If your business caters predominately to local customers then you know how important it is to gain the attention of people in your immediate vicinity. In this post, we’ll explore ways to be leverage engagement on Facebook, Twitter and Google Places.

While both B2B and B2C businesses use social media marketing, their tactics, goals and objectives differ dramatically. Buy, buy, buy is often the over-arching message for B2C brands using social media. Instead, for B2B businesses social media marketing is seen as an opportunity to demonstrate your know-how and a way to build and strengthen relationships.

It’s official. We’re now in the summer of 2011, past the 4th of July, always a good marker of summer. While you may be settling into a more laid back mode for the next couple of months, the world of social media doesn’t seem to slow down or necessarily recognize the concept of vacation. We’re also at the half-way mark of 2011, which is a good place too to take stock and see how far we’ve come and where we’re going for the second half of the year.

I can’t begin to tell you how many times a week I must hear the question asked, Does Social Media Marketing really work for generating leads and new business? What I’ve learned about social media marketing and seen first hand is that like any other marketing plan a business embarks upon, in order to be effective, social media must be well-planned, targeted and strategic. Sure, you can create presences and tweet and post updates ‘till the cows come home, but will you get the results you’re hoping for?

In a world of Twitter frenzy and Facebook fanaticism, it’s no surprise that app developers have entered the world of social media in an effort to showcase their brands and drive app sales. In a …