Okay, you've gotten that all important yes from your LinkedIn connection. Now what? You should connect with your LinkedIn contact on other social networking platforms you use. Is the new contact involved in real estate? Invite him or her to join you on active rain. Invite your LinkedIn contact to join you on twitter and follow your tweets. Invite your LinkedIn contacts to join you on facebook, myspace, and xing too. Are you active on ning? Invite your LinkedIn contact to relevant social networks on ning too. Be sure to also send your contacts links to your blogs, podcasts and youtube accounts as well so your contact can keep up with you on those sites too.

You should make sure that the information you post is stuff that you would want potential employers or clients to see. Do not get carried away with putting bizarre things online. That could cause you to miss out on a potential job or client. Of course you should ask your contact before you start sending them a lot of invitations.

I know I sound like a broken record, but remember that networking is a process. When you connect with people on other social networking platforms besides LinkedIn, you give them a chance to get to know you better. Once people become familiar with you they will feel more comfortable giving you referrals. They may even feel comfortable enough with you to become a client themselves. In the final analysis, isn't that what we all want?