Twitter, YouTube, Facebook; you have heard the names. What is all the hype about social media networking? How can status reports, videos, and blogging be an influence on your business?

Social media marketing can be an inexpensive, yet very productive way of marketing your business. A business owner can use these sites to increase the exposure of their company or organization, drive traffic to their sites, and make more contacts by broadening their market reach. Here are a few area where you can start building your social media strategy.

Facebook - It’s not just for the college student anymore.
Marc Zuckerberg founded thefacebook.com in 2004 and it was exclusively for college students. In 2006 it was opened to all users 13 and older and has grown by leaps and bounds since then. Did you know that they biggest growing demographic on Facebook in 2009 is women 35-45? There is no better platform to connect with your customers and clients and invite them to get to know you as a business on a deeper level. Start by exploring the business pages part of Facebook.

Blogging – Instant credibility.
Blogging sites are important part of social media marketing. A blog post can provide more information about a company and product offerings than a standard networking site that focuses mainly on short snips of information. Not only will a blog site drive internet traffic for the business but will also let a reader know what is going on with the company, what product developments are happening, etc. There is a multi-level advantage to establishing a blog. Check out www.blogs.zappos.com to see accompany that uses blogging well.

Video – The power of picture.
On an ecommerce site, video increases your conversation rate 40%. That is a statistic that businesses can not afford to ignore. Video can tell a story about your business or product that is far more compelling than simple copy. Additionally, video posts in sites like YouTube get indexed by Google and now that Google owns YouTube posting video should be a part of your search engine marketing strategy.

According to eMarketer, 63% of US companies are increasing their social media budgets this year. Don’t let intimidation scare you into not exploring how social media marketing can improve your bottom line. Let High Performance Advocates show you how to use social media marketing to improve your bottom line.

Author's Bio: 

My name is Ruth Schwartz and I am the owner of for High Performance Advocates. We work with dozens of companies all over the Sierra Foothills develop their people through consulting, workshops and speaking engagements.