In today's economy, being smart is not enough to get you interviews, contracts and opportunities. A lot of your competitors know many of the same things -- or more -- than you do. To stand out, you have to show that you bring a distinct quality that your clients value.
Social networking can help.
Sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn make it easy to create a place on the Internet for yourself or your organization. The hardest, and most important parts of this work are in how you establish yourself online.
Determine a persona for your site. What makes you distinct, and why would someone want to connect to you? You may want to do some competitive analysis before you start. For example, if you're smart about an unusual but valuable topic such as transfer of development rights, see if anyone else is actively writing about it in a blog or a social networking site. If they are, how could you write about it differently? (Maybe you could take a different approach to the same, or you could write from a different angle. If the other writer is casual, you could be more academic, or vice-versa)
Give that persona a personality. How do you want your readers to think of you? As the smartest person in the world on a subject? As someone who just tells it "like it is?" As edgy and not afraid to be controversial? Think about who you want to be your clients, and what kind of voice they would respond to.
If the site is for a division or organization, talk with the other members of the organization about what the shared voice of the group should be. This will make it easier for different members of the organization to contribute to the site.
Communicate early and often. Figure out things to talk about to stay on the radar screen of your readers. Don't have anything to talk about this week? Check out a news site, such as Planetizen, and offer your thoughts on what you read. If the topic is interesting enough to talk about it with a colleague, it's probably interesting enough to put on the Internet. Writing can be a lot of work, so if you're not used to writing often, try posting once a month. Then do more as your schedule allows.
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