You probably know the old adage that word of mouth advertising is the best, and I wonder if we can equate social media to simply being a new form of this method. How can our websites be structured to function in this social network?

I do not think that any social networking site provides the best option for any small business when it comes to marketing. These networking sites are only a piece in the puzzle. When you step back a moment, you will readily know that fact, but we seem to become overly enticed (excited) by the idea of finding or expanding our customer base on these sites.  Somehow we believe that the internet is different. We can make connections easily, which in turn we feel may lead to new opportunities. We know if we walk into a room of five hundred people and we begin to deliver our elevator pitch that few of those people will become customers. It takes more work than that, yet we seem to feel that this will happen on Facebook or Twitter.  I am being slightly negative here, because I do not want you to think that this post is a secrets of social networking revealed. Anyway, those posts never tell you anything that you do not know already. What I would like to do is discuss how you might connect your business site into this network.
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