Here’s how to jump off the social networking cliff if you haven’t done so already. It’s easy. In just five simple steps, you can be fully engaged with friends, followers, customers, fans and colleagues that will help you share what you have to offer and grow your business.

1. Connect. The first step with any social networking strategy is connecting. You want to start by attracting friends, associates, followers, customers, prospects and contacts and build a base by watching what they’re saying and where they’re saying it. This one is pretty obvious. You can’t converse or share unless you have someone to converse and share with.

2. Converse. The second step is conversing and this is really going to depend on the medium. The tone of conversation on LinkedIn, for example, is drastically different than on Twitter. So, find a way to talk to your intended audience that’s both appropriate and engaging. And remember, the verb here is “converse,” not “speak.” Social networking is a two-way street.

3. Identify communities of interest. Where you talk and share is very important. Connection Centric communities are sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace all focus on who you know. The goal is to connect with friends and business contacts. Conversations happen because members of these sites have common interests or histories. Conversation Centric are sites like Twitter, Identi.ca and even old-school discussion forums and message boards where the community is all about the conversation. People connect for one simple reason: They want to talk about what is being talked about. Sharing Centric sites are where you can share talent or expertise, like Flickr, YouTube, Scribd and SlideShare, are sharing centric networks that let you share what you do or what you know and the networking and conversation happens because of what you share.

4. Share. Let’s say you’re a musician. What should you be doing with social networking? Sharing your music. Say you’re an accountant, what should you be doing? Sharing your accounting expertise. The point being, you don’t have to be a rock star to share your talents. If you have experience in a field, then share it. As an added bonus, the more you share, the more you’ll learn and the more of an expert you’ll become.

5. Jump in. Here’s a list of the most popular and heavily trafficked social networking sites. Go for it.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Plaxo
Yelp
Technorati
Reddit
Newsvine
Wikipedia
MySpace 
Sphere
Scribd
Flickr
SlideShare
Friendfeed
Digg
StumbleUpon
Propeller
Del.icio.us
Mixx
TinyURL
Yahoo! Answers
NowPublic
MetaFilter
Fark
I am Bored
Searchies
Care2
Slashdot
ShowHype
NowPublic
BallHype
Linkinn
Killer Startups
Zoomer
Shoutwire
BuzzFlash
Lipstick
DZone