Any business operating online knows the power of social networking. Not only are people commenting about your brand and product, it also gives you opportunities to source people who could be interested in what you are offering.

There are countless automated systems for social networking and I’m sure you’ve all experienced them. Adding someone on Twitter to your follow list and instantly you receive a direct message from them with a generic template saying “Thanks for following” and pimping their service.

I’ve also had requests for people on Twitter and Facebook and when you look at their profile, it’s just the same constant repeating advertisement for their product or service.

I’ve investigated these automated social network systems to look at for areas of my business, but I have found that they tend to do the opposite of what someone is trying to achieve. For me, they detract from their brand when I receive an automated template message from them.

Outsourcing is the ultimate social network automation. An individual can achieve the required social networking experience far better than an automated program can. But seriously, who has the time to constantly monitor Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and any other social network for discussion about your brand or product.

I have many people who have this time and skill. To me, this is a great task that you can outsource to one of your team members. Imagine the potential for your business and brand if every single person that followed you on Twitter or mentioned you, got a personal response. Not a generic template but a targeted response that came from an actual person.

I’ve used my team for Facebook and Twitter for a while now and am beginning to see the fruits that come from having a real person responding and networking on your behalf. This allows you to focus on tasks that are more critical to the day-to-day operations of your business.

Some of the things that you can have your team do:

• Monitor Twitter for mentions of your brand and respond or re-tweet accordingly.
• Monitor Twitter and Facebook for people who are making comment and could benefit from your product or service.
• Follow back people who first follow you and send them a personalized note as thanks.
• Make comment on YouTube videos that relate to your product or service.
• Source interesting links and news stories and tweet them on your Twitter account to increase your followers.

This is just a small sample of the countless number of things that you can have your team do to build your social network.