Nels Jesen, San Diego Business Journal's (SDBJ) Insider what very excited. You could almost hear the pride in his voice in his report, And Now For The Top Story: Us*. While recounted the success of SDBJ's "Woman Who Mean Business" event, he remarked, "But it took a few of us by surprise that afternoon when the San Diego Business Journal was the No. 1 local trending account on twitter." He congratulated staffers Shannon Taylor and Leslie Fulton on, "their social media prowess". Nels wrapped it up with, "We never really thought of it, but I guess we are cool and trendy over here at the SDBJ." I agree that the team as well as the co-emcee Susan Taylor did a great job of promoting the event, the SDBJ and San Diego as a place where women mean business, but I'm not surprised. The Internet was made for women. The majority of my clients are successful women business owners. When they speak about the Internet they use words like tool instead of weapon, collaboration instead of competition, conversation instead of confrontation.

No Longer Cool or Trendy, Just Effective

Using social networking to connect your digital dots has gone beyond being cool or trendy. Now it's effective, essential and easy. Here are some tips you can use to get your social networking game on: Pre-event Promotion - use images from a prior event to build the buzz, as well as ticket sales. Engage your loyal fans by having them post "Why you should not miss this event!" profile updates. Capture the Excitement - Use mobile tools to capture memories of these special moments during your event. Break the Fourth Wall - Extend the celebration and the learning beyond the place and time of your event. Carry what you learned out into your community. The best way to grow your membership and effectiveness is to present images and accounts of HSP (Happy Smiling People). Social networking is no longer a novelty, or a marketing strategy out on the fringe. Whether in-person or online, social networking has taken center stage in business owners efforts to get discovered. What trend are you going to start today?   *Editors Note: SDBJ's paywall prevents me from linking directly to the article. If you're a subscriber, log into SDBJ.com and search for the title.