Real estate is a cut-throat profession. This is never more apparent than during a troubled economy, when a tough business environment can make it difficult for real estate executives to reach their goals. Savvy professionals know that success depends on their ability to keep up with industry news and trends, build a personal brand, differentiate themselves from their peers, and network on a regular basis-all of which helps them bring value to their employers and clients. If you lose your job, these activities become even more important, because they're a critical part of the job search.

While continuing your education, networking, and then marketing yourself can be tough to do when time and money are tight, there is a way to accomplish all three goals quickly, cost-effectively-even simultaneously. It's called online social networking, and it's moved far beyond Facebook to include a host of targeted, niche platforms that are enabling busy professionals to find information faster, develop their personal brand and advance their careers.

Because social networking is highly effective, quick and free, it's not only a great career resource-it's also a great marketing tool for businesses. Today, most companies maintain an online presence, which means that real estate professionals who hope to be successful cannot afford not to pay attention to online communities. Here's what you need to know.

As its name implies, social networking is the practice of expanding one's business or personal contacts and relationships via the Internet. Online communities allow participants to exchange information and ideas in an open and transparent manner, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. When it comes to advancing your career or finding a job, niche sites-those that focus on a particular industry or area of interest-are most beneficial. These sites bring together like-minded professionals, many of whom are experts in their field, and usually include discussion boards, blogs, white papers, videos, poll results, news and other up-to-the-minute information that highlights industry best practices and emerging trends.

By participating, you'll quickly learn what employers and clients care most about right now, and you can use that information to sell yourself and your expertise to prospective employers or clients. If you participate in discussions, create content or answer questions, you'll also significantly increase your professional visibility; online networking allows you to expand your reach far beyond what you could accomplish at a trade show or community event. (Keep in mind that online networking does not replace traditional networking events, which are still extremely valuable.)

While niche sites are popping up in most industries, they're especially beneficial for commercial real estate, a highly research- and analysis-driven sector. Competition is fierce, and exposure translates into success. "Peer-to-peer sharing, brainstorming and collaborative learning ... are particularly effective in a time when our industry is experimenting with many different approaches and new initiatives." writes CoreNet Global CEO Prentice Knight, III, in the March/April 2009 issue of The Leader. "Your individual professional network is now more important than ever, not only for learning from others, but also for positioning yourself in a difficult job market."

Indeed, 85 percent of executive job openings aren't advertised, which means that most positions are secured through networking. Building traditional relationships and strategic alliances with industry insiders who know you're in transition will ensure that you find out about the best opportunities. Connecting with them online speeds up the process and allows you to expand your reach.

If you've tinkered around with social networking sites, you've probably noticed there are countless ways in which to participate. As with most business undertakings, though, your efforts will backfire unless you have a solid strategy. So:

The Internet is a wonderful tool, but it can be overwhelming-literally millions of pages are competing for your attention. Trying to be everywhere is impossible and will dilute your efforts. Your best strategy? Choose one or two targeted social networking sites (see suggestions at the end of this article) and focus your efforts.

When deciding which communities to join, use your judgment, and always confirm that the site is hosted by a trusted organization that puts the community-not its own agenda-first. Be sure to check your company's privacy policy and any policies it may have regarding your conduct online. Then:

Start by creating an online profile (choose a professional-sounding screen name, or use your name, list your professional qualifications and interests, post your contact information and upload a recent picture), then link to prospects and current and former clients. This will create a personal network for you within the community, and you can build on it from there.

Most people who network online manage to get as far as creating a profile, but successful social networking goes far beyond that. "To be truly successful, commercial real estate pros need to participate in the forums and discussions," says Bob Woods of Sibdu, a social and professional networking site for corporate and commercial real estate professionals (www.sibdu.com). "This way, you show your expertise in the profession, and building credibility is always huge in a professional's career path. A blog, assuming your employer allows it, is also a great and quick way to build credibility and brand yourself as an expert."

Ben Thypin is a good example of how a commercial real estate professional can use the Internet for career advancement. Thypin wears three hats in his professional life: He's the founder of Rentility.com, a rental transaction and listing platform, he's a market analyst with a concentration in distressed assets for Real Capital Analytics, and he's a private investor who sets up partnerships to invest in distressed situations. "To advance my career, in addition to joining the relevant groups on LinkedIn, I set up a website/blog where potential partners can find out about me and my thoughts on real estate. I also blog, but I find it much more useful to tweet [post on social networking utility Twitter] when I find an interesting article. Recently, I installed an application that allows me to unify my blog content. Now, when users come to my site, they can search not only my blog posts but the blogs/news sources that I follow, my tweets, anything I bookmark, and many other sources of content. My idea is to make my blog more than just a way for people to contact me, but a real estate resource for all, and it's been surprisingly successful in terms of lead generation. What percentage of these leads turn into revenue remains to be seen, but the marginal cost of using social media is so low that as long as a few leads come to fruition, it's worth it."

Mark Wallace, vice president of social media for Environmental Data Resources, which hosts the property due diligence social networking site commonground (www.commonground.edrnet.com), says it can take time for online networkers to see results, but it's well worth the effort. "It is really just an extension of what we have always done to build relationships, except now, we can network anytime-instead of just in person or over the phone when schedules allow. As a result, we develop much stronger relationships by staying engaged with our peers. Much of the work involves familiarizing yourself with the tools that are available and right for you. Once you do, you can virally build a stronger personal and professional brand by simply helping others build theirs-not by pushing out marketing messages."

Thypin adds, "I have found that social networking is most effective when you aren't jamming yourself down people's throats. You need to give people a reason to pay attention to you for reasons other than your career advancement."

To that end, make sure you respond promptly to requests for referrals, recommendations, and information. Building up a network of professionals who specialize in other areas can help you bring value to your clients and employers down the road. Jade Paunovich, a broker with NAI Southern Real Estate, said, "[Social networking] is great for my business because of referrals, but the best thing about it is that I now know so many professionals that I can refer to my clients for everything they need. Having those resources has helped me create great relationships both in [the social networking site] and with my clients."

In April 2009, the official US unemployment rate rose to 8.9 percent. This adds up to a lot of people looking for work. To stand out from the pack of job seekers or move ahead in your career, once you're comfortable online, you need to position yourself as an expert. In short: specialize. After all, if you're the same as everyone else, why should a company promote or hire you? Why would anyone give you referrals?

Once you find a focus, tell people about it. Write blog posts and articles on the topic, post comments, answer relevant questions. You'll quickly become the go-to expert, which looks great to potential employers and clients.

"If an individual can show how they are different and how they can add value without giving away all their secrets, [social networking] is a great (and free) way to promote themselves," says Sean Dundon, a principal with Blackstone Consulting, a commercial real estate due diligence firm. "But they must be aware of the rules: don't be too sales-y, be helpful, provide resources and credibility. When I'm recruiting, I like to see the folks that have put themselves out there first with opinion papers, etc. Those are the folks we're after."

The viral nature of the Internet means that news-good and bad-spreads quickly. According to a recent survey by CareerBuilder.com, one-third of hiring managers who research job candidates online dismiss the applicant based on what they uncover. (Evidence of drinking or drug use, inappropriate photographs, poor communication skills, lies about qualifications, racial or other slurs, and unprofessional screen names could all hurt your efforts.)

"If you're looking for a job, keep your content professional, because you can never completely erase your digital footprint," says EDR's Wallace. "If you're employed, keep in mind that companies are increasingly monitoring the Internet to track what's being said about them, so be careful what you write, and never post confidential company information."

Further ways to protect your professional reputation include:

• Making public only the personal details you want others to see

• Periodically updating your profile

• Tracking yourself. (Set up a Google alert with your name to see what's being said about you. If you find unfavorable information, request that it be taken down, or bury it by posting to popular sites until the bad news moves down the search engine queue. (Most people don't look beyond page three.))

• Respect the privacy of others; never publish personal information without consent.

• Keep your personal and professional networks separate.

You've probably heard about Twitter and Facebook, but if you haven't yet heard about the following niche sites, they're worth a look:

Active Rain: http://activerain.com/
A real estate networking site for agents, mortgage professionals and brokers.

commonground: http://commonground.edrnet.com
An award winning business social network focused on environmental and real estate due diligence, commonground has more than 3,500 members from 1,600 companies worldwide. The site includes discussions, blogs, a resource directory, industry calendar, e-learning, streaming media, market research, interest groups, news, a job board and much more.

LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com
With more than 40 million registered users, LinkedIn is the leading business-oriented social networking site for professionals in more than 170 industries. Great for finding business opportunities and jobs.

Sibdu: www.Sibdu.com
Sibdu is a professional/social networking site for anyone involved in commercial real estate. The site has local groups, a job board that allows a candidate to track their online conversation with potential employers, and a feature that allows members to form public and private groups to create their own "network" of professionals.

For more on CRE and social networking, sign up to "follow" these folks on Twitter:

Bob Woods: http://twitter.com/bob_sibdu
Mark Wallace: http://twitter.com/mwallcomm
Ben Thypin: http://twitter.com/Bthypin