I know of a company whose CEO decided to take the great leap into the world of social networking. All on his own, the CEO made himself a Facebook profile. For a 60-something millionaire who really doesn't spend much time online, it was a very forward-thinking move. Facebook is commonly associated with college students and young professionals, but there are still millions of adults and potential customers and business partners waiting to be discovered there.

There was one major problem: his profile was crap. Instead of making something personable yet professional to enhance his own brand, he made the page into one big advertisement for his company's product.

The profile was under his name, but no traces of him were to be found. Instead, it was pictures of and sales pitches for his wares.

Why would anyone connect to that? It'd be like volunteering yourself for spam. "Wow, I want to be friends with this person who is apparently a screen shot of a hosted accounting compliance application!"

There are valuable business opportunities to be found on sites like MySpace and Facebook but you can't be a used car salesman.

Create a profile or group for your business and pimp your products there.

Your personal profile needs to be just that: personal. Let them buy into you first, then show them what you do. And no, the picture of you looking like a stiff in the suit and tie doesn't need to be there either. Show a little personality!

Some good examples of Utah CEOs with friendly, personal profiles:

• Cheryl Snapp Conner (who has also worked in her personal and business-oriented Twitter feed)
• Jeff Brimhall
• Coleman Barney

Tags: web 2.0 | Web | PR | CEO | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | Utah CEO | Web Marketing

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