Most social networks have enough space for inclusion of a standard profile page which you can use to your full advantage and get the word out about your best interests related to your online business, this gives people an insight into what you do and are interested in.

Most good social networking sites come with a blogging tool and you should use this as it was meant to be used for to build up credible information for like minded people to view to compliment your profile page, maybe you might give cooking tips related to your online cooking informational website and link it back there, so where ever possible try to link back with highly targeted and relevant anchor text/keywords so that they will appear in the search results for your chosen topics.

Try to personalize and write your own blog posts, the more YOU write the better your own voice and personality will shine through in your writing and also doing it this way people may subscribe to your blog more often as it will appear more personal if written by yourself, using other peoples articles from free directories is fine to start with but I recommend only studying and using some to start off your blog if you are finding it hard to write something to your blog.

Remember you don't always have to write tips and advice in every post on your blog, you can break in between them types of posts with something to show you are a real person with real life issues or current world news and concerns, rants and raves, this makes it topical but also keeps it interesting and unpredictable.

Another great feature of social networks is you can browse or search for other members profile pages, usually placed in categories, so that you could find people with similar interests to you, then you could add them as friends and they are placed in your network where you can therefore interact with them, post comments on their profile page or blog etc.

Social networks always have other features like maybe adding photos and videos so you could also use these to your advantage too by having similar content to your online business or blog and tying it in with that, youtube is the best free place to add your videos and it's easier to upload them there than most other places or doing it for yourself.

Another networking tool that social networking sites usually have is the group function where you can create your own group for other people to join who may be interested in the theme of your group and join in on the discussions within that group, networking is very effective this way as it's more targeted than the regular friends network!

*Tip* Sometimes beginning a discussion in your blog or somewhere on the social network about anything unrelated to your online business or interest could attach other people to your network and you may be remembered for your unique discussions alone, this is another form of networking as positive results can be gained from speaking your mind or being contraversial, this could potentially create referrals if you presented them within reach especially if people identified with your point of view.