Ning is a super cool free tool that allows anyone to create their own social network. That means you can create a private or public facebook-like site with user profiles, blogs, forums and more.

If you’re thinking about creating your own site – stop right there buddy!  Why start your own site when you can just leverage someone else’s?

I want you to join at least one Ning site where your prospects are talking. They might be there discussing exactly what they buy from you (for example, you sell surfboards and search for a Ning site about surfboards) or you might need to be a little more abstract. For example, someone who sells to bookkeepers could search for a Ning site about quickbooks, a tool that bookkeepers often use.

There are two ways to find Ning sites. Ning does have  discovery tool on its homepage but let’s be honest people – it sucks. Go to http://www.ning.com/ and click on the circles to see what I mean.

A better way to find Ning sites is our old friend google. Simply go to google and add the word ning to your search term. So in the examples above I would type “ning surfboard” and “ning quickbooks” into google. When you’re scanning the search results just look for sites with ning in the URL (which is pretty easy as it will be bolded in your search results).

Once you find a targeted site, dive in a start talking! Comment on a blog, post on the forums, have some fun and see what happens.

Facebook groups (which are different from fan pages) are a great way to find like-minded folks in the messy maze of facebook. You can find a group that shares your profession, a group with a common interest, or connect with a group of potential clients.

To find facebook groups, put your search term in the general search box in the top right corner then click on the blue “groups” tab.

Once you find a group you’d like to join click the “join this group” text link on the right side of the page.

Your assignment is to join 3 groups. But you can’t just leave it at that! After you’ve joined the group you need to interact in some way, start a discussion, add to a discussion or post on the wall. This should not be an advertisement for your business, the goal here is to discover new contacts and build relationships. Who knows who you’ll meet!

Mentioned in this video: Gary Vaynerchuk (make sure to check out his new book Crush It!)