A good thing to realize is that we use technology and technology does not use us. One does not have to use Twitter as discussed above, and there is no reason to jump in and do everything at once. It is best to start with listening. What are people saying about you? What conversations can you be a part of? What types of proactive reach can you do and what do you need to be reactive to? For you and for your company, be sure to choose how to use the technology.

If a commitment is made to become part of an online community and conversations, commit to taking the feedback to the company and asking what you can do to change and actually make the company change. Determine what the customers want and figure out a way to get back to the company mission and values. 

Benchmark your social media efforts and see if they are creating any return on investment on organic search engines through relevant content and information. Use a trend graph when trying to benchmark your social media and Internet strategy efforts. (A trend graph provides information at a glance through graphing out ups, downs, and horizontals [growth stalls] to provide metrics of valuable information needed in the study being performed.)

Message boards and forums are important ways for companies to brand. Think about why a person joins a forum; it is based on similar interests and commonalities. Online communities become trusted resources to ask advice about things not related to the same online forum or online community. However, relationships have been developed and trust is gained.

According to http://www.big-boards.com, the most active message boards and forums on the Web, they list out and rate different blog posts. When visiting this Web site, it is easy to sort and filter by different blog posts, memberships, page views, traffic, online users, Alexa ranking (a relative measurement of how popular a Web site is among the Internet community), and much more.

Knowing blogs are becoming a relevant communication tool, this is something you may want to consider doing for your own exposure, as long as you have relevant content that people will want to follow.

We are experiencing an explosion in social media participation around the world. It is becoming harder and harder to run a business without using social media. It is time to figure out how your business fits into this social media world and how to develop a strategic market place online. Social media is much different than Internet marketing. Once you understand the mind-set of social media, the core of all your social ability, and heart of your search engine optimization (SEO), the rankings will be paid off through more visibility, more leads, and potentially more sales.

Learn about these online communities and how to engage in them. With a Web presence, active social media usage, and search engine optimization strategies, you can deliver a content strategy designed to sell your products and services online. I have found social media to be very beneficial both personally and professionally. Social media content I am personally using are LinkedIn, Twitter, Squidoo, Facebook, Google+, WordPress and lots of widgets for measuring my time and efforts in Social Media. 

Spread links, contents, and messages to the far reaches of the social sphere. Tie all of this into a constant web of influence while gaining higher search engine ability. Integrated social media initiatives will increase Web presence and grow your business strategies.

About DJ Heckes, Author of Full BRAIN Marketing and Owner of EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts

DJ Heckes is CEO of EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts and Full BRAIN Marketing .  She focuses on educating and training companies to significantly improve their Small Business Marketing strategies.  DJ Heckes also presents customized training programs for Business Marketing, Social Media, Leadership and Trade Show Marketing. Learn more at www.EXHIB-IT.com  and www.fullBRAINMarketing.com.  Be sure to follow us!

DJ Heckes, CEO & Author
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
www.exhib-it.com
Full BRAIN Marketing
www.fullbrainmarketing.com