Until then, this is what you need to know as a business owner directly from FaceBook.
If you are the official representative of your business, please take the following verification steps to claim the Place on Facebook:
1) Search for the Place on Facebook you wish to claim as your business. If no Place exists for your business, you can create a new Place.
2) Once you locate the Place for your business, click the “Is this your business?” link at the bottom of the Place.
Complete the step-by-step verification process to claim your Place.
3) Please keep in mind that only official representatives of a business can claim the Place on Facebook.

Why Claim you Place?

By claiming your Place you can manage your Place’s address, contact information, business hours, profile picture, admins and other settings.
*As you can imagine, FaceBook is also enabling you to promote your Place, hello FaceBook advertising opportunity. If you don’t want to pay for advertising, see my tip below for getting even more valuable engagement.

What else?
Do something very basic, like put up a sign asking people to check-in. This is the best word of mouth advertising you can get. Get more aggressive and ask them to tag you (must be friends) or better yet Tag their friends!
*Think about your business and how you can use Places. Get Creative. Use this as an opportunity to connect with your customers.

1) Easiest way for your employees to promote your company, “check-in” when they get to work everyday.

2) For business to business – Your contacts should be in your FaceBook friends list, if they are not your competition will surely be making friends with them and building stronger relationships thru normal social interaction. If you are connected to your business contacts, there is an easy way to stay in front of your network, “check-in” and your network will see a gentle reminder of where you work.

3) Every coffee shop  and restaurant in America should be offering 10 cents off a cup of coffee, free cookies or a drink when you “check-in” on FaceBook.Think about the value of this advertising, trusted agents communicating to their friends where they are drinking or eating, with a map attached, Wow! Put up a sign today at your cash register or real world “check-in” station. Holy Powerful Batman!

Why is this the death of Four Square and Gowalla? Because those games were not really a big enough incentive to get the masses checking in some place. With 500 million users and millions of mobile users on the iPhone, FaceBook “check-in” will be easy to adopt and use. The potential for linking to Fan Pages is almost scary. Get ready world, FaceBook is having a banner year and the world just got smaller and a lot more interesting.

1) Complete your LinkedIn profile.
This should be a 1 hour work session. Fill in the details, make sure your personality and experience shine. This is your “living resume,” make sure you are well represented from your professional experience to your education to your interests. The more information you share in your profile, the easier it will be for people to connect with you. You must have a decent head shot that shows your eyes, an easy to share link to your profile (that should be included on your resume and in the signature line of your email), and your specialties included as keywords. Never ask for a recommendation on LinkedIn, give them weekly until you run out of people to write them for. Giving recommendations on LinkedIn promotes your profile keeping you in front of your network and builds social capital. Write a recommendation for everyone that has worked for you, that you have worked for, that you know professionally or personally. Keep them short, simple and honest, remembering these recommendations build your credibility and communicate how well you write to the reader.

2) Lock down your FaceBook profile.
Yes, your potential employers can look you up on FaceBook and see all of the posts in your newsfeed, if you let them. My rules for FaceBook privacy settings are very simple. Everything should be set to “friends only,” except for Search and Messaging which should be set to “Everybody;” and “Pictures and Videos,” which I encourage you to set to “Friends of Friends.” When you lock down your privacy settings under Account, you do not have to worry about potential employers or school admission teams looking thru your profile. That said, CLEAN IT UP. If you are not comfortable with your mother seeing what is on your FaceBook profile, it should be deleted. You are responsible for what you post and the pictures you are in. If someone posts inappropriate pictures of you, untag yourself and politely ask them to remove the picture. Yes, you must put in your education and employment history on FaceBook. Although FaceBook is your “social network,” it may be your most valuable (especially since it has 500 million users and is growing faster than ever before). Give your friends the chance to know you professionally as well as personally.

3) Tell your network what opportunity you are looking for.
People have to know how they can help you. The worst thing that can happen is people will not respond or they will say no. You must get comfortable telling people what you are looking for and asking them for help with specific goals. Asking to be introduced to specific people or even types of companies is the best way to empower people to help you. You can use the status updates in LinkedIn, FaceBook and Twitter as well as direct email followed by a phone call.

4) Do your research.
Look up companies you are interested in on Google, LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter. Do the same thing with people you are meeting or interviewing with. If you are doing your research you will find connections, common ground and areas of focus. How you use this information will play a role in your success. What kind of information will be useful to you? Anything form a shared interest, to a mutual friend, to the alma mater of your potential employer to recent news about the company. You have access to an unlimited power, knowledge. Use it!

5) Expand your connections.
I call this the Rainbow Theory. The connections in your Network make up the rainbow of your life. Each of them is a unique color representing some aspect of you and your relationship. We want a large beautiful rainbow (friends and connections), why? Because at the end of that rainbow is a pot of gold, only you can limit how big that pot of gold is. Expand your connections, friendships and relationships and you increase the potential of that pot of gold. How do you find that pot of gold? See #6.

6) Meet up in public as often as possible.
Social networking is not a competition to see who has the most “friends” or “contacts.” It is the opportunity to get to know people better. You must dig thru your contacts and set up meetings every single week. When you travel, find people in your network and get meetings, breakfast, coffee or drinks with them. Your next opportunity may live in another city yet have a great connection for you. By meeting in public places you will see other people you know, this is not an accident. Follow-up with these people and participate in your community. Remember to stay actively engaged in the process of helping other people with opportunities they are looking for.

7) Be more generous.
Share your skills and time liberally. Volunteer. You can do more good for your reputation and search for opportunity by giving your time and the most valuable skills you have, until you are “running on empty.” People will see the value you bring to the table, you will meet new people in real working situations and you will have positive situations to talk about with potential employers and clients as you look for your next opportunity. You are the most valuable asset you have, the more you share your skills and talent the more valuable of an asset you become to society. Increase your value, be more generous.

1) Don’t stalk.
It is ok to connect with people after you meet them and even engage with “randoms” as long as the interaction is real. Your communication must be authentic or you will do more damage than good to this developing relationship. It is great to connect with people you don’t know on these networks and get to know them better. As a rule of thumb keep the “fat” in your network limited to 10%. If you are going to connect to “randoms,” tell them why you want to connect with them. Give them a reason to accept your connection, then give time to let the relationship develop normally.

2) Don’t be negative.
Social networks are overwhelmingly positive. Note the “like” button, ever wonder why there is not a “dislike” button? Add your voice to the conversation if you have something to share, if it is negative, save the thought for a few hours and re-evaluate whether you should share it. It is too easy to gripe, avoid being a “Debbie Downer.” If it really is negative and you have to go there, create a conversation and enable people to discuss the situation. Don’t talk badly about any place you have ever worked or a current or former boss. Posting on any social network may be taken out of context and/or become part of the “permanent record.” Your next employer may be one of your “friends” on FaceBook or even a “follower” on Twitter. Make the glass half full.

3) Don’t “cross the streams.”
Keep your voice authentic on each network independently. FaceBookers do not get Twitter or post with #hashtags or in #140 #characters. You must keep your voice appropriate for each network. Yes, FaceBook can send out Tweets and your LinkedIn Status can be a Tweeted simultaneously. No, your Tweet that you are at the Bar at 1:30 am should not update your LinkedIn status. These networks can work together efficiently, make sure you understand your settings and whatever you do – “don’t cross the streams.”

4) Don’t post your business on your friend’s wall.
Keep your business private. Business is happening via email, chat, instant message and the phone. You can offend someone pretty easily by attempting to use their wall or post as an advertising ground. If you do promote your self in someone’s post or content, try and keep it light-hearted and always be fully transparent (don’t promote yourself as a source without declaring you are the source).

5) Don’t “set it and forget it.”
Your social networks take time and nurturing. A good rule of thumb is you should spend at least 15 minutes a week on each network you are on. You may need to spend 15 minutes a day or have the time to spend 3 hours a day. You will get out of it what you put in to it. If you don’t put in the time, don’t expect to harvest the rewards.

6) Don’t be somebody else.
Be yourself, it is that simple. If you try and be somebody you are not, it will be awkward and weird. Finding your true voice on these social networks is different for everybody. Start slowly, test the waters. Get comfortable with sharing and post regularly. The more you post the easier it will get. If you don’t have anything good to say, allow yourself to “like” someone’s picture or link and move on to something else.

7) Don’t avoid social networking.
Even if you don’t go to the party, the party is still happening. You are the only limitation in your life. By participating in these networks you control your profile, improve your ability to show up in search on Google and create business opportunities. By nature we are social animals, by nurture we can be effective communicators. Come to the party, we are all waiting for you.

Looking out into 2011, the corporate market is going to change from a “prevent defense” to an “option offense.” Think about your employees as players on your team. Ask yourself, “Does my company empower team players to be successful or are we limiting our own potential for growth?” If your employees are not engaged with your social media presence, then start asking questions now, so you are prepared for success in 2011.

Build More Bridges.

Ok, now that you have Twitter integrated in, what should you avoid? Set your Twitter account to only post to LinkedIn if you have #in the Tweet. Why? Because if you or your company Tweet frequently you create too much noise on LinkedIn. The value of your status updates goes down. I start to ignore your status updates because they are not really relevant. You must have your Twitter account included in your LinkedIn profile, make the tool work effectively for you!

Try searching a few hash tags. These are ways people identify subjects they are referencing. If you have a local business in Cleveland you might search #Cleveland or #HappyinCle – this is a great way to find people associating themselves with Cleveland. Click on people’s names and if they appear to be in your niche, Follow them.

Next look for some Lists. These are fantastic tools that people have self-selected other people onto. Whatever your niche is, there are 50 Lists waiting for you. You can follow the List (so you remember it) and then select Following. Look at all of the accounts being followed. If you have found a good List there will be somewhere between 100 – 500 people on this list for you to follow. You are safe following 300 people in a day, anymore than that could get your account disabled for spambot like behavior. When you find someone interesting, check out the Lists they have been put on. This is a trail you can work on at any time.

Why do all of this dirty work? Following people in the niche you care about will get you followers in that area. How many? That depends on you. Build up your following at a reasonable pace and be patient – remember you will be capped at following 2001 people until you have 1,850 people following you back (Hi carpal tunnel syndrome, I have missed you). Deleting people not following you back is an unfortunate reality you will have to do until you have a massive number of followers. If you Re-Tweet the people you follow and interact with them, you increase the odds they will follow you back. Authentic interaction and conversation is critical to your success. Now that you have the basics on how to build up a following on Twitter, what are you going to do with it?

Check your News Feeds Daily! Your local news is LIVE and Real – Live In The Moment!

My understanding is that golf is a social game ideal for playing with people you want to do business with. Why? You learn how people play the game, whether they are always shooting the long ball to try and get the hole in 1 or whether they play too safe and never see thru the trees instead of around the trees. Social games enable you to play against your friends, FaceBook has become the ideal platform for playing against your friends.

Zynga is the leader of the pack in the world of social gaming. Hundreds of millions of people are playing Mafia Wars, Farmville, Yoville, Treasure Isle, Frontierville, Texas Hold’em and Petville. The games are engaging and fun, better yet, they never end. Can playing games be good for your business? When you are playing with your community on FaceBook, you are essentially playing golf. Your farm becomes a reflection of how you do business. Developing your Farm may be more important than you know. When you land business with someone you enjoy Farming with, who will be laughing at you then?

The above said, I play Bejeweled Blitz on FaceBook. I love seeing the scores of my friends on FaceBook and truth be told, several of my friends have raised up a notch in my book with their impressive scores (no, that is not pathetic). Do I post my scores in news feed on FaceBook, flaunting my scores? No. Do I hide your updates from Farmville? Yes. I get too much information in my newsfeed (even though I very effectively use Lists in FaceBook). I don’t have enough time to read all of your Petville updates, maybe you should consider not posting all of your updates to everyone on FaceBook? You have to remember that what you post in your newsfeed can become pollution and be annoying to your friends, family and business connections.

I was sitting at my favorite bakery, On The Rise Artisan Breads, meeting with a couple of local political consultants when someone sitting near us asked “did you say you are on Farmville?” I watched as two strangers met, talked Farmville and connected on FaceBook so they could cropshare or coop or simply Farm together. My ears perked up as one of them said “I hope you post updates, I hate when people don’t post updates.” I laughed to myself enjoying how different we are, appreciating that strangers can meet each other and connect on FaceBook using Zynga and their social games. I’m still going to hide the updates from your games, but it is up to you to decide whether it is appropriate to post your Treasure Isle update at 10 am on Wednesday morning (could be if you work nights!!!). Stay Social, Start Gaming More!

How should you be using Lists? Create a list for your local area, look thru your followers and add them to this List. Yeah this takes time and brings on Carpal Tunnel. Your List become really useful for filtering thru all of the noise and finding out what the people in your network are talking about quickly. If you are feeling aggressive you can add people you are only following to Lists as well and increase the odds of them following you back. You can make a List for whatever your niche is, you don’t have to limit them to location. As you look for followers, check Lists by relevant people and find Lists that work for you. Look thru the people they are following on the List and find new relevant people to follow. This is a great way to fish for followers in your very own niche specific local pond.

Oh yeah, check out the new location based topic trending, it is kind of interesting. Cleveland is not on the map yet, but it was interesting to look at a few cities and see what people are talking about there. Start playing with search, hashtags and lists on Twitter – You will find these to be very valuable tools in your social media utility belt.