In September Voloper released Phase 1 of its Social Media strategy: the Social Media ToolKit. The Social Media ToolKit gives you a centralized control panel for configuring which social media widgets you're pulling into your own web site. In Phase 2, Vol...

Because Wikipedia has become both the default first stop for casual researchers (and many times their only stop) and a form of gateway into more detailed third party knowledge, many people have tried to "game" Wikipedia for their own ends: public relations, advertising, inserting links to drive traffic, etc. This is a strategy that largely backfires as almost every article has dozens or hundreds of people who watch it with hawk-like intensity. Such overt attempts rarely last long and frequent

Voloper is now in the process of adding Social Media Push technology to its suite of modules. The concept is simple: as you add content to your own web site, a lot of the content can be re-used within the context of your social media venues such as Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook. Wouldn't it be nice when you clicked a Post or Upload button that content was not only updated to your site but sent out into your social media stream?

The Social Media Play

The biggest mistake you can make regarding social media is considering it the ultimate spam distribution system. As the term "social media" implies, people using systems like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube are leveraging text, sound, and video to engage others on the social front.

Social media is not about the hard sell. It's about expanding and impacting networks. With social media you should have a three stage goal in mind:

Get access to networks

First, you should work at gaining access to networks. Social media participants frequently joined networks based on interests, their career, and their aspirations. Lurk for a time on social media venues and discover the networks most related to your core competencies.

Expand your network

Some might remember that old commercial for a shampoo where one customer tells two friends and she tells two friends and so on. Gaining access to one network many times makes gaining access to other networks possible, geometrically increasing your reach. LinkedIn's first, second, and third tier networks is the most obvious example.

Raise your profile within the networks

The final goal for social media is raising your profile, with the goal of becoming a key "node", an opinion leader, or someone with a reputation for being an early adopter. Consider your area of expertise, you niche, and showcase that. For example, if you're great with the one liner quips and plugged into emerging technology, you might start a Twitter account offering a "headline clipping" service showcasing the latest technology.

As users in your network go to you or pass through you, some will stop, investigate the person generating the content, check out your profile, and eventually investigate your web site.

#1: Inexpensively Improve Your Sales Channel

Because a lot of the social media outlets are free, it is most likely the most inexpensive way for you to improve your sales channel - the only cost is the time that you put into it, but the effort is rewarding.

The best way of improving your sales channel is to let people know that your company or brand exists, and what better way to do that then put your business in an arena with hundreds of millions of users. Facebook has over 250 million active users that spend a total of 30 billion minutes on the social network every day.

If your company has a presence on a number of social media networks, just think of the reach you can have.

#2: Creates Better Relationships with Customers and Prospects

Social Media has provided transparency in the market. When businesses enter the social media scene, it is important that we are honest, state our intentions, and be human. The entire idea of social media is to create friendships with people from all around the world. As businesses we shouldn't be pushing our products or our brand, but rather who the person behind the curtain really is.

Just think of the most loyal customer for your business. Chances are that you have built a strong relationship over the years and quite possibly, a friendship. This is the attitude that has to be applied to social media. Be upfront and honest to make friends. Offer your advice, have fun, and customers and prospects will buy from you when they are ready.

#3: Improves Search Engine Rankings

This one is a bit of a no brainer for those who understand the basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the process of improving a websites relevance and popularity in order to achieve higher positions in search engine results.

Social media can improve your search engine rankings by spreading thousands of links back to your company's website. How is this achieved? It is done through links within your companies profile pages, comments on blogs, your signature line in forums that you participate in, people writing about experiences that they have had with you or your company within their blogs, and more.

#4: Makes Your Company an Expert in the Field

When you put your company out there in the social media scene, and you are following the rule of transparency, you should be offering your friends advice, tips, participating in debates and many other things. After a while, people will start taking notice and will probably start believing that you actually do know what you are talking about.

When your people in the online communities that you are involved in start recognizing the feedback and advice you have been giving, you start gaining more and more credibility for yourself and your business within the social media scene.

#5: Gives Your Business Ears

Participating in the social media arena also gives our business ears. Millions of conversations are happening every day and hundreds of places on the Internet, and chances are that your company, your brand, or your product is being mentioned.

If your business isn't monitoring at least some of the social media networks, you are missing out on the conversation; the negative things that you can respond to and the positive things that you can give people thanks for recognizing.

The important thing is that your business is out there and participating and listening in on the conversations that may be taking place with your company.

Now What are You Going to Do?

With these 5 reasons of why your company should be involved in social media, what are your next steps? I certainly hope that you get out there and start researching ways of how you can be joining in on all of the fun and conversations!