The term Social Media for many businesses still conjures up images staff clocking up hours on Facebook in worktime. But for any organisation that sells expertise, whether through services or in the form of unique or specialised products, using new on line social media tools as part of your marketing programme now needs serious consideration.

The extra-ordinary growth of internet and mobile technology usage in the home and in business would be enough in itself to make this a pressing issue. But add to that the fact much of the technology has been developed for self-use by consumers, and so is comparatively low cost, means that under-pressure marketing budgets can also go much further.

Social media is all about sharing information with other people, making it ideal for professionals. The term refers to a basket of different tools, but in a business context, these essentially perform three functions:

1) Making it easy to publish material on the web (e.g. blogs, podcasts, YouTube);
2) Alerting interested parties that you have something new to say, ensuring you get as wide an audience as possible (e.g. search, RSS feeds and Twitter); and
3) Reaching and building relationships with new prospects

Space does not allow us to consider too many of the tools you could use, but a brief example from each of these three headings will highlight the possibilities for your marketing and business development.

1) Getting Your Expertise In Front Of More Potential Clients
Blogs are excellent tools for putting your expertise in front of a wide audience of interested people – without needing to translate technical issues for a journalist or distil important messages into a few lines of advertising copy. The key difference from a trade magazine or client newsletter is that readers can respond by posting comments or asking questions. This enables you to start dialogue with potential clients very quickly, shortening the time-lag from marketing to income.

Another crucial aspect of social media marketing is the facility for readers to share information they think useful with others. By forwarding links or mentioning your article in other areas online, your expertise can be passed quickly on to a wider audience of potentially interested people, rather than just a number of magazine readers, most of whom may only be interested in certain parts of a publication.

Other tools to communicate your expertise on line include podcasts and video. As with blogs, these do not need to be open to all, and strategies to protect your intellectual property can be put in place. However, the more you restrict access, the more you dilute the very advantages of the medium.

2) Alerting Your Audience
Readers of this article will have some familiarity with blogs, even if you have never dipped a toe in the water. Twitter, on the other hand, is less well known.

Twitter enables you to broadcast short messages to your own group of contacts who have elected to receive information from you by signing up as “followers”. Designed to work on a mobile phone or Blackberry, as well as on a computer, this tool is excellent for professionals dealing with information that is immediately actionable by clients or their own teams.

Using Twitter via, for example, your Blackberry, you can easily highlight the link between a topical issue you may be hearing about or reading and information on your web site that may help clients understand the issue and seek your advice immediately. The time lost in getting back to the office and arranging for a mailing or email to go out is by-passed and your client service speed dramatically improved.

Other very different alerting tools include RSS feeds – invaluable in automatically notifying your contacts of new information or events on your web site – and Google Alerts are great for tracking what others are saying about you on line.

3. Social Networking Web Sites
Web sites such as Facebook and more usefully the professionally focussed LinkedIn allow users to find, connect to and communicate with people who share similar interests. By completing a personal profile you categorise yourself within a database such that others can find you. You can usually establish a link to contacts or friends and through this be able to see and gain access to others your contacts know. Users can also join specific interest groups.

Why is this useful?

Firstly, using the friends of friends principle you can establish a close network of contacts interested in your field and build a rapport with them in exactly the same way as traditional networking, but accessing a far wider pool of people.

Secondly, by joining relevant groups you can “meet” and communicate with people who you know have a specific interest. Whether that is trading in China or employees of a particular company, you can reach a target audience and build a reputation.

Finally, they are great business development research tools. Personal profiles on such sites often yield far more information about a prospect than their company web site will and quite possibly help you understand who else you know who may be able to introduce you.

For businesses of all kinds social media marketing can provide market feedback at a speed no research agency can. Get it right and you can spread word of mouth referrals faster and further than almost any traditional networking approach can achieve.

Whether you love new technology or loathe it, social media tools are developing a significant following in the business world. Even if you are not yet active, issues concerning your markets and possibly even your own firm are being discussed on line now. So as a starting point, are you at least understanding what’s being said?