Business owners across the country are beginning to see a new marketplace: Online social networks. They are pulling in new clients, servicing current clients, and making money through the use of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This attention to new technology greatly increases the image of the brand, provides faster and more effective service, and allows for a high-level of targeted marketing.
Many businesses have used Facebook to pull their fan base, customers, and potential customers together. Facebook provides tools that allow users to play videos and allow businesses to send marketing messages directly to targeted audiences. One of the greatest benefits of utilizing Facebook for business is its viral effect. If any person becomes a "fan" of your page, a message is sent to all of that person's friends telling them about it, providing a great channel to get your message out to many people over a short period of time.
3 weeks ago I was passively messing around and doing things in a .ning social site. Reading some blogs I found a tools and resource that a lady in New York was promoting and I registered for it. It turned out to be very useful.
I like to drop anchor at a bazillion places......but social networks are good traffic boosters and your leads from these sites have the highest conversion rate.
Yelp.com is local to the big US cities & northern CA -- but it may overtake Facebook as it has already done in San Francisco.
__________________
DJ MC is a northern California entertainer providing non-cheesy DJs for Sacramento weddings and corporate event hire
I use FB to get ppl into my network and every now and then use it for a platform to advertise a client's site. The problem is that it does take time to build up a network.