What only 20?  Well, it’s 20 really good reasons. Seriously, study this post.  It covers all the keys.

This list of 20 reasons is a great primer for anyone who’s trying to understand social media. It covers all of the key subject areas.  These are just the headings.  To read the full post click the link at the end.  (I’ve underlined the bits that I think are most important.)

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1. Branding
2. Create a buzz
3. Online reputation management
4. Establish yourself as an expert
5. Word of mouth
6. Build relationships and become more personal
7. Open up the line of communication between business owner and millions of potential customers
8. Small businesses can compete with the large companies
9. Social networking with potential clients and customers from all over the globe
10. Get great traffic - Not only great traffic…. but freakishly crazy amounts of traffic.
11. Increase your link-ability
12. Helps with search engines - Link juice from a quality site = higher ranking in the search engines.
13. Much cheaper than traditional marketing and advertising
14. Your company is more accessible - An accessible company means a more trustworthy company.
15. Direct conversation to a specific niche - There are so many social networking, social bookmarking, and social news sites that are dedicated to specific niches.  You have the ability to speak directly to these people and not have all the other noise of unrelated topics getting in the way. If you are speaking their language, you have a better chance of them actually hearing what you are saying - and you’re getting the RIGHT KIND of following.
16. Provides another way for potential customers to find you - If you’re not high enough in the search engines for potential customers to find you, they can still find you through social media.  So, even if you’re not on the front page of Google, it doesn’t mean you can’t receive traffic. Social Media has the potential to send you TONS of traffic - when done properly (I’ll write more on that soon!).
17. It’s a way to explain yourself - One of the reasons some businesses are skiddish about social media is because they’re afraid of negative comments.  It’s possible to receive negative comments. But, social media provides the platform to explain, to make things right. The fact of the matter is - if someone has something negative to say they can say it.  Ignoring them doesn’t stop the damage.  But, when you reply, you are seen as a business owner who cares, who wants to make the customer happy, and that you’re human. Social media is a two-way conversation, so go ahead and defend yourself - just do it proactively.
18. Show Your Stuff
19. Find out exactly what your customers want - Social media is amazing in so many ways, as you can see from the last 18 reasons. But, what is so  cool is that you don’t have to wonder what your customers want. You want to know what they want? Ask them on social media, and they’ll tell you.
20. Your customers can play an active role in the business - Instead of focus groups, let your customers play an active role in your business. Let them offer suggestions, let them share their likes and dislikes - all on social media. You might find yourself ideas for new products and services you’d never have without them.

Bottom line - marketing is about getting out the word, engaging in conversations, taking suggestions, problem solving, educating your audience, and promoting your company, product, or service. One of the best ways for small businesses to create buzz is through social media.

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This list is from Shana Albert who blogs at http://www.socialdesire.com.  This was a guest post on the blog BlissfullyDomestic.com. 

And here’s number 21 - Social Media is the future - The sooner you get used to it, the further ahead you will be.

Social Media is with us to stay, so how do you manage your brand message effectively?  Control yourself.

You can't avoid the social media tsunami.  Your prospects, your customers, your employees, and your detractors, all have access.  In the past you could carefully control your brand message, yet even then a problem would occasionally crop up that would test the best PR skills.  Today you have to step up to a much higher level. 

Today's web society is used to an active conversation and it's not always civil.  How you respond reveals a lot about your organization and its culture.  Everything you say and do should be treated like a public conversation.  It's a conversation that's right there in writing for all to read.  You need tact, diplomacy, and restraint.  You can't control what someone says to you or about you, but you can control how you respond. 

You need policies.  You need awareness.  You need social skills. 

In the past your brand could have more of a one-way message.  Today, you need to be ready to respond effectively.  You can't stop negativity, but you can control the conversation by how you respond.

In early 2008, Comcast realized they had a problem when people were posting negative info about their service online.  Most brands would run for the hills, bury their head, or call their attorneys.  Comcast tackled it head on and won.  They put a team of customer service people on it.  They contacted the disgruntled customers directly online, and they addressed their problems.  This resulted in a lot of positive results.  These customers who were willing to complain publicly, were also willing to report their newfound admiration for Comcast publicly.

Today, many other brands are monitoring what the public is saying and responding.  They use various search tools to check on postings at places like twitter, and Facebook.  They use those same tools to get a

And real-world, off-line efforts often make their way back to the online conversations too.  GoDaddy recently started a campaign of proactively calling customers to see if they needed any help with anything.  I got one of these calls myself.  I was very impressed.  They actually helped me trim some unneeded services and save some money!  They also helped me figure out a feature that I had wanted to use, but did not have the time to explore.  All at no charge.  I was very impressed.

Then I noticed a major online personality posted a message on Twitter recounting the same experience.  Now that's the way to handle customer service in the era of social media. 

Here's a helpful post on the subject of managing social media.