Many posts on social media that I've read lately are asking how a small business can successfully use that medium to become successful. What we used to do with direct mail, phone calls, etc are now being done with texts, tweets, posts, blasts, etc. But social media--and in fact digital media has and is evolving over the past five or six years. It's still in it's infancy as far as businesses using it to promote their services, products or brands. Just this week, Twitter filed for it's IPO. Facebooks' was last year. But I digress. Five years ago, while working in radio advertising--I was approached by our sales manager. Seems a friend of his started a small shop ad agency and wanted to explore airing radio ads to promote his agency. I was asked to write and produce a script for him--and we'd give him bonus ads as he'd refer businesses that could use radio to us. I was to get any leads that came in for my efforts. Several weeks later--I was told that ...

In the big scheme of things—that’s one question I get a lot from small business owners in trying to attract new customers, qualified leads and brand recognition. As business owners advertising options shift from traditional media to digital and online—navigating marketing dollars to increase profits can be a daunting task. With budgets cut, sales down since ‘08, etc—business owners have to be more engaged and accountable to results and their ROI.  Gone are the days when businesses just sponsored something to get their name out there. Every dollar now has to account for a return. Heck—even my insurance agent’s fall festival cut back on burgers—and just had hot dogs! So—what can be done to achieve increased customers on a smaller budget AND minimize that risk? While media companies have moved their content (newspaper, magazine, video streaming TV, audio-streaming radio) online—not all media companies have invested in their online platforms to produce the desired results ...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2013/08/23/ubers-breathtaking-valuation-is-it-really-different-this-time/