But it’s vacation time; it’s a time to relax. Sorry - not in this day and age. Take a long nap, have some hot chocolate, then boot up your laptop; it’s time to get a leg-up on your competitors!

1) Organize your Twitter followers into lists. Why? Helps you create filters to help you navigate your increasingly growing list of followers.

2) Update your LinkedIn account and make more connections. Why? Business is done on LinkedIn – it’s also a great place to scout and be scouted (so stay current).

3) Go through your Facebook “friends” and get rid of the weirdos. Why? Remember what Mom said? We are judged by the company we keep.

4) Go through your Facebook account and sort your friends into lists like “family,” “work pals,” “college pals,” and “Yankee fans.” Why? Makes it easier when inviting FBers to events, bashes, or Met games (ouch). It also allows you to maximize your privacy settings by group, send a message to an entire group or update your status by group. Pretty handy, eh?

5) Spend time on Twitter utilizing search.Twitter.com, Twellow or Tweetdeck to enhance your facility and profile. Why? You’ll be using Twitter a lot in the coming months.

6) Office closed? Drop in and spend a glorious, uninterrupted hour or two cleaning out drawers and straightening your desk in the quietude of an empty office. Why? Be ready for 2010 because it’s gonna be a busy one!

In my foray into social networks, LinkedIn was the first site I recall joining. The site seemed very austere and blunt – not particularly stylish. LinkedIn is nothing more than an online resume, I thought – and I bet you did too or still do. And it’s really a business social network not a social network like the warm and fuzzy Facebook (and who doesn’t like warm and fuzzy and shared pics of – whatever). Biggest complaint: LinkedIn ain’t fun. But LinkedIn has come of age – I mean, hey, when there’s an iPhone app for LinkedIn, you know it’s hot. It also didn’t hurt for me to find out that the erstwhile CEO, Dan Nye, and I are alumni of the same institute of higher learning – Hamilton College; he, the class of ’88, moi the class of ’76. My low self-esteem aside (“compare yourself to yourself Steve”), I jumped in – and recently reinvested myself in the site.

And so I present to you 5 (or 6) reasons to revisit LinkedIn.

1) Vet someone. Let’s say you just got a call about some new business opportunity or maybe someone wants to sell you something. Does someone want to work for your company? Yes, you could Google them, but the more in-depth step – at least business-wise – would be to check them out on LinkedIn. By utilizing the search capability of LinkedIn, it can tell you: a) all about their business work history, after all, LinkedIn can practically be a personal career blog, especially if a member has put effort into their page, b) see if there are any recommendations for that person, c) see who their connections are. Maybe, they know someone who knows you – LinkedIn will tell you that.

2) Increase Your Own Visibility. As in search engine visibility. LinkedIn has 40 million registered users. Um, that’s a lot. So when one has a LinkedIn page, it elevates one on Google pages. Oh, and if you’re working LinkedIn – that means making connections, building your LinkedIn network – you’ll have more of a likelihood that people will see your profile sooner when they are looking to do business.

3) Ask for Help. Not a strong suit for most males, but on LinkedIn, it feels safe doesn’t it guys? I recently posted a “Looking for a solid PR intern” message and sure enough, a former client sent a fabulous young lady my way. We haven’t pulled the trigger yet, but she’s a great prospect. (Admittedly, she does NOT have a LinkedIn profile, so what does that tell me? Answer: not enough. Still we like her enough to have kept her resume.) You can also ask other leaders in your industry for counsel on a particular issue or vendor.

4) Introductions. It feels easy and natural to make an introduction on LinkedIn – whether one is introducing oneself or one to another. It’s safe. You’re both part of a network.

5) Join Groups. Here’s my latest find: joining a LinkedIn Group. Or a lot. The more groups one joins, the more connecting opportunities one now has. But more importantly, the exchange of ideas on these subjects is scintillating.

6) Relief. LinkedIn has also served me well – I’m spending a little less time on Facebook and Twitter!

Wanna connect? Log on to www.LinkedIn.com, start a profile and search for Steve Haweeli. More importantly, what do you think? Yay or Nay to LinkedIn?

All indications are that there is light at the end of the tunnel and it ISN’T the proverbial oncoming train. But that doesn’t mean that we should return to our free-spending ways. It simply means that perhaps the economy is saved from utter ruin, that we are all still in business and that there are enough customers out there spending money - in fact, those same existing and returning customers have been frequenting our businesses all the long (maybe spending less, but still spending).

As we emerge from the darkness of the last several months, we must continue to drive the market ourselves, yet be fiscally responsible. For us, this has meant examining each advertising expenditure. (Yes, even PR firms advertise.) We always felt we were pretty lean in terms of where we advertised and why - so we continued our presence in PR Week, and in O’Dwyer’s and maintained our presence in the local paper.

We kept our membership up in most chambers that we belong to but decided not to renew with some others - for now. We have committed to a renovation/updating of our website. And we continue to promote ourselves via our own public relations program and have created a presence for ourselves on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

The latter marketing - aka social media marketing - remains a pretty cost-effective manner of communication and we would urge those of you yet to take the social media plunge to re-examine your ad spending and maybe swap over some funds to SMM. Already, my propensity (and love) of Twitter and Facebook has paid off for clients. How?

In one case I was able to mend a situation that I read about on Facebook as per someone’s bad experience with a business that resulted in a “save” and a repair. Another time, by letting those folks who follow me on Twitter know what I was up to, I ended up sitting next to someone who saw my “tweet” about a restaurant and went to that very restaurant later that evening! (That was pretty cool, I have to say.)

We realize that you can’t know or do everything - nor do you have the expertise. That’s why so many businesses have come to us for marketing counseling (besides PR) and why so many are now on social media sites. In the coming months, we will offer seminars to the public at large on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn and more. If you’re an existing client, you may already be availing yourself of our expertise. If you are still on the fence, it might be time to jump in!

What about you: Do you see the light at the end of the tunnel? Have you seen any positive traction yet from having a presence on any social media site? Are you considering adding it to your marketing mix? I’d love to hear your comments.