How do you combine Twitter with Facebook and your website to create an effective online marketing strategy that is more than the sum of the parts?

Step 1 – Create a Twitter profile that connects to your business

If you have an Internet marketing business, for example, it is common sense that your Twitter profile and many of your tweets will have to do with sharing Internet marketing information.  You wouldn’t want to have your profile and your tweets only talk about your karate practice if you want to make potential business connections on Twitter.

Step 2 – Create a professional-focused Facebook fan page (Facebook’s term for business page)

You must first have a profile (personal page) before you can create a Facebook fan page.  Then create a Facebook fan page, taking advantage of the 75 characters allowed in the title of the page.  (Think keywords internally and externally.)  FYI – You can’t change the fan page title once you’ve entered it.

It’s a good idea to name another admin for your Facebook fan page in case something happens to your own Facebook account.  (Another admin can make changes on the page without knowing your Facebook password.)

Caution: Even if you have strong privacy controls on your Facebook profile page, keep the photos and your comments professional.  You do not want to risk a potential business contact catching a glimpse of … whatever.

Now here’s an example of the potential cross-promotional opportunities:

You can use FBML (Facebook’s markup language) to put the email optin code from your website into the left-hand column of the Facebook fan page.  And you can even put that same code, thanks to the profile html option, onto the left-hand column of your Facebook profile.

If you are offering an enticing freebie, you should be able to get email optins without having to send people off Facebook to your website.  And there’s even room in the limited profile html and FBML options to squeeze in one or two social media icons such as links to your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.

Step 3 – Add a Facebook fan page widget to your website

This widget — which can be configured in different ways when you get it through your Facebook fan page — enables visitors to your website to become a fan of your Facebook fan page without ever leaving your website.

Or, if visitors want, they can click on the title of your Facebook fan page (at the top of the widget) and visit your Facebook fan page directly from your website.

Step 4 – Review your Twitter, Facebook fan page and website for consistent images and messages

•    Use the same (good) photo of you on all three sites to help the instant recognition factor.

•    Make sure that the overall message on Twitter, your Facebook fan page, and your website is consistent with a professional representation of your brand, book or business.

•    Consider activities, such as running contests on Twitter, to encourage people to move from following you on Twitter to becoming a fan of your Facebook fan page to opting in to your email list.