THEContractGC

This is a pretty good article offering tips for small businesses on how to effectively use social media.

“Social Media” is a catch-all phrase for a number of new, uh, “customer outreach platforms” (“marketing” sounds so early-1990’s), including Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.  The most valuable tip in the article, I think, is the first one–recognize whether social media actually makes sense for your business.  It can be very time-consuming to do right, so you have to really see a return on it–or really enjoy doing it.

If you do decide to take the plunge, here’s an article which describes how the bag manufacturer Tom Bihn uses social media to keep in touch with its customers (or, in social media lingo, “fans”).