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I hope this helps clear up some questions about how, when and why to use social media tools to develop your business.
1. To publish and distribute information that serves customers or attract new ones. Email, Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instant Messaging, Text Messaging and Podcasts are good for this. The networked nature of these mediums amplifies the reach of your communication while the opt-in nature increases your relevancy.
2. To share information that adds value to a community which builds trust. Email, Social networks, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook are good for sharing information.
3. To connect with others to find partners and customers. People that are active in social media are there because they want interaction, they want to meet new people, make new connections and do business. Searching social media platforms for active users will generally connect you with the right people and potentially with their audience. Topic specific social networks, Blogs, Twitter and Facebook are good for connecting.
4. To collaborate to get projects done better, with less cost and time. All of the social media tools account for who added to the converstaion and when, some even allow for editing of other's content. Working with online content creation and editing tools removes the hassles of schedules, travel, and having many version of a single document in multiple places. Instant messaging, Google docs and webinar style tools are perfect for engaging a large or small audience across geography and time.
It's important to keep in mind that all online activity can be timeless if you choose. This means that your work builds in amount as well as affect over time. Each act of publishing helps your search engine placement and provides an opportunity for your network to spread the word. This is of course not the case with Radio, TV, Print and event based advertising.
Please feel free to leave your comments below, thanks,
D
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