Many small businesses understand they need to get on the "social media bandwagon" but you might not know how to start, or better yet, why to even do it. You just hear about social media and think, "My business needs a Facebook presence and a Twitter account" but you don't really know why. If you're reading this blog, chances are you've got a website and you're probably email marketing. So you might be asking, "If I'm already doing email marketing, how does Twitter fit in?"

By Stephanie Miller - If a social marketing tactic can't be measured, does it still have value? The answer is, “Yes, in concept, but no in the harsh reality of today’s marketing budgets.” That’s why it’s smart to track your social marketing in the context of other online channels like e-mail, which can be easily measured and is already highly valued.

by R. J. Talyor - You get it. Email needs to be relevant, timely, and personalized, and it has to arrive in the inbox—not the spam folder. When an email renders, it should load images perfectly, guide the eye through stunning, effective design that drives subscribers to convert—download, purchase, whatever. But effective one-to-one marketing is more than just email.

Having immersed myself in Twitter for a few days now, I’m finally beginnng to distinguish between the good, the bad and the downright ugly when it comes to using Twitter for business.  If you’d rather not learn the hard way (as I did) here are 50 great tips from social media strategist Chris Brogan...

by Jeanniey Mullen - I have to admit, I used to be skeptical of Twitter. I also didn't see the integration between Twitter and Facebook with e-mail. But then I started to realize these channels could be very useful to extend the reach of my e-mail programs: We placed links to our e-mails on the social networking sites. And guess what? We saw a great lift in response.

Online business owners often think Twitter is for children. It sounds so frivolous! In fact, some people get 30-90% of their revenue from Twitter-generated transactions. Here's how.

Social media (such as Twitter and Facebook) will help you gain massive visibility on the Internet. When you use social networking to grow your business, your tweets and posts become part of your marketing communications. Therefore you will see more powerful results when you view every post as an opportunity for copywriting.