VALUES: If you do something in 2009 to jumpstart your social media efforts, open up social media accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and upload your profile with who YOU ​​ARE and also what YOU DO. Social Networks offers you a FREE self-manageable profile or account. Polish your profile to get more Google LOVE. Tell the world who YOU ​​ARE, your essence, all the things in life that help people remember you. People remember what brings you great joy, family, spirituality, sports or the wonder of zoo animals that sometimes seem to get along better than humans.

How about an ice cream, walks with the love of your life, watch a movie over and over again and admit it? That’s what makes people remember you when they’re shown your profile and makes them think, “Hey, I might want to follow this person and I think I’ll sign up for his XYZ.” How did they land on your subscription offer on your blog? Most likely, it comes from a well-kept profile on your favorite social network.

WORTH: In a Web 2.0 world, who YOU ​​ARE is more important than what you DO.

VALUES: Have customers write reviews on your behalf, raving about you and the excellence of your company.

WORTH: Reviews, ratings, and ratings are now one of the most engaging content items on Google. Get your customers to evangelize about you on Yelp and Yahoo Reviews.

VALUES: Get up and stop sitting around, waiting to fully understand RSS before you start syndicating your content to your social media accounts. Set up RSS on your blog and automatically send your latest posts directly to your social media accounts, or in simpler terms, to your Facebook profile, etc.

WORTH: Syndication on the web is the future of online marketing. If ABC, CBS, or NBC Television distribute programs in every city in the United States, isn’t that similar to RSS and blogs? YES! When you hit post to your blog so the world can see what you’re interested in, that content is like a New York TV network broadcasting shows to multiple cities. When you hit publish, you’re distributing your post to all of your profiles on your social networks, just like a TV network is distributing to hundreds of cities in the United States.

VALUES: Is this what you think Blogging could do to you? Write on your blog from a passionate, endearing, and authentic perspective and intent, and then witness how often your engaging blog post generates comments and comments. Start getting curious why other bloggers get 500 comments in 30 minutes and study who those bloggers ARE. That’s why they get feedback. Their fans love who they ARE. I’m not just saying that to sound like Dr. Phil. We only need one of him.

WORTH: You are building your equity with your audience and Google. If you have an exit strategy, getting feedback has now become an integral role in scaling your online business. People love to participate and leave comments when you resonate with your visitors’ problems and solve their problems. From time to time, ask your audience for feedback at the end of your blog post.

Social Media is Helping Everyday Business Leaders Experience Extraordinary Results

– 48% of business leaders spend 2-5 hours a week using social media tools to generate leads and find new customers. (Source: socialmediaiq)

– 42% of sales managers see blogs and podcasts as very important tools to generate sales. (Source: MarketingSherpa)

– Of the 8 most visited sites worldwide, 5 are social networking websites: MySpace, Facebook, Orkut, Live.com, YouTube. (Source: eMarketer)

– The fastest growing demographic of social media users is 25 and older. (Source: too many surveys to list here)

– Just under 49,000 people using Second Life are cash flow positive in the virtual world. (Source: Second Life)

If you’re a business leader, you can’t afford to dismiss social media any longer. Your customers use Facebook, YouTube, wikis, blogs, podcasts, and other social media tools to talk about your products and services. Ignoring this virtual chat will result in being left behind.