Some entrepreneurs are reluctant to use social networking to promote their business ventures. There are good reasons for feeling this way; social networking may be low cost, but it requires an immense amount of time to set up and maintain. In addition, it is just as easy to anger and alienate your audience as it is to win their hearts. Many entrepreneurs prefer to focus on more traditional marketing methods. However, there are a few good reasons to make social media a part of your business. The first and more important one is that social networking works.

A good example of entrepreneurial success through social networking is young businesswoman Shama Kabani. Kabani was recently covered in a story in Entrepreneur magazine and is considered one of the social media experts of our times. Although she is only 26 year old, Shama Kabani is a published author on the topic of social media marketing and hosts a web TV show on the topic. She is also the founder of The Marketing Zen Group, a two-year-old business that specializes in helping businesses find and implement the right social media marketing options for their companies.

Another factor that makes Kabani an expert is her education in the matter; her master’s thesis at the University of Texas was written on Twitter, back when the social networking website had only 2,000 users and not the hundreds of millions that we see today. It was a somewhat prophetic thesis that predicted the rise of tweets as a social force.

Kabani points out that we live in a world in which business has become ‘faceless’. People are shopping on the internet or at superstores. The brand interaction that used to be provided by face-to-face interaction is now absent, and customers long for it. Social media is one way of giving customers the face and the personality that they want when choosing a company with which to do business. However, the social networking approach that works best can vary according to the unique business and market. This is where consultancies such as The Marketing Zen Group come in.

One case study from the business is that of k9cuisine.com, an online dog food retailer. Under the guidance of Marketing Zen, the business established a blog and an active Twitter following, while also wooing some of the best known names in pet blogging. For other companies, the right approach might be to simply have a well-optimized blog. The right social networking approach depends on the business itself.

In order to be successful in the early days of the business, when many entrepreneurs flounder, Kabani is running a lean operation that will look familiar to many people. Most of her employees work virtually, and some of them are located in countries known for offering highly skilled and inexpensive labor. So far this has been an effective strategy; the business grew 400% last year and is predicted to be a multimillion company by 2014.

At a time when many young graduates are leaving college to find that there are no jobs even for motivated and educated people, Kabani has realized at a young age what most entrepreneurs know: in life, you must create your own opportunities. Social networking is a way of creating opportunities that entrepreneurs in previous generations never dreamed of.

Indeed, creating your own opportunities is what social media marketing is all about. You can reach out to customers and build a brand without a huge investment of money. The marketing that was once limited to multi-million dollar corporations is now completely available to every entrepreneur. The secret is to know how and when to use this tool.

As Kabani emphasizes, the social media approach that works best for your company will depend on your business and your market. However, there are a few general rules that can help you to make a plan.

• Optimize. Whatever you do on the internet, it needs to be optimized so that it shows up in search engine results. After all, a vast and comprehensive internet presence that is seen by no one is a complete waste of time. It is usually easy to optimize a website; it involves only moving around words and inserting tags. Not only does your website and blog need to be optimized, but your Facebook, Twitter and other social content as well.
• Consider your market. Where are your target customers hanging out? Are they tweeting, checking their Facebook status, surfing YouTube or simply typing random phrases into Google? You may need to think a little and get into your consumers’ minds in order to find this answer. However, it is important to know your market so you can tailor your approach specifically to their sensitivities.
• Have personality. This is not a business plan; you are interacting with customers and need to have a personality. Consider what tone and which persona will work best with your market. You may want to do a little research to see what works best.
• Allow two-way communication. Modern people don’t like being dictated to. You need to allow people to communicate with your business. Ask questions and post polls. This will make modern customers feel heard; it will also allow you to see new directions for your business.
• Watch the competition. What videos and posts are getting shared and going viral? Your goal is to take note of these and try to emulate them. Dissect what makes a social media message successful with your target audience and re-create it in your own social media marketing campaigns. Often, what works for one business may work just as well for another. Don’t be afraid or ashamed to copy a successful strategy.

Social media is one of the greatest opportunities for a business, as Kabani’s success and that of so many other entrepreneurs have shown. The major social media websites have hundreds of millions of regular users, and your target market is probably included in this number. Social networking is much cheaper than other types of marketing and also more effective, so what are you waiting for?

Media exposure can be one of the most valuable free marketing tools a small business can wield. However, the media can be your best friend or your worst enemy, depending on how you portray yourself. Here are a few tips for presenting yourself and your business in the best possible light and using the media to your best advantage.

Do: Plan ahead. Some of the worst media gaffes occur when the interviewee simply doesn’t know what to say. Familiarize yourself with the media venue in question. This should give you an idea of what the topic and general tone of your interview will be. Then, make a list of talking points and arm yourself with facts that promote your position.

Don’t: Give interviews and statements to anyone who asks. Some interviewers are known for being, well, jerks. Refuse to deal with these people. Stick with media sources and reporters that are known for being professional and well-balanced. Always ask yourself: how will this affect my business and my brand?

Do: Practice. Watch yourself in the mirror as you practice your interview. Even better, ask a brutally honest friend to watch you. You may also want to videotape yourself giving sample answers and evaluate. You want to look as poised, knowledgeable, and likeable as possible. Be especially on guard against rambling. Hone your points into ‘sound bites’ that are short and sweet.

Don’t: Speak ‘off the record’. There is no ‘off the record’ when you are talking to the media. If you are speaking to a media representative, assume that everything you say will be reported and speak accordingly.

Do: Make a mental list of topics you will and will not talk about. This will allow you to create intelligent talking points and also to avoid creating controversy or offending potential customers. Plan ways of steering your interview back to the topics you prefer. Practice phrases such as, “I don’t know enough about that issue to comment, but what I do know is that…”

Don’t: Comment outside of your area of expertise. You never know who you might alienate if you start talking about politics or other touchy subjects. The media loves controversy, so they will absolutely try to get provocative statements out of you. These quotes can easily be taken out of context and used against you by your competition.

Do: Pause before speaking. Many people make the mistake of answering immediately, even if this leads to a lot of ‘um, err, well…’ and missed opportunities to build their small business brand. Waiting a moment before responding to a question will allow you to collect your thoughts and prevent stammering. You’ll come across as an intelligent, thoughtful person and retain more power over the conversation or interview.

Don’t: Give unplanned interviews or statements. Unless you are a media expert, it is simply too easy to mess them up or put your foot in your mouth. Your business deserves a carefully crafted brand and well-thought-out media exposure; an ‘on the fly’ interview will likely achieve neither.

It’s a common scenario. You have a great idea for a small business, invest time and money in getting the right supply chain, open a website or a physical location, and then… nothing happens. You know that people are looking for products and services like yours, but they never seem to find you. Increasing your business’s findability can be a ‘make or break’ solution that changes your company’s destiny. Here are a few ways to ensure that your company can be found by the people who are seeking it.

1. Claim your name.

   Your website name should be yourbusinessname.com. This is what people looking for you will type into their address bar, after all. In addition to claiming your name as a URL, you should claim your business name on social networking websites and business review sites as well as offline directories like the telephone book. This prevents having customers look for you and end up finding one of your competitors. It also will make you look like a more established small business.

2. Use search engine optimization to drive traffic your way.

   Good content is the key to SEO, and you should ensure that your website is full of it. Include keyword-rich content in your text, titles, and tags. In fact, almost every word on your website and social media pages should be a keyword of some sort. If you are unsure about what keywords are right for you, use Google’s Keyword Tool or hire a professional SEO consultant.

3. Ask for feedback, reviews, and other ‘buzz’.

   As a wise man once said: a happy customer tells one friend; an unhappy customer tells ten. Ouch. That means that you need to proactively seek positive reviews to counteract the occasional bad one. People are going to Yelp and other review sites to talk about businesses that they love and hate, and you need to ensure that these websites are filled with positive experiences with your small business. Ask customers to rate you honestly. Many businesses even offer a small incentive, such as a coupon, for referrals or other positive buzz.

4. Get the media involved.

   If you think you are too small for a major area newspaper or other media source to cover you, think again. Reporters are always looking for a way to fill the space on slow news days. Think of an angle. Do you do anything noteworthy or different? Figure out what sets you apart from the competition and then use it as a way to build your brand and gain exposure for your company and logo design. Which brings us to the last tip…

5. Be noteworthy.

   The best way to be found is to get people talking. The best way to get people talking is to give them something to talk about. Not only will this help relevant customers find you, it will give them a good reason to return. If you make a unique and enticing brand promise and then fulfill it, you will build customer loyalty and build your small business image at the same time.

Social networking is an incredibly potent tool when it comes to marketing your business and your brand. It gets your logo design and core values out into the public eye in a way that is fun, friendly, and, best of all, free. However, many small business owners find that their social networking sites end up being more of a detriment than a benefit, because they allow the public to see sides of you that may not be congruent with your business’s professional image. Here are five simple tools for using Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites in a way that benefits your company and build your brand.

Monitor personal revelations. There is nothing wrong with having personal information on your social networking sites; in fact, it may build your brand as customers will increasingly see you and your business as human and likeable. However, be very careful about what kind of personal information you post. Pictures of your children in Halloween costumes may be appropriate, depending on your brand, but picture of your drunken misbehavior at a Halloween party likely will diminish your business brand and your professional image.

Watch your language. Even a well placed and seemingly appropriate swear word will offend many of your customers, and the nature of the internet guarantees that this one slip will be ‘out there’ in the public view for decades to come. Using offensive language doesn’t say a lot about your vocabulary skills, either. Similarly, being critical or snarky may not be complimentary to your professional brand. Censor yourself carefully to create a positive image that customers will see as both professional and likeable.

Be politically correct. Unless political or other activism is part of your business brand, don’t include it at your professional site. Most businesses will not benefit from being controversial or overly opinionated. It will only alienate that larger-than-you-think portion of your customers who don’t agree with your personal beliefs.

Consistently update. Customers will stop returning to your page if you don’t routinely update it and add new information. This is a chance to present your brand to the world, so make sure you have a constant flow of relevant information that increase your market’s engagement with your brand while encouraging traffic to your business.

Maintain good branding principles. This basically sums up the preceding four rules. Small business branding isn’t just about logo design and color palettes, although these are certainly important. Every communication and addition to your social media pages needs to be a brand-builder, not a brand-buster. In the end, you didn’t create a social networking presence so your customers could see your weekend party picture; you did so to market your small business brand.

If you have questions about how to brand your company using social networking, or if you don’t really have a brand at all, talking to a branding consultant can get you started on the right path. Don’t let this opportunity to present your brand and your logo design to the public slip past you, and certainly don’t let it become a detriment.

Ever since I bought my iPad, I have not been using it much except for some casual browsing and my daily dose of morning tech rss feeds via.

The main issue is that since iOS4 is not available on iPad yet, I would have to close and switch between numerous apps to get to the social media outlets that I frequent such as Facebook, Twitter, Techcrunch etc.

But with the new app Fliboard, all my favourite feeds are in place in a slick magazine style format!!

If you are on the iPad, I would seriously suggest getting this free app!!