Admittedly, I haven't used social media as a means to market my business (yet)–other than to post a few links on Twitter and try out a business Facebook page. However, I think social media tools can be a great marketing resource. Word of mouth has always been a key advertising means, and social media can take word of mouth to a global scale.

I've seen some pretty creative uses of web 2.0 technologies like Twitter to promote recognition. The Namecheap Trivia Twitter contest claimed a 20% increase in new customers as a key result (http://www.michellesblog.net/t…..ia-contest)

Another interesting use is customer service. On the consumer end, I found it interesting to get a reply from a certain retail company after I "tweeted" a plaint about the lousy customer service I had received. The customer service I got through the store's "Twitterer" was far and away better than the service I got through the traditional web site/email method. It would be interesting to study if that held true across the board–and why. Perhaps because of the more immediate feel of a social tool?

At any rate, social media can certainly be used to the detriment of businesses, so it behooves business to learn to leverage the technology to provide positive benefits as well.