Social media has the power to make or break a business and the number of followers you have on twitter and facebook are now indicators of your social reach. With more people using social media to communicate it is paramount that all business owners engage in their own social media marketing. Attracting potential customers through traditional advertising mediums is a thing of the past as more people use the internet to find local business, products and services. Social media allows business owners to connect with their customers and who then are able to spread the word, much in the same way traditional word of mouth works. Most top social media optimization experts suggest that a business owner should spend up to 15% of their time on integrating social media into their marketing campaigns. Search still remains the number one way internet users find and connect with local business. The yellow pages books are shrinking at an alarming rate and pretty soon they will be extinct. From an advertising point of view this leaves small business owners and marketers very few affordable options to advertise their services and products to potential new customers. Social media is not an alternative to advertising in the yellow pages, or any other form of print media. Being found prominently on the search engine results pages when someone does a search is the key to attracting new business. Best practice seo services will help a business get their website to rank higher on the search results pages, this in turn will drive traffic and new business enquiries. All types of businesses can benefit from search engine marketing, cleaning services, builders, plumbers, plasterers and even tree loppers can all attract new sales enquiries by being found online. When building a website make sure your web designer adds your facebook like button or twitter profile link. Encourage site visitors to engage with your website using social media plugins that instantly connect your business to them. Watch out for sites that allow independent reviews of your business, they are usually used my your competitors. Most people who have a good experience with a business don’t feel the need, nor have the time to write reviews. It is only the ones that have a negative experience that feel they have to tell the world how bad you are. The web is now the place to be, and if you cannot be found online when someone is searching for you, then you simply don’t and won’t exist.