Is your business taking advantage of Social Media? Facebook and Twitter are calling your name... 
By Jonathan Meyerhoff

Clearly, internet marketing is one of the most essential actions you can take to increase the visibility of your business—this has been the case for years.  But no longer is it just advertising you have to worry about.  Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have created an entirely new way of observing businesses.  

For example, take a look at Twitter.  International Corporations (including Zappos, JetBlue, Dell, and many, many others) are using Twitter to give their companies personality, premiere new products and offers, and give them a chance to send feedback.  Here are some examples of what leading companies have “Tweeted”:

@Zappos:
I want to meet more customers. On Monday, I will select a random @zappos follower for free trip for 2 to Vegas for office tour & lunch w/ me

Just landed in Vegas. Got lots of twitters about our new beta site http://zeta.zappos.com Thx for all the feedback, keep it coming!

@JetBlue
View this month’s selection of first-run movies from Fox InFlight Premium Entertainment: http://tinyurl.com/2o8q46

To all of our Twitter friends: enjoy your weekend!

If you would like more information on how to set up a Twitter account or what to tweet, take a look at our blog entry, Twitter for Businesses.

As you can see, the use of social media isn’t all business, but it isn’t all fun either.  That’s the great thing about these social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter—not only can they provide a service to your customers, but it gives them a look at your businesses culture and provides them with opportunities to provide feedback on your products.  

I’m sure you’ve heard all about the use of Twitter and Facebook (especially recently), but what about other forms of Social Media?  Have you created a blog to display knowledge of your products?  Blogging is a great way for you to share information and show that you know a thing or two about your industry.  Here at IMM, we have an SEO and Social Media Marketing blog which discusses different opportunities in each of the areas as well as links back to our website.  You can do the same for your business.    

Of course there are hundreds of other social media sites out there, and one can’t take advantage of all of them.  Here are some others which may be worthwhile:

LinkedIn:  A professional social media site which can come in handy when performing job searches, researching potential employees, or looking for vendors or contractors.  

Youtube:  Believe it or not, this can be a great tool.  Take advantage of it by posting something your consumers would find interesting—it can be just about anything.  

Digg:  A social media news site which allows you to browse and share articles (may want to take advantage of this after setting up your blog).  

StumbleUpon:  It’s another social media news site in which when browsing the web, you can give articles a “thumbs up” and provide a review.  You can then view what other people have recommended, and connect with people with the same interests as you.

Technorati:  Once establishing your blog, you can join Technorati and submit it.  It’s a network of blogs and blog writers which shows the most popular blogs in a variety of categories.  

In addition to the above sites, you should also look at niche social media sites for your industry.  There are hundreds out there, and they can provide you with an opportunity to narrow in on your target market.  

Unfortunately, the use of these social media websites does come at a cost—time.  Don’t expect to be able to handle taking up numerous social media sites at the same time.  Even a simple Facebook or Twitter account is going to take up a portion of your week, but if these sites are used properly, they can be immensely worthwhile.

With the extreme popularity of sites such as Facebook and Twitter, it is almost a necessity to be taking advantage of them.  Especially recently, this surge in popularity has provided consumers with a way to see companies from a non-business perspective, and this has surely helped these businesses to increase their brand image.  Currently, there is no better way to communicate with your consumers, and we at Internet Marketing Magicians encourage you to take advantage of social media.