There are so many new social networking tools today that were created to educate and inspire.
It is easier for people to come together and share opinions,experiences and thoughts on any number of topics.
The power of social media to connect and inform your customers, and potential customers of what is happening with you and your business is amazing.
There are 100's of free on line tools at your fingertips and you need to use as many as you can possibly manage.
When I say this I don't mean for you to go out there and sign up for everything.
You need to do your research, find out what fits your needs the best, test them out and make informed decisions.
Use what is essential for you.
Social media is about reaching people when, where and how they want to be reached.
You can appeal to the people who want to read via a blog post or you too can write articles.
A podcast will appeal to those who like to listen.
Video on YouTube will appeal to those who like to watch.
You need to use these new on line tools to get your message out in as many different ways as possible...
so you can reach as many people as possible.
I personally would advise that you do all of the above, however I would also advise that you master them one at a time.
I attempted to do everything at once in the beginning and found I became "master of none".
Each tool has it's own learning curve, start with one you already know a little something about and build from there.
Pick one of the most popular tools such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube.
These are the sites that already receive the most traffic and where you are likely to be able to reach the largest # of people.
By choosing one of the most popular site to start with you will also have available at your fingertips more resources to learn from.
When I first started using Camtasia for my YouTube videos I found many video tutorials for free on-line.
You too will be able to find many resources on-line for all of the popular sites.