One thing that I consistently find across our workshops is that many businesses have a weak understanding of social media marketing.  They leave our courses enlightened about how they can use social media.

These are probably the 5 biggest “ah-ha’s” that we hear from our training programs.  The 5 key take aways that really help businesses to get going in social media marketing.

1) I didn’t know what I didn’t know

While many of our participants are new, some already have a blog, twitter account or Facebook page.  They think that they mostly “get it” but they sign up for our course because they aren’t getting the results they wanted.

When they leave, they usually realize that they approached it all wrong.  Social media marketing isn’t as simple as creating a fan page or a twitter account.  It is about strategy and execution.  These require more thought than most businessees consider.

If you are using social media for your business, you’ve made a smart choice by reading this, but please take the time to invest in your strategy.  Read as much as you can and learn from the best.  There is lots of information available online.

2) Social Media is not about creating accounts it is about content

Many businesses focus on creating accounts across sites and not on the content that they will actually use on each site.

Social media is about content and connections.  Create meaningful content that adds value to your target audience.  That is the key to social media.  Most businesses spend almost no time focusing on the content that will actually be the substance or meat of their efforts.

Creating accounts isn’t really that hard.  The hard part is figuring out what to do with them.  We have developed specific strategies to help businesses build powerful content that drives results.

3) Don’t confuse activity with results

Many businesses confuse activity with results.

- “Is your current social media working?”

_ “yes”

- “what are your results?”
- “we have lots of fans”

- “can you tie that back to a real business result?  do people in your store say there are there because of Facebook or Twitter? Are you getting engagement?”

- “ummmm – we have lots of fans….”

The reality is that an impression is not an impression unless it makes on.  That means that you are only reaching people if they actually see and respond to your conent.  Just creating it and publishing it isn’t worth anything.

4) You Can’t Afford to Ignore Social Media

Trust me, whatever your business line you can’t afford to ignore social media.   Social media is here to stay and is growing like crazy.  If your business needs more sales and customers, social media is the way to get it.

If you don’t have the time or the money to invest in your business to make it happen you probably won’t be in business or aren’t serious about it.  This  is becoming the cost of entry.  Like having a website (and if you don’t already have one, you need one – email us and we’ll connect you with someone) it is a basic expectation.

Social media is how businesses are growing these days – if you are struggling with your business maybe it is time to re-evaluate your strategy…..

5) Social Media isn’t really Free

Many businesses are excited about social media because they think it is free.  The reality is that it takes time and effort.  To  do it right you should be prepared to invest in learning the tools of the trade.

Imagine if it was free to run TV commercials.  The  airwaves would be flooded with crappy commercials, recorded with a flipcam with no real strategy behind them. Most companies wouldn’t see results.

Since TV isn’t free brands invest a lot of money in the strategy and production to make sure that they have effective commercials that get returns.

The same is true with social media.  It is free to create an account but there is a lot of clutter.  You need to stand out and have a strategy that really connects.  You need to know your customers and commit the time and energy to learn about them.

The good news is that this is MUCH cheaper  than producing TV commercials.  Take the time and do it right.  Don’t spin your wheels not getting it right.

The reality is that most of these barriers are only in their minds.  They don’t want to use social media because they don’t understand it, so they make excuses.  Deep down, they know that they need to use social media (or they wouldn’t be talking to me), but something in their mindset is holding them back.

The reality is that businesses that invest in learning how to properly harness social media see dramatic results.  All signs show that social media is here to stay.  You can’t afford to ignore it.

Excuse #1 – Social media is a fad

Social media is here to stay.  Social media has mass adoption and continues to grow in popularity. 

• More people check Facebook every day than read the newspaper or listen to the radio.
• Facebook has over 500 million users.
• There are over 30 million blogs in the US (that is about 1 for every 10 people)
• Twitter has millions of users including most celebrities and politicians.
• Social Media was listed as a key factor in winning the last US presidency.

Excuse #2 – Social Media is a shiny new object

Social Media isn’t really new when you think about it.  People have been social since forever.  We live in communities.  We talk about things that matter.  We give advice to our friends.  This has all been going on for centuries.

The media part is new.  Technology has allowed us to make social connections in a more powerful and scalable way.  Rather than keeping up with a few people in person we can keep up with many people by checking out their tweets or Facebook updates. 

So really, social media is an age old concept that is transformed by technology.

Excuse #3 – I can’t afford to hire someone to help me

Small business owners who hear me speak approach me afterward and ask me how they can get support to start growing their business with social media marketing.  They often then say that they can’t afford to invest.  That is a losing mindset, because if they are already struggling, they really, they can’t afford not to.

Businesses waste all sorts of money on things that don’t work any more. Yellow pages ads, newspaper ads, direct mail and coupons.  Social media works better than any of these things.  If you want to be successful make the choice to invest in something that will actually grow your business and get you results.

Excuse #4 – I don’t have the time

This is one of the most common barriers.  I don’t have the time.  Do you have about an hour a week?  That is all it takes.  10 minutes, 5 times a week.  If you are disciplined in your social media marketing approach you can manage social media without a lot of time.

Our clients that use the social marketing action program see results with just an hour a week (after  setting everything up).  The key is to use efficiency tools and be strategic in how you spend your time.

Excuse #5 – Social media doesn’t deliver business results

This one is just plain not true.  Businesses of all sizes have seen dramatic results from social media across multiple areas of their business.  Here are just a few examples:

• Lenovo reduced customer service calls  by 20% with social media.
• Vista Prints sold $25,000 from twitter alone
• Golden Tee saved development costs with a free Facebook application.
• Naked pizza had their best ever sales day from twitter.

These are just a few.  If you make the smart choice to invest in social media you will be on one of these lists one day.

Are there any other myths that you hear?

Blogs provide a number of business benefits, however many blogs don’t get results because they are not created strategically or written correctly for the web.  In working with businesses on their blogs there are a number of simple strategies and tactics that mean the difference between success and failure.

Blogs are definitely worth the investment as they can provide LOTS of value to businesses.  Here are few of them:

1) Position yourself as a thought leader

A blog is a powerful way to position yourself and your brand as a thought leader in your industry.  By sharing your thoughts and views or uniqu knowledge you can be perceived as an expert in your area.

Most businesses are great at something (hopefully you are!) and sharing your knowledge is a great way to showcase this.  Showing your expertise through a blog builds trust in you and your business.

2) Search Engine Traffic

Probably one of the best reasosn to start a blog is for search engine traffic.  Search engines like blogs because they have a lot of content that is updated frequently.

This means that when people search for words related to your product or your blog posts you are more likely to show up at the top of the results.  This means more traffic for your website and ultimately more sales!

3) To share news

Most small businesses don’t have a fancy PR firm or a press page.  That doesn’t mean they don’t have news!  A blog is a great way to share news about your business in an honest, opwn and personable way.

4) Get Customer Feedback

Blogs can generate two-way conversations between a company and their customers.  Leverage your blog to ask for customer feedback.  You can get feedback on current items or have your customers help you build new products or services.

When I worked at a startup we used our blog to generate discussions around what our new products should be.  Our blog gave us an opportunity to share what we are working on and our customers an opportunity to tell us what they thought.  Our blog comments also helped us to develop our policies, as we got considerable customer feedback and suggestions from our readers.

5) Connect with Customers on Content

Whatever your business line there are subject areas related to your product that your audience is passionate about.  Zappos, a company that sells shoes and clothes online runs a fashion blog.  They know that frequent shoppers on their site are interested in fashion trends.  So, their blog provides information and updates on fashion.

Are there subjects that are related to your business that your customers are passionate about?  A blog is a great way to make a connection based around that shared interest.

6) Show you are Human

A blog can show the human side of your business.  Remember, people do business with people they know, like and trust.  A blog can help people “know”, “like” and “trust you”.

By posting personal content they feel like they know you.  It builds a personal connection.  For example, people “connect” with me over being Canadian, or drinking WAY too much coffe.

They like you because the blogs show the  nice and personable side of you.  You share their interests, say nice things, comment and respond.

They trust you because you say smart things about your product or subject area which builds trust over.  The human element also builds trust.

7) Provide Context about Your Business

Prior to making a purchase most people do some research online.  If it is a big purchase they want to know if you are legitimate, provide a good product and know your stuff.

Often the corporate website is canned and shiny, but doesn’t provide real, transparent and authentic seeming information.

The blog can do this.  A blog can show the real side of the company and build the trust that ultimately leads to purchases.  It provides more context about you as a business and your products.

How  else are companies seeing value from blogging?  Why do you blog?

I have worked with many of these business owners to help them find success in social media, and I know that small businesses can get results using social media marketing. I know first hand that social media can provide a better ROI than traditional marketing methods.  Social Media marketing can deliver results when used strategically and with the right plan.

Here are 10 of the most common ways that small businesses can use social media to grow their business.  In no particular order, here are 10 ways that small businesses can use social media:

1) Share Deals and Promotions on Twitter

Twitter is a powerful way to share deals and promotions with your customers (and future customers)!  Big companies like Dell Outlet have sold millions of dollars through twitter, but it works for small companies too.  Naked Pizza, a small pizza store in New Orleans had their highest ever sales day from a twitter promotion.  Vista Prints sold $25,000 directly through twitter in their first year.  Find and connect with your target audience and give them irresistable offers on Twitter.

2) Share news and Updates on Facebook

Don’t have a fan page yet?  If you have fans or customers who are passionate about your business you should have a fan page.  Use it to connect with customers and  keep them up to date on your new products or services.  I was recently getting my car fixed and found that the mechanic frequents the same neighborhood bar as I do.  He told me that he checks  out their Facebook page every day to see what food and drink specials they have.  This bar has a creative new drink special for Happy Hour every day and a different free food item available.

Whether is it food and drink specials, new items in your store, new industry news or regulations a facebook fan page can be a powerful resource to keep your customers up to date.  Over 1/3 of people who are fans of companies on Facebook are fans for this reason – to stay up to date.

3) Network on LinkedIn Groups

Lots of small businesses and professionals grow their businesses by networking with people.  Meeting people and sharing helpful knowledge drives business over time.  People do business with people they know, like and trust.

LinkedIn groups allow you connect with others based on a shared interest.  You can join a group and contribute to discussions or share interesting news.  By using LinkedIn to build relationships you can earn new customers over time.

4) Connect with Prospects with a Webinar

Webinars are becoming increasingly popular ways to connect with prospects adn provide value to customers.  Webinars are virtual and web-based.  A webinar is typically hosted around a specific topic and people sign up, call in and log-in on their computer and they can watch and listen to a live session on a specific topic.

Webinars are very popular in categories that are high-information.  Most B-to-B business fall in to this categoy, but it also works for consumer products.  If people are looking for knowledge or information on your subject area, a webinar can be a powerful tool to share information with them and position yourself as a leader.

5) Be a Thought Leader with a Blog

Blogs are very popular for a variety of reasons (we’ll discuss one more of them later in this post).  One of the reasons is that a blog can establish you as an expert and thought leader  in your industry.  If people trust you and see you as knowledgeable they are more likely to do business with you.

Run a gym? Share workout tips.  Real Estate Agent? Share posts highlighting the people and events in your neighborhood.  Restaurant? Show how you make signature drinks or menu items.

6) Connect with Customers and Prospects with an email newsletter

So maybe *technically* this isn’t social media, but it is relatively simple and cheap for most businesses to create a newsletter.  Constant Contact and MailChimp offer services for under $25 a month and are easy to use.

An email newsletter can keep your customers and prospects up to speed on news, deals and promotions.  Email remains  the preferred communication method of most people (1:10 preference over social media) to stay up to date.

7) Join  an online community

There are online communities for almost everything these days.  Seek out a discussion forum or community that is specific to your business and participate!

You can connect with customers (or potential customers) and really learn about them.  What are they interested in?  What do they talk about? What do they want and need in products?  Participating and listening to communinities that are comprised of your business target can improve your product but also lead to sales as you build relationships.

Monitor and Respond to your Reviews

There are many business review sites – from product reviews on amazon to restaurant and store reviews on yelp to complaints on The Ripoff Report.  Whatever your business line, chances are there are review sites that are relevant.  Even Facebook has included reviews on fan pages.  Google has reviews in their listings.

Look for and respond to reviews (both good and bad).  Saying thanks to a good review can build an evangelist and encourage word-of-mouth.  Responding to a negative review can help clarify the situation.  Showing that you care about negative reviews and plan to take action shows your side of the situation to the hundreds of people who view the review.

9) Get Found on Search Engines with a Blog

Another great reason to start a blog is to get traffic from search engines.  Because blogs are content rich (you typically create content for them on a regular basis) search engines give traffic to sites with blogs.

In almost anything that you search for you’ll find a number of blogs show up in search results.  If people find you business through search a blog can increase the probability that you will show up in results.  This leads to traffic and (hopefully) sales.

10) Generate Awareness with a Video

Videos can be great ways to connect with your audience.  A picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a million!  Video is a great way to share information – whether it is a video showing how you make a dish, customers talking about their satisfaction or a video demo of your product – videos are powerful tools.

Create a video for your business to make a deeper connection with your audience.  Whatever your business there are many different creative ways to use and share videos.

This list isn’t exhaustive – it is simply a handful of the tactics and tools that are included in the Social Media Action Pack.

How are you using social media for your small business?

http://bootcampdigital.com/social-media-and-internet-marketing-special-value-pack/

Back by popular demand Boot Camp Digital announced another Social Media Marketing boot camp training session to help businesses harness the power of social media to get new customers, drive sales, grow leads and build their brands.  The intensive 2 days of training will take place on September 7 & 8 at the Cincinnati Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“In this economy many businesses need to figure out how to do more with less,” said Krista Neher, CEO of Boot Camp Digital “social media is the solution.  Investing in learning how social media can grow your business is probably the best business decision that most businesses can ever make.  This powerful new medium gets results, and I have worked with hundreds of businesses to help them grow their business with social media.’

The training sessions provide a step-by-step methodology that has been developed over many years of working with companies.  Boot Camp Digital’s Social Marketing System shows businesses exactly how to build and execute a strategic social media marketing plan that gets results.  Details and a special limited time discounted offer for the training can be found at http://bootcampdigital.com/social-media-and-internet-marketing-special-value-pack/

The reality is that businesses can’t afford to ignore social media any longer.  Facebook now has over 500 million users (which is larger than the combined populations of Canada, the US and Mexico) and 88% of people on Facebook are connected to at least one brand or businesses.  Consumers want to connect with brands on social media.  Additionally, over 20% of Tweets on Twitter reference a brand or business.  Attention is increasingly shifting towards social media with more people checking Facebook each day than reading the newspaper or listening to the radio.  If your business isn’t on social media you are missing out.

“Krista’s engaging personality, professional presentation skills, and top-tiered marketing and social media knowledge combine to create a fun, knowledge-based, energy-filled experience. I value the times that I have participated in one of her seminars and would recommend Krista with a virtual megaphone,” said Boot Camp attendee Joanne Maly, principal at Lincoln Maly Marketing.

To sign up for the training or for more information visit http://bootcampdigital.com/training.

According to all projections internet marketing is projected to grow at around 10% over the next few years.  When looking at how consumers spend their time more consumers check Facebook each day than read a newspaper or listen to the radio (scary).

In training a number of ad agencies on social media marketing there are a number of questions that are frequently asked.

1) Is social media marketing really that important?

Some agency staff are still not  sold on the concept of social media as a tool for brand building.  I was recently asked if social media was a fad that might pass.  All signs show that social media is here to stay.

• There are now over 500 million people on Facebook – that is more than the combined populations of the US, Canada and Mexico.
• Consumers want to connect with brands.  The average  Facebooker is connected to over 60 pages/groups and events and over 88% of Facebookers are fans of at least one brand or business.
• 20% of all tweets reference a brand or business.

The reality is that brands and businesses are a part of our lives, and our social lives.  Not only are people using social sites but they want to connect with the brands they like on Social Media.

2) How do we create great social media campaigns?

This is a BIG question that can be answered in tens of thousands of pages.  But the simplest starting point is to get engaged yourself.  Engage in social media and digital marketing.  Look around at what different brands are doing.  Are there great executions in your industry? What do you think is good and bad about them? What brands engage you in social media?  Why are you interested in them?

Listening yourself and getting engaged is a great first step to “figuring out” social media.  In addition to that, many ad agencies are investing in training programs to help their staff see best practices and learn about how to harness the power of social media for businesses.

These are great first steps for traditional agencies looking to get up to speed with social media marketing.

3) Brands are increasingly going to smaller “social media” or “digital” firms. How do we get a piece of this?

The first step to winning social media business is to get your entire organization up to speed on social media marketing.  Excellent social media and digital campaigns are incorporated at the core of a campaign, and not “added on” after the fact.  Creating a solid level of digital kknowledge in your organization is the key to success.

Some agencies start by creating a “social media group” that people are assigned to.  Recruit great social media talent to evangelize and spearhead, but make social media a part of the fabric of the entire organization.

Traditional agencies have great creative talent, and creative is absolutely vital to a successful social media campaign.  When social media marketing started just showing up was pretty darn good.  There were only a few brands on twitter, and they got credit just for being there.

The bar is higher now.  Social media marketing requires a great creative idea that resonates with the target audience and is delivered in a way that is relevant to the medium.  Invest in your organization and you can win business.

4) Who should own social media in a company? PR or Marketing?

It isn’t the same answer for every organization, and there is plenty of debate.  Ownership should be determined based on the goals and objectives of the social media efforts and the core competencies of each organization.  Either way, both should play a role (and probably customer service too).

Marketing typically owns the overall brand strategy – equity, positioning and promotion of new products.  These are usually crucial elements in a social media program.  That being said, PR owns the external positioning of the brand and how they communicate with the public.  Customer service also plays a key role as the best suited to be on the front line responding to product questions or complaints.

The best strategy is one that includes all of these stake-holders (and probably others – like legal) each contributing in their area of expertise.  Brand should help identify the target audience, the brand character and overall strategy.  PR should own how the messaging is customized for “public” and external stake-holders and the overall positioning.  Again, these are only guidelines based on the typical roles of different departments.  The key to success in social media is to allow each function to contribute aligned with their area of expertise.

5) Who should execute social media? The brand internally or the agency?

This is a great question.  Again, there are multiple success models, but I think that the emerging trend is for internal to the brand community managers and agencies to work together.

Typically, someone on the brand team is best suited to manage social media on a day to day basis.  This ads credibility and humanity to the social media efforts.  For example – Donna from Brand X is more relatable than Sally from the agency.  In an age where people can do research and find out who you really are (on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc) it is best to leverage reall people vs. create characters.

That being said, the agency still plays a BIG role.  The agency should help create the social media assets (brand pages, twitter background and icon) and theme them.  What is the strategic purpose of each asset and what content will bring it to life?

Effective social media requires a strong content plan.  The agency can contribute to and bring to life a content plan that matches the brand strategy and character.  Also, in addition to the base social media many brands run “campaigns” on social media.  Like a Facebook contest, tweet promos, etc.  This is another example of where the agency comes in.  The agency can create and run social media promotions in addition to the base conversation and responding.

What other questions are you seeing ad agencies asking about social media?  Any additional perspective?

Mobile internet access tends to include shorter and more frequent sessions vs. PC web access.  For example, on a mobile phone a user may browse the web 10 times a day for 5 minutes or less each time.  On a PC a user typically logs on once or twice a day for 20 – 40 minutes each time.  Since mobile web users have such short sessions the content needs to be designed differently.  With shorter sessions there is also less time for users to be lured away with ads.

In addition, there are limitations due to the screen size.  Smaller screen sizes means less room for advertisements.  Additionally content should be designed for the small screen and take advantage of the flexibility of touch screens.

Finally, applications are able to provide more efficient solutions to many traditional searches or web browsing sessions.  For example, if a mobile phone users is looking for a restaurant they may look for an application like Urban Spoon or Yelp.  On a PC a search for a restaurant would probably start with a search engine like google.

While the mobile web is changing the way we consume it is interesting to see the growth of web use and how different operating systems stack up.  Will the winner be iphones, android or blackberry?  The chart below for Quantcast shows Android is significantly gaining market share at the expense of the the apple operating system.

Only time will tell who the winner will be in the mobile operating system race.

Do you know how to write for the web? Well, Yahoo has just released their new Yahoo! Web Style Guide (available now!) and companion website to help you answer that question. When it was first announced that Yahoo was releasing this guide I was initially excited and felt like it was an important step forward. However, after thinking and reading about it, I’m failing to see why this is important to anyone except a select few, and I fail to see why Yahoo feels they are relevant enough to release this kind of guide.

What if Google Released This Guide?

If a web style guide was put together and published by Google; oh my, the Internet would be on fire about how this is the most important addition to web publishing since the adoption of HTML. This release isn’t from Google though, and Yahoo doesn’t have the juice it once did, are they expecting a wide adoption of this web writing style? So I will be interested to see what kind of adoption there is for the Yahoo style.

Yahoo’s Website Support for Your Style Questions

Aside from the book Yahoo has also introduced a companion website (http://styleguide.yahoo.com/) to assist with all of your web writing needs. I think the most interesting aspect is the Ask an Editor feature, which is basically just a Frequently Asked Questions page. I would love for this to turn into a real-time interactive feature incorporating social media tools to have real conversations with users and writers about their questions.

What About AP Style?

Writing for the web is not the same as writing for print, you don’t have the constraints of space on the web like in print. News reporters have had the AP Style Guide to be their universally accepted standard since the 1950’s and have a new edition released each year, usually in June. Yahoo has definitely become a more reliable and trusted news source over the years, but I think they have overreached their influence in this case.

Is Yahoo’s Web Style for You?

Will the Yahoo! Web Style Guide be widely accepted? I don’t know. It has only been out for a couple of days as this post, so that will be seen. I really wanted to write this article about how important an addition to copywriting and blogging this guide would be, but the more I thought about it the less important this guide seemed. I don’t want to come across as being 100% against this style guide, it’s a good first effort to standardize language and it’s proper usage on the web. I just don’t think Yahoo is the right company to set these standards. I know I will be purchasing a copy to put on my Kindle so I have it with me all the time, and I will use it help with my copywriting style, but aside from me, word nerds and some bloggers, I don’t see this as catching on like wildfire throughout the Internet.

- Brian Tudor

Follow @briantudor on Twitter

I recently read an article about Gatorade and their social media monitoring process called the “Mission Control Center”.  Looking at picture of the Gatorade Mission Control Center, one would think you are observing sky measurements at a mini version of NASA.  Equipped with six big monitors and five marketing specialists, Gatorade has reinvented their tactics to social media marketing.  But I ask myself, is this all really necessary?

What Gatorade Mission Control Monitors

On one screen, you see a visualization of tweets relevant to the Gatorade brand including mentions, competitors and other related topics.  The marketing team is able to discern the sentiment, content, importance, frequency and category of the tweets that, in turn, helps them determine their next marketing step.

Another screen provides visualizations from mentions in blogs in a 24-hour trending topic screen.  The different colored lines indicate the number and sentiment of the tags and mentions.  The fact that Gatorade can monitor these conversations shows how much hype Gatorade really is in the world of social mediums.

The Results from Monitoring and Engaging

Through this advanced control center, Gatorade marketers are able to see the reactions to a new campaign release or television advertisements and see if they are getting their intended reaction from its consumers.  Amazingly, through this new marketing strategy, Gatorade has been able to increase engagement with its product education by 250% and reduce its exit rate from 25% to 9%.

Gatorade’s Goal: to be Participatory

With Gatorade’s worldwide popularity, it makes sense for them to go to such lengths to create the optimal social media campaign.  The future of Gatorade, at this point, seems boundless.  Gatorade’s expert marketing team is hoping to “take the largest sports brand in the world and turn it into largest participatory brand in the world.”

Social Media Monitoring Gives Immediate Feedback

Social media monitoring can influence other aspects of marketing – including traditional marketing.  Gatorade is able to see how people react to their ads immediately online, whereas waiting for traditional ad metrics would have taken many months.  They can immediately adjust their ad campaigns based on consumer responses through social media.  For example, Gatorade launched an ad featuring a song by rap artist David Banner.  Through monitoring social media, Mission Control saw that the ad generated a lot of discussions and buzz and within 24 hours Gatorade recorded a full-length version of the song and gave it away to social media followers on Facebook and Twitter.  Listening to social media provides real-time feedback for Gatorade to see what works and what doesn’t.

It isn’t just about celebrity endorsements and big ad budgets

With the help of big time athletes being the center of the majority of Gatorade’s commercial campaign as well as tactical marketing strategies, Gatorade has become the largest sports brand in the world.  They must be doing something right!  With their installment of the Mission Control Center, Gatorade marketers are able to track a number of mediums in the world of social media.

Would a “Mission Control Center” help your business?

The survey also explored which specific business areas professionals are using social media for. The most common use of social media is for Marketing, with 57% of professionals using social media for this purpose.

If your organization isn’t using social media yet, what are you waiting for?  While marketing receives a lot of hype it isn’t the only way that organizations and professionals are using social media.  In addition to marketing businesses are using social media for internal collaboration and learning, customer service and support, sales, human resources, strategy and product development.

How are you using Social Media professionally?