Whether you're an artist, musician or business person, chances are you have an online presence.

But are you getting the most out of your profiles?

Social media - a term that means using platforms to communicate such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. - is a much bandied about term, but many people don't know how to best utilize them or what they are in fact for.

It's 2010 - it's time to get up-to-date and up to speed on what each does and how it would - or would not - benefit you and your product/company/business.

Two new books are going to make the difference from you being "whoever online like everyone else" to "online superstar":

1. The Social Media Marketing Book: Mastering Today's Marketing Tools

and

2. Friends with Benefits: A Real-World, Tactical Guide to Social Media Marketing.

I absolutely love the layout of The Social Media Marketing Book. It has long, lean pages with each left-hand page featuring a screenshot of something, and the right-hand side giving you the low-down on what you're seeing.

Author Dan Zarrella simplifies everything so that even your Mom who is still confused about whether a cordless phone is a cell phone ("Is this call costing you money?") will understand StumbleUpon and SlideShare.

It is a quick read, user-friendly and you'll have new sites and profiles up and running within minutes of finishing the book.

Friends with Benefits: A Real-World, Tactical Guide to Social Media Marketing has more of a narrative.

Authors Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo give you tips on how to get "social media ready" and "finding the right bloggers and communities." They tell you how to monitor the web, whether MySpace still matters (you'll have to read it to find out) and understanding and participating in online communities.

I recommend both of these books, as they both bring with them important points and tips that you should arm yourself with before signing up for anything.

I'm off to tweet this post, change my profiles on a couple of sites and join a couple of new ones.

Now that I've got these 2 books under my belt - Watch out, world. Here I come!