A natural progression would be to add some audio to your blog or Facebook site. Think of the uses for your business. You could record a short audio inviting contacts to an upcoming training program you’re going to have. Perhaps you want to start a phone-in discussion group on…collaboration tools, outlook, gmail – whatever! In addition to the audio, you could attach text, pictures and even a video to highlight your event.

Here are three free web tools you can check out and get started being a podcaster, the host of a discussion group, or just a listener. All are free.

TalkShoe

This site looks well established. It’s promoted as being a great community-type site. You can join or set up a group based upon your interests. There are about 20 or so categories to look through. If you don’t like one, start one! Up to 250 can be on one call. Tools are provided to help you manage the invitation process.

There is a software download from the site, then you start creating your content. There are convenient widgets and apps for using TalkShoe. Check out those features here. This web tool is only audio. There are widgets for posting to a blog or FaceBook.

Utterz

Utterz gives you a quick and dirty way to post your podcast to your blog or website. A caveat with Utterz is that it works only with cell phones. Something about cell phone companies supporting them…

A benefit of Utterz is that you can set up your account to cross-post – that is, send your post to several sites simultaneously. In addition to audio, you can also email text, pictures or video to accompany your podcast.

Spoink

This site looks a little more sophisticated and business-like than the others. Call a Spoink number from a land or mobile telephone and speak your piece. Send along video, text or pictures from a mobile phone, email or web browser for inclusion with your post and it’ll be inserted in your social networking or blog site for you.

Spoink has a feature where you can make postings private or public. It’s all up to you.

If you are outside the US, you can use Skype-out to call Spoink’s toll-free number to record your post.

It looks like all three give you the option to post your words of wisdom right on their website and you can create quite a following with your podcasts – kind of twitter-like.

If anyone is using or has used these tools, would appreciate your comments.

I reluctantly started using Facebook last fall, (just another thing to keep up with), as I was trying to build a business clientele. I say reluctantly, because I thought it was for college kids. However, I’ve been discovering business applications to add to my Facebook page that are seen by my Facebook friends and business contacts.

Today, let’s look at two apps that are easy to add. First, if you have a blog (if you don’t have one, why not??), it’s easy to get your blog postings imported into Facebook. Look here for easy step-by-step instructions from Facebook. A real benefit to adding this feature is that whenever you make a change in your Facebook – add an application, note, etc. all your friends are notified and they will see that update when they log in to their account (depending on their settings). So it’s like getting noticed twice – once for making a change and once for the actual blog. Your friend doesn’t have to leave Facebook to view/read it either.

The second app has to do with highlighting your web site. You have a web site, don’t you? Why don’t you spotlight your web site from within your Facebook account! Instructions are here on how to do this. This app will put a small screenshot of your web site right in your Facebook.

So if you are a business owner, set up a Facebook account if you don’t have one, it’s just not for kids any more! Social networking is fun – so have fun with it, feel free to post about things unrelated to your business. It’s OK to talk about what you’re going to do for fun this weekend or what book you’re reading.