If you've been watching the news, movies, or listening to radio in 2011 you're aware that Social Media Impact is the bomb. But how does social media help small business? Social Media is certainly a notable phenomenon, and it is on display every minute in the way Gen X and Gen Y speak and want to be marketed to. If Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or LinkedIn even survive another five years or not is beside the point. Some form of social media where people can be the stars of their own little cyber worlds will take their places. How your small business makes use of SMM today is a primary vehicle in Marketing for Search Engines. SOCIAL MEDIA AS A STRATEGY Facebook started out as a dorm room communication laboratory for some college kids. Twitter began to please and extend the vanity of celebrities and athletes. LinkedIn historically is a network meeting place for recruiters and the white-collar unemployed. Times they are a changing, folks, and as the CEOs of these sites ante up for their coveted spots on the cover of Time Magazine (online version of course), they aren't ignoring businesses. As of this writing, business presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. is a bit underused, but big business is leading the expedition into ways to use these tools to communicate with followers. If only Jesus had a Facebook page and a web developer! Here's something you may not have known. Every business page on these sites is index-able in the world of online search. Google, the grand inquisitor of all things online, loves social media business pages and indexes them like websites, devouring their content like an Aardvark does fire ants. This is good news for you, because it means as a small business owner, you have the opportunity to create FREE web pages all over the place. If not free, how about low cost. If you swing a dead cat in any direction you're going to collide with someone who has a virtual eBay store. Are you exploiting this stuff folks, or do you fear it and watch your competitors take your market share of the future and crush you under their collective boots? Much like the Kia Sol Hip-Hop Hamsters so eloquently put it, "The choice is Your's!" Knowing how to work these sites, well, that's a different story. It is simple in concept, but it ain't easy. Keeping them active, cool, and desirable enough to stand above the crowd is not only a full-time job, but isn't for the amateur. Luckily for you there are plenty of Social Media experts out there to get you enough knowledge that you can either hire someone to implement your company strategy , or sub-contract it out to the millions of college kids out there who can cost effectively get you a presence. Need some help? Many firms like mine can put a strategy in place for social media to help your small business and create your own Social Media Impact in the world . If you want to go it alone and find contract help for the down and dirty part of it, you can use Craig's List under Gigs, try oDesk or eLance, among the dozens of places to secure free-lance help. Of course, use the search term "social media expert". I can nearly guaranty that you will have to shut your listing down within 24 hours to go through all the people vying, and bidding for, your business. A word of caution here: not all SEM (search engine marketing) and SMM (social media marketing) contractors are alike. When conducting interviews, ensure that each has a website portfolio where they can display their social media history and performance for companies like yours, with your qualities and budget. Anybody worth their salt won't hesitate to provide those references with people you can talk to.
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