Last week I gave a talk on Surviving in the Global Economy and one of my keynote slides really resonated with the audience. It was a question I posed to the audience: What does your global sphere look like?


And what I mean by that -- which I explained at great length to the attendees -- was if someone were to Google you or your company name, would you be first up (almost like going to bat) in ranking? The higher your ranking, the higher your global presence.
So the more you use social media (blogs, podcasts, YouTube, SecondLife) and social networking (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter), the better off you will be in getting attention to your business via the Internet.
I did a test on my claimed territory which is "global small business" and it came up second. Not bad considering first is a small business directory -- not a person or a business. Then, I did a test on "Laurel Delaney" and guess who's up first? My company.
Go ahead ... Google yourself to see whether you have a strong global presence because if you do, the more influential you are in the world marketplace. If you don't, better get working on the next social media opportunity.