SmallBusinessNewz

Reporters for our sister site WebProNews spent the weekend in Las Vegas, attending the BlogWorld Expo, as I mentioned here. While the video interviews are still to come on the WebProNews Video Blog, I have been writing up my fair share of posts from notes that our reporter Abby sent in.

There was a lot of good social media marketing discussion to come out of this little event, and to continue in my tradition of talking about the subject, I thought I'd share some highlights with my SmallBusinessNewz readers. Despite the fact that many companies are skeptical of social media marketing's value, it is a strategy that has worked quite well for many businesses.

Wine Library TV is certainly one of those businesses. Gary Vaynerchuk, the owner of this business, who spoke at the Expo demonstrates a good strategy on his largely popular video blog. As pictured to the right, he simply features a box in the column of his blog that links his presences on each of the social networks that he is involved with. This is a simple, but useful way to connect with potential customers, or just people in general who are interested in what you are offering.

Let's not forget blogs themselves either. A blog is just as much a social tool as a social network, and blogs are often considered just as reliable as traditional media. There are good ways to network with bloggers without getting annoying about it, as Jason Falls and Brian Solis discussed at the expo. Andy Wibbels of Six Apart also spoke about blogs at the expo:

The reasons to blog are to increase visibility, save time and money. Blogs make money via the bloggers expertise, media exposure, and search engine ranking. "A good niche is a group of people that either have a strong passion about something or have a lot of problems."

One of the most successful bloggers out there, Guy Kawasaki, touts Twitter as a must-have "weapon" in the game, saying that his company Alltop "would not be what it is" without it." Robert Scoble discussed Twitter as a news-stream. It is certainly a good way to stay on top of the game when it comes to following your niche.

When it comes to social media marketing, I think Falls did a great job of summing up the concept. He said the first rule of social media is to listen. Then determine your tools, and build your community around those tools. He also illustrated this with "the 5 Cs" - Curiosity, Connection, Confidence, Conversation, and Community.

If you can keep all of this in mind, you should have a great head start at a successful social media marketing campaign. You'll certainly be armed with a weapon that the naysayers are ill-equipped with.

Stay tuned to the WebPronews Video Blog for upcoming video interviews with some influential bloggers and social media enthusiasts.