Many B2B websites are just a “blow-horn” for their products and services with no meaningful calls to action, or limited opportunity to engage (if any). The reality is most B2B prospects want to get to know a business before they call them or fill out a form. They want to check you out first. And, the way to allow them to check you out is through great content! In this podcast interview with Kim Albee, she discusses how she took risk to launch her business through great content.

This is the year of engagement. When I blogged my predictions for the new decade, one of the points I made is that marketers will seek to engage their target customers more interactively. While I still believe that in this decade the phrase social media will fade away, at this time it’s still here and it’s hotter than it’s ever been.

Looking to build better relationships within your industry or with those you admire? Learn how to and share your experiences.

I’m presenting to the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) conference today. What they’ll want to know is how all these social media tools can improve attendance, drive collaboration, extend the value of events, without taking away any potential revenue. They’ll want a very safe path, tried and true, with a step by step understanding of what will add to the bottom line and how to avoid things that will detract.

Social Media is rooted in relationships, the dynamic interaction and collaboration between real people. We learned and continue to learn how to communicate in public forums, evolving our personal views on privacy and uncertainty as we transform from digital introverts to social extroverts. This is our industrial revolution and its reward for participation is relevance. The socialization of online societies democratized the publishing industry and equalized influence.

Contributor sites like Yelp, CitySearch & Google Maps / Local make it very easy for anyone on the web to write and publish a review about your business. You might be thinking, “That’s great! We really strive to provide great service, an awesome product (fill in the blank).”

We have written about uses of social media in B2B where passionate people took risks and leveraged their corporate capital to launch creative and innovative social media plans. But that’s not you. You have tried to convince management of the value of social media to no avail. There aren’t the resources. You just can’t get buy in. No matter how many blog posts you share showing large and small companies succeeding with social media, the bosses just won’t bite. What do you do?

Facebook has been building out its Pages product for businesses, brands, and celebrities since last year — and as the site has boomed to well over 300 million people, Pages have become an increasingly important way for any organization to reach users. Sensing opportunity, a number of companies have been starting up or expanding to provide services for Page owners.

When marketing your company online at social media sites, don't forget Flickr, the photo sharing site owned by Yahoo.

The main idea is that Flickr allows a small biz to promote itself visually for next to nothing.

According to the research, originally conducted by by Euro RSCG Worldwide, about 31% of adults feel empowered to do something they’ve been wanting to do thanks to social media, while 20% have used the medium to lash out at companies and brands they feel wronged by. The Internet is also a big help when it comes to trying to meet new people.