The news may overflow with stories about the social networking giants, such as Facebook and MySpace, but a horde of companies are doing their best to reduce the fundamental features of these websites to mere commodities. These up-and-coming companies provide so-called “white label” social networking platforms that enable their customers to build their own social networks (often from scratch) and to tailor those networks to a range of purposes.

A few weeks ago Marc Meyer of Digital Response Marketing Group had a simple, but impactful post on his blog that explains a basic social media conundrum: “I can show you how to use a social platform, but I can’t show you how to be social.”

It’s an odd dynamic I see in play today - in today’s ever connected environment marketers tell me they feel even more removed from direct customer interaction.

As a former sale person, I used to schedule “ride-along” time with my sales team just to get out on sales calls and hear how we position ourselves in front of the customer, how that message lands on the customer and more importantly what the customer is saying in reaction to how we are positioned.

One of the most powerful communications tools still remains the pen and paper.

New to social media or still on the fence? As a small business owner, now is the time to really get involved and engage.