The document provides tips for small businesses on using social media to promote their brand. It discusses how social media allows businesses to connect directly with customers in a conversational way. It recommends businesses choose the social media site that best fits their needs and develop a consistent presence by listening to others and sharing content regularly to build trust and expertise over time. The key is focusing on building relationships and being helpful rather than just pitching your business.

1. How small businesses can use social media to promote their Brands OPM 40 Oct 19 th 2009

2. Social Media is a set of online tools and activities that people use to collaborate and connect on the web. In other words: it’s a fancy way to describe the zillions of conversations that people are having online.

3. Social media really is about tearing down the artificial walls between customers and the individuals who work at companies.

4. People don’t want to be shouted at by companies. Instead they want to be listened to and to be able to have a conversation.

7. Its simple: People like working with those they admire and trust

8. WHAT'S A BLOG? A Business blog is a place where you can post your thoughts, observations, ideas, crow about your accomplishments and tell the world about your brand. People can subscribe to your blog and comment on your post and even ask questions.

10. blog topics can also be found on how small biz use social media. YOUR BLOG IS WHATEVER YOU WANT IT TO BE

13. GREAT NEWS! ALL OF YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITIES HELPS TO DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE!

15. Used facebook to build an army of supporters May have won cause he knew no one answered landline!

16. Your blog posts can appear right on the page. Lots of fans means your company is popular Your fans will see everything you post on their feeds. Your fan’s friends see your company name. Great for web traffic because they are indexed by search engines

20. Small Business Twitter Frustration Sometimes you give up without talking to anybody because the sheer numbers are overwhelming. Amongst the business people that I discuss Twitter with there appear to be two types of discouraged small venture owners who give up on Twitter at rapid rate. The case of the large cocktail party where you know no one

21. The kid in the candy store- she sees only opportunites

24. Terms to know Newbie -anyone who is new to twitter and just learning. Tweet : A Short Update of what you are doing for about 140 characters. Followers : People who are subscribed to your updates or tweets Direct Message (DM) : Sending a Direct Message to your followers.(privately) At (@) : You can use this when you are referring to someone’s tweets in your updates. You can also use this to reply publicly if the person is not following you. Re-tweet (RT)-highest form of flattery- if someone re-tweets what you tweeted-they are saying-”I like what you just said and I’d like to pass it along to my followers. Hashtag(#)- are phrases or keywords that can be used to monitor who is saying what about a particular topic. Standards for hashtags are one word (#Conference) and can be used for tweetchats to follow an entire conversation. Followfriday (#FF)- tradition of recommending good tweeters you follow to your following on fridays! URL Shortener- Since Twitter only allows 140 characters, every single character counts. URL Shortener allow you to post weblinks more efficiently and some will even offer tracking capability that you can see how many twitter followers click on the link. TinyURL , Bit.ly are some popular URL Shorteners.

26. Tweekdeck (mashable version)

27. Live twitter feeds during events #oak09 For this program the hashtag was #opm40

32. Social media Is not a one night stand… It’s a long term commitment !

33. @photobiz @albumboutique www.fifthavenuedigital.com/photography-blog