Pay any attention to social media? Think it's just a pastime to use up your monthly data allotment? Well, it can be just that. But it can also be a good marketing tool, especially for a small business that has a limited budget for marketing. For many very small operations, sometimes even building a website is a step too far. Many small businesses, especially individual sole proprietorships, may not have their own website. Social media platforms can become your de facto website, and make a pretty good stand-in for a small website. This can be especially true if your website is only informational. (you aren't actually using a website to sell products) Also for the provider of services, say legal, writing, etc, social media platforms may be just enough for you.

So what do we mean by social media? Mostly, we’re referring to the usual suspects, Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Let’s look first at Linkedin. Linkedin is the tamest of all the common platforms. It doesn't tend to be a place where there is a lot of give and take. There is less interaction, and the tone of the interaction tends to remain at a very professional level. As we know, that isn’t always so true with other social media. At the absolute very least, everyone should have a Linkedin page for themselves. This serves as an online resume at the very least. Not having a page for yourself would be like not having a listing in the phone book (remember that??) Linkedin really is a requirement. And it would be a bit odd for someone not to be able to find you there.