Steve Bauer of The Referral Academy mentioned something to me the other day that got me thinking. Steve’s comment was that a lot of professionals — like lawyers, engineers, and consultants — are hesitant to be seen as “too pushy” in marketing themselves. This makes sense, as the one thing a professional must never do is surrender the position of “trusted advisor.” The moment a professional acts like a sales person, always looking to deliver that next pitch, is the moment that they lose the trust of their client and fail as a professional.

There is a distinction between seeking and being sought-after. Professionals want to be sought-after, because a person coming to you looking for advice is already convinced that your are an advisor to be trusted. When you are seeking, you have to sell yourself.

So, how can you get yourself out of seeking mode and in to sought-after mode? I think that social media provide professionals and consultants with a powerful set of tools to attract pre-sold and pre-qualified prospects. If done right, social media tools can enhance a professional’s positioning as a trusted advisor.

The strategy involves a couple of key elements:

Trusted networks. Sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook allow you to connect with clients, colleagues, and other people of influence that you know and trust. People often misunderstand how these sites work. The value is not in who you know (you already know them) but rather in who those people know (the friend-of-a-friend factor). If you rely on word-of-mouth and referrals to drive your business, then you should seriously consider using LinkedIn and Facebook (or whichever social media site best reaches your network and your prospective clients).

Put real effort into growing your online connections, but also carefully screen your network to ensure that it consists of people you know and trust. If you wouldn’t vouch for their work in a discussion with your top client, then why would you want them in your network?

A strong, effective profile. A LinkedIn profile is a tricky thing, as it needs to be both machine-readable and people-friendly. You need a profile that is full of keywords because that will ensure that people will find you when they search for someone with your capabilities. That is the machine-readable part. Never forget, though, that a person will make the decision to click on your profile and then act on it. That is where the people-friendly comes in.

I’ve written extensively about what makes a good LinkedIn profile over on my Fun With Networking blog.

Real-world activities. LinkedIn works best if you integrate it into your everyday activities. Lots of people just put the most bare-bones information in their LinkedIn profiles – just their name, their current role, and their college or graduate school. Best practices are to put as much detail in your profile as possible about your past roles and your education. This gives people who know you from your past roles a “handle” that makes you easy to find. It also gives those who don’t know you a greater sense of the “whole person.”

And don’t stop at the past. Include some of your current activities. List your blog or your web site in LinkedIn. List your LinkedIn profile on your blog. If you are on the board of a local non-profit, list that. You would be amazed at how those little connections start to add up to make something really fantastic.

A willingness to share your expertise. One of the amazing things about expertise is that the more you share it the more of an expert you become. You can only become an expert by sharing your knowledge, and (I would venture to say) the act of sharing your knowledge makes you an expert.

LinkedIn has a marvelous tool called LinkedIn Answers where people can post questions on various topics and get feedback from people who presumably know a thing or two. These answers are rated, and getting a “Best Answer” rating gives you instant recognition as an expert (your LinkedIn profile will indeed show that you have expertise on the topic).

But sharing shouldn’t begin and end with social media. You should seek out opportunities to volunteer your help and share your expertise. Become the chairman of the local association for your profession, or become president of the Rotary. Speaking is another excellent way to share your expertise.

All these things will start making you a most sought-after person, both online and in the real world.