inbound-marketing

CHAPTER 7Get Found in Social MediaSocial media is all the rage. We’ll bet that not a week (or perhapseven a day) goes by when you’re not having a colleagueconnect with you on LinkedIn, receiving a friend requeston Facebook, or hearing about Twitter on TV. What is socialmedia? The all-knowing Wikipedia defines social media as“Internet-based tools for sharing and discussing informationamong human beings.” That’s not a bad definition. We’d simplifyit and say that social media is about people connecting,interacting, and sharing online.Why should you care about social media? The answer isthe same as why you should care about Google—becauseit provides a great way to reach and engage potential customers.As is the case with Google, more of your potentialcustomers hang out at the social media watering holes, sothis is where you need to hang out, too, if you want toengage with them.You can find a variety of social media sites on the Webtoday. These include social networking (such as Facebookand LinkedIn), social news sites (Digg and Reddit), andsocial bookmarking/discovery sites (Delicious and Stumble-Upon). Each has its different uses, but most share the abilityto create a user profile, connect to others on the site, andinteract and share information with the network’s communityof people.85