks to the fact that there just aren’t as many leads out there – on the Internet or elsewhere – and open-minded small-business owners are trying more avenues to develop new prospects.”

If you’re considering a dive into social media, here are five tips to make it work for your small business:

1. To get started, spend time exploring the different social media Web sites. Look at what other people do and monitor their posts. Search for and read online articles about how other small-business owners have successfully used social media.
2. Just as in other networking situations, share relevant information that will generate interest in your business. And keep your comments professional.
3. Don’t participate in obvious self-promotion or hammer people over the head with a marketing message. Networking is about building relationships.
4. Networking online can be a big drain on your time. Focus on the quality of the relationships you can build, not the quantity.
5. Don’t expect immediate sales or results. Social networking is a communication tool that takes time to develop.

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