Do you spend time leaving comments on other blogs? Does your company have anywhere where others can leave reviews or information regarding your goods and services.

When a customer decides to purchase a product from your website or hire you for a specific service they will research as much as they can online before they pull the trigger and slap their credit card info down on the table. Website like Yelp can be the make or break so if you have happy customers encourage them to leave nice positive comments on website that allow for them. Not having an area for the general public to leave comments could be seen just as bad as someone leaving a negative comment. the online shopping community is easily influenced and all it takes is just a little negative or positive reading material to persuade them to one side or the other. Comments help others making decisions when it comes to purchasing items. It doesn’t matter if it is a pair of socks or a plasma internet shoppers will search. For most online shoppers it only takes a few clicks to see whether they are ready to shop on your website or not. Trust is everything and as time goes on trust will become even more important. With all the scams out there ready to take advantage of un-savvy web surfers potential customers will go to great lengths to make sure business is legit.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that even smaller local businesses can even benefit from Myspace or Facebook. The social media landscape is not just for big business anymore. It is important that any business of all sizes tackle this channel very soon. 2009 is going to be a very busy year for many companies and the social landscape will be an area of extreme importance. Partially because their audience is there and the fact that it is free to participate so you only pay for time spent. If you have the time then you have no excuses.

Below are five reasons why your business should be there too.

1. Your Customers are There: It doesn’t matter whether you are shining shoes or a hotel consultant your audience is here. The social media space is taken up by a very large number of internet savvy shoppers and many of them will buy from you either now or at a later date if they only know you exist.

2. Cheaper than a Newspaper Ad: It doesn’t cost you anything but time to get onto these websites and begin to engage in some sort of conversation with others. A newspaper ad is very expensive and often times doesn’t warrant the spend. If you have 30 minutes or an hour each day you can begin to interact on a Myspace or Facebook so people can see who you are.

3. It is Still Early: Social media is at the nose end of its life cycle. This area has just begun and it is exponentially growing. Get on board now because even a year or two down the road and it might take you even longer to catch up and learn everything.

4. Link Building: Building profiles and all the various different social websites helps your website with something called link building. As you build profiles they will give off power to your current business websites allowing to further climb the search engine results for your targeted keywords.

5. Proactive Reputation Management: As you build profiles they will rank for your company name this way allowing others who might want to tarnish your online reputation down the road a bit more difficult.

6. Online Branding: This shouldn’t even require a reason but here it goes, as you connect and engage with your community online your branding message will linger in peoples minds for future purchasing needs. The more people you connect with, the further your reach extends online.

7. Fan Groups: Once you build an online following for your business you can start online groups which are basically collections of fans that will leave comments and engage in online discussions to help your brand grow. If people like your brand they will be willing to talk about it.

8. Your Competition Is Probably There: Chances are you already have some of your competitors already there taking away business from you. It doesn’t matter how unique your business is if you have competition chances are they have already begun their online marketing.

9. It’s Quick: It doesn’t require a great deal of time to get things going. You can get on a computer and build a profile much quicker than it takes to contact your local publication and get things started on offline ad.

10. Because we Don’t Live Under Rock: Unless you live under rock you have not come to terms with the idea that you need this. Social media is the future whether you want to admit it to yourself or not. only those who decide to break their mold and start using will prosper. 2009 will be a strange year for all business owners so it is up to you in order to stay competitive.

Job cuts are here and they will probably be here for some time longer. 2009 will be a strange year for many people but there is hope out there. There are still many tools out there to become visible in front of employers it just requires some creativity. There are not too many people out there anymore that are not bouncing around on Facebook, Myspace or even Linkedin. If you have recently lost your job or feel like you might now is the time to take advantage of these free social networking sites. Linkedin could be a lifesaver. Linkedin allows you to update your resume and network with other like minded professionals right from the comfort of your home. often times recruiters target websites like Linkedin to find new recruits. By making connections and engaging in conversations online you can quickly make yourself visible. Linkedin provides a platform where you can showcase your strengths for everyone to see, even potential employers. Linkedin allows you to join groups and even visit offline get togethers such as networking events and happy hours where others can get to know each other. I’m not saying Linkedin is the end all be all but this tool can provide a valuable stepping stone to get in front of the right decision makers become visible. Linkedin has a variety of options for you to customize your profile. You even have the option to pay a monthly fee for additional exposure through the network. Linkedin in is not a confusing website by any means. If you have internet experience setting up a profile should be a breeze.

According to recent November numbers that have been generated on Compete.com Facebook has almost closed the gap entirely with Myspace and the number of users. Facebook grew just under 50 million visitors and Myspace was at about 56 million users in November.

What does this all mean? who knows, maybe people have more time on their hand because they are working less but Facebook has clearly juiced up their engine and is moving like an out of control locomotive. Much of Facebook’s traffic has surprisingly come from search engine traffic. Even though Facebook has clearly become a household name right along with Myspace. Facebook currently has about 400 million indexed pages so it has not been difficult for web traffic to bump into them. For a long time Myspace was the leader in domestic traffic but Facebook has really picked up the pace within the social marketing industry. Myspace is not blind to what is occurring either. They have ramped up their efforts increase their popularity in the social networking space. Myspace has made many changes over the last few months to their platform. many say these changes are long over due. Myspace has not made any real significant changes to the look and feel of their pages in sometime. Recent;y they have applied a “2.0″ type of feel to your page that is optional. We haven’t seen any numbers come out on this just yet but i’m sure we will very soon. Now if only Facebook can figure out just how to make a profit so they don’t have to get funding to keep the company alive.

I know for a fact there is a wide population of business owners large and small that ask themselves everyday if they should be on the social media sites like Twitter and Myspace, the answer is yes! It is clear that social media sites are the new DVD and are hear to stay, probably for a while.

As new generations grow and come into the spotlight you as a company or business owner will have to restructure the way you reach out to people. If you are looking to grow your business for the long term at some point you will have to make an effort to initiate interaction through some of the social media sites. The social media space is only on the nose end and it is growing. many business with old school marketing strategies I think are not sure just what to make of this space. I think it scares them more than anything. Social media takes time and patience to figure out which sites work best for them. Not all will work great. At the end of the day most businesses will find that only a few are really beneficial to their long term growth and branding. At the very least it creates a few extra pathways to your website. If you don’t have a website than I really wish you the best of luck.

Nobody really knows how long social media marketing will be here. It is clear though that is will most likely be here to stay for a while. If you are fearful of how to approach it take a look at some of your competition and study their moves. Launch a Myspace or Facebook profile and start to engage with others on the website and learn the basics of each website before you start tackling advanced methods. Take your time but launch some profiles because this is an area you might see large marketing dollars in the future invested from many companies and organizations.