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One of the toughest shifts for the over 30s is the movement of people into the internet. I speak as a 45 year old who has been in sales and marketing all my working life. I wonder to myself now how I would be earning a living if it wasn’t for my fortunate change in life in 1998.

I am now fully immersed in the internet and see it as part of my social and business life. Does this make me technical, isolated or geekie? No, in fact, as a result I am more connected, more informed and ready and able to continually adapt to what the 21st century throws at me.

In 1998 I could feel the change, Amazon, eBay and Google, were not just new routes to market, they were entirely different business models that some embraced and sadly many didn’t. Now as we head towards the end of the first decade of the 21st century we are seeing thousands of casualties. Ecommerce was not just a new sales channel; it is an entirely new way of thinking and doing. You may have realised that, you may have just reached a point of comfort with your learning but now all around you is the new buzz of social media and social networking, I guess a few of you are saying: "Oh that! They are just different ways of marketing yourself". My aim in this article is to ensure that you do not become a social media dinosaur. You have to adapt fast for this is a new way of sharing knowledge and sharing people and you have to be part of it to survive.

Let us look at what is changing to ensure you see the writing on the wall. The business world is moving online. Increasingly people are seeing that taking personal responsibility for their own brand and reputation online is how they will find work, be talked about and create a stable future for themselves. The world of suppliers rather than employees will become a huge reality for many people currently employed. It is becoming too expensive and too risky to employ people. The 21st century businessman is realising that contracting and creating collaborative teams around projects is the way forward to ensure costs are low, risk is low and the ability to compete in a global market
is achievable.

So how can you achieve this? How can you find work, attract customers and market yourself online?

The number one lesson for all is that you self publish you don’t self promote. The golden rule online inside social networks and social media is to attract followers based on the knowledge you share with them, the information you have that contributes to others not broadcasting what you do. Broadcasting is the 20th century way of being noticed. Conversation and knowledge sharing is how you market yourself now.

So you are a professional, maybe skilled in law, accountancy, business, banking or finance. To achieve your level of credibility you have acquired qualifications, references, experience, knowledge and a network that respects and honours you. Now all you have to do is keep growing your knowledge, keep growing your network and keep sharing it with everyone who wants to know what you know and know who you know.

Madness I hear you say. I have all this intellectual property and you are saying I have to give it away? Yes, that is true. Knowledge is your greatest asset, the more you share it and give it away the more people will talk about you. The world online has created an expectation of contribution. Giving your support and help online to help people will create a brand based on your values, based on your true colours, based on who you are as a person. Others will place value on your emotional self rather than purely your financial worth.

Trust is the most expensive commodity online. If the hours spent gaining trust was measured by
pounds it would lift your value above all the qualifications and experience you have. Being known, being liked and being trusted will get you followed. Once you have followers you will have created a profitable reputation online.

So how do you create followers? To begin, you have to learn how to leverage social media to share your knowledge and how to leverage social networks to share your network of people. Social media is about knowledge sharing. Social networking is about the people you like and want to share your thoughts with.

Social media is a vast subject in itself. Learn how to use YouTube to upload videos of experts you respect, speeches you have made, and conferences you have been to. Use Flickr to upload photos of places you have been to, people you have met, images you like. Join Friendfeed to build your network of experts that keep you informed and leading edge, who in turn will talk about you and share your content with their network. Join SocialMedian to clip news stories as they are released that tell your network that you know what is happening first. Join Twitter to tweet links to stories and people that you want to share. Social media is where you gather and share knowledge and in doing this you are creating a vibration about what you care about and what you can contribute.

Social networking will be the place where you feel at home. Where you can have conversations about things you need to learn about to help yourself and your business. A place where you can be you, share your thoughts, create friendships and in doing this find advocates that want you to be successful while also finding people that can become part of your collaborative projects in the future.

If you are a corporate person you will be familiar with LinkedIn, a place where corporate employees have united to find jobs, find work and be listed in the directory of business people, globally. If you are a small business join Ecademy, the world largest online home for small business. A place where 81% of member’s surveyed utilise a laptop or log in from home, like minded people who are staying at the leading edge of social media and networking. There are also many niche social networks, www.ifalife.com is a great place for financial advisors, run by Philip Calvert, members there keep up-to-date and share ideas and contacts.

Whatever you achieve in 2009, make sure that you embrace all that is happening on the internet that will help you market yourself and help you find people that will care about your success. This world is not going to stop progressing, make sure you are adapting and moving forward too.