As defined by Wikipedia Social media are primarily Internet-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences.

Forms of Social Media include:

SOCIAL NETWORKS
These sites allow people to build personal web pages and then connect with
friends to share content and communication. The biggest social networks are
MySpace, Facebook and Bebo.
BLOGS
Perhaps the best known form of social media, blogs are online journals, with
entries appearing with the most recent first. Popular blog platforms are WordPress, Blogger and Typepad
WIKIS
These websites allow people to add content to or edit the information on them, acting
as a communal document or database. The best-known wiki is Wikipedia, the
online encyclopaedia which has over 2 million English language articles.
PODCASTS
Audio and video files that are available by subscription, through services like Apple
iTunes.
FORUMS
Areas for online discussion, often around specific topics and interests. Forums came
about before the term “social media” and are a powerful and popular element of
online communities.
CONTENT COMMUNITIES
Communities which organize and share particular kinds of content. The most popular
content communities tend to form around photos (Flickr), bookmarked links
(del.icio.us) and videos (YouTube).
MICROBLOGGING
Social networking combined with bite-sized blogging, where small amounts of content
(‘updates’) are distributed online and through the mobile phone network. Twitter is the clear leader in this field.

I’ll be looking at these forms of Social Media in more detail over the next few months.

Small business owners are realising the importance of leveraging the power of social networking sites to help market their businesses.

The problem a business owner with limited time and resources faces is where to start and how to make your Social Marketing efforts effective.

John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing has written a nice article where he suggests there should be a hierarchy of strategies to Social Marketing. This Hierarchy is much like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs which states that a level in the hierarchy must be mastered before moving on to the next level.

These levels can broadly be categorized as Blogging, RSS, Social Search, Social Bookmarking, Social Networks, Micro

As Maslow theorized, the ultimate potential of your marketing or human self-actualization couldn’t be achieved until the most basic human psychological needs – breathing, eating, sleeping, sex were first met. (Yes, I’m about ready to compare blogging to sex.) In fact safety, love, and esteem all come before transcendence. Now, before I edge too close to the deep end here, I’m simply comparing what I think is a bit like progressing up the social marketing hierarchy.

Most small business owners should look at the following progression or hierarchy as they move deeper into social marketing tactics. So, jump in, but do it in this order and don’t move on until you have the basics of each stage down and working for you.

Blogging – the foundation of the pyramid – read blogs (Google Reader or Bloglines), comment on blogs and then blog. This is the doorway to all other social marketing – WordPress, TypePad, Blogger

RSS – aggregate and filter content around subjects and use RSS technology as a tool to help you repurpose, republish and create content – Some tools – Feedburner, Google News and mysyndicaat

Social Search – this is often ignored in this discussion but I think it’s become very important for small business owners. Directories that publish reviews from customers – good and bad. You can participate and should stimulate and manage your reputation here. Insider Pages, Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Local.com, Judy’s Book, Yelp

Social Bookmarking – tagging content to and participating in social bookmarking communities can be a great way to open up more channels to your business as well as generate extra search traffic, but it takes work – del.icio.us, Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Mixx, Small Business Brief

Social Networking – branching out to take advantage of the numbers of potential prospects that you might find in sites like Facebook or MySpace will frustrate at least as a business tool if you don’t have many of the above needs met. These networks take time to understand and thrive on ideas and content. You’ve got to have much to share if you wish to build a business case. The good news is that industry and idea specific sites for everything from book lovers to green living are springing up every day. Here’s an enormous list of social networking sites from Mashable

Micro – I’ve lumped some of the more experimental social tools into the edge trend of micro, social, real-time communication that will likely only confuse most small business owners. The confusion is not because they can’t figure out how to make them work, it’s just not obvious why they would spend the time. I think Maslow suggested the self-actualization was a place that most might never reach and in social marketing terms Twitter, Thwirl, Plurk and FriendFeed might be some sort of sick transcendence.

All the evidence that we have indicates that it is reasonable to assume in practically every human being, and certainly in almost every newborn baby, that there is an active will toward health, an impulse towards growth, or towards the actualization.

Abraham Maslow