For many small businesses, now is a difficult time to be advertising with shrinking budgets and decreasing sales. While studies show that advertising, now more then ever, is important to retaining customers and increasing sales (http://bit.ly/44bNNb), effective use of social media can help a company to engage customers and increase sales. If it is not within a company's budget to continue advertising, then social media can be a great low-cost or free option. Social media is being used by Fortune 500 companies and is growing at an absurd rate, with phenomenal potential to increase business and connect companies to customers and other businesses. Here are a few of the most popular types of social media and how they can be used: More...