How Business Will Use Social Media in 2011 - Click here http://bit.ly/g1KRWg for full article.

Small- and medium-sized businesses have evolved to meet new challenges and thrive in a constantly changing environment in past years, and this year is no different. While businesses have used social media marketing in previous years, their use of it will grow and intensify in 2011.

Here are some of the key ways that Internet marketing will be used by businesses this year:

The Time for Experimentation Is Over

In the past, small- and medium-sized businesses have gingerly tested out tools such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. However, those experiments were akin to a child poking an unknown food with a fork. This year, companies will begin to use these new media tools strategically. Metrics and tactics that encompass all available social networking tools to generate new business and continued customer engagement all solidify into much more serious use.

 

You Will Hire Your Friends

Or at least the people who contact you via professional networking websites such as LinkedIn. LinkedIn is like Facebook for professionals, and allows businesses to gain a deeper look into who they are considering hiring. You can see not only who a potential employee has worked for, but who they are connected to in your industry, which may be more interesting. Thanks to niche groups based on industries as specific as "real estate investing", small- and medium-sized business owners will know who the most knowledgeable people are in their field and area.

Where You Are Becomes Who You Reward

With the advances in geo-tagging technology in cell phones and smart phones, such as the popular Android-powered Droid and Apple iPhone, customers are demanding more and more location-based information. This means that small- and medium-sized companies will be turning more toward location-based social networking tools such as FourSquare, Bizzy and Shopkick to reward visitors for frequenting their business. This could mean online-only coupons to all who check in or for those who check in the most in a given time period.

Websites will Become Dynamic

Social media blogs have been growing in mainstream popularity, and the growing popularity of news aggregators such as StumbleUpon, Reddit and Digg mean that if a company posts good content on its website, it may be able to garner wide exposure. Essentially, these sites are replacing standard search engine optimization. Social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook also will be used to spread these posts and drive engagement with potential customers.