I found this checklist and thought it may be helpful to those who are having a hard time understanding the value of Social Media for their business. Hope it’s useful 

The 7 Secrets Every Business Needs To Know About Facebook…

1.
Know the FOUR Business Goals for Your Facebook Account:

Get found by people who are searching for your products or services
Connect and engage with current and potential customers
Create a community around your business
Promote other content you create, including web pages, blog articles, and your advertising.

2.
Every business should (must) create a page, so your customers can become your fans. The myth is that Facebook is only for kids or Gen Y. It is for everyone. Older people and especially Baby Boomers (the oldest Baby Boomer is now 63 years old) which means most boomers are still working, in pretty good shape, and don’t think or feel old like they are ready for the rocking chair.

3.
Profiles are for people, Pages are for businesses.
Do not create a personal profile for your business. This is one point that many people who are successful at Facebook are not even aware of (including me). A Page is similar to a Profile except that it is, by default, public and users can become a “fan” of your Page without first requiring approval from the Page administrator. Creating a Page is completely free but will require your time to build and maintain. To get started, visithttp://www.facebook.com/pages

4.
Make Your Page Easy to Understand
Use Tabs (The Tab Interface) – This allows you to group the content and applications as per your requirements. Not only you can edit the default tabs, but you can also add new tabs giving you complete control in its customization.

You can freely drag them to arrange in required order. With new Facebook application standards in effect, almost every new application (internal or 3rd party) can be integrated with Facebook tabs. This opens endless opportunities to create customizable tabs with your choice of third party applications.

5.
PROMOTE – PROMOTE – PROMOTE
Know the Six Best Ways to Promote Your Page

Draw on your existing network. Start promoting your page to your own customer list.
Although Facebook is a do-it-yourself type of endeavor, have your webmaster make sure your pages are indexed just like your website pages. The results are amazing with this little fix.
Create Events, Discussion Boards and/or News Flashes about your business and community.
Join the various networks of people who would have an interest to buy from you.
Buy a Facebook Ad. For some reason this is not as widespread.
Every quarter, create a poll to get your fans’ feedback about their views on various pages or page elements.

6.
Schedule a block of Facebook time (15 min?) each day to monitor your account/keep up with things/add new content.

7.
Go to http://Facebook.Grader.com to grade your profile or page for free.

No doubt you have heard of Twitter. The social media platform has infiltrated mainstream media and grabbed the imagination of Politicians, Celebrities, Business Gurus and Corporations alike.

So what is Twitter?

Twitter is basically a micro-blog that is simple to understand and easy to use. You just type in or text your message within 140 characters and your followers are able to view that message either on the website feed or via their mobile devices or other apps that use the Twitter API.

You can direct tweets at other users or direct message them as long as you are both connected.

Twitter is well worth taking a look to promote your business at for several reasons. It can be a great networking tool that expands your contacts within your industry or marketplace.

Once you have a substantial following you can also drive instant quick traffic to your blog, website or any other link you want to send visitors to.

There are of course millions of ordinary business people also using Twitter to communicate and widen the exposure of their brand, whether this is a personal blog, or for products and services.

To get online at Twitter just go to http://www.twitter.com and create an account. Your username will be your permanent Twitter URL so think about this before you dive in.

It’s important to have a good one line bio which is found in settings. Think about the keywords you’d want people to find you with and include these in that bio. You’ll also be able to put your website or blog URL here too.

A photo is really important if you want to attract followers. People will want to know more about you and a photograph really helps, preferably the same one you use for other social media networks to kepp your brand consistent.

Next you’ll want to have designed background, again relating to your brand. You can Google Twitter backgrounds to find designers that will help you or have a go yourself with Photoshop or a similiar program.

By following people you like or in the same area of interest as you, you will start to attract followers back and slowly begin to build your network.

On Twitter, like many social networks, there is an art to how you behave and promote yourself. You should take part with other users and build those relationships for the long term, just like you would in real life.

Many people make the mistake of pumping out links to their products or services with little or interaction
with users and using Twitter as a broadcast system. You may get some results this way but by and large followers will not warm to you and you risk missing out on the much larger benefits such a long term client and customer relationships and repeat buyers.

To get a Free Video on Getting Started on Twitter Click Here. You also get a guide to other Tools and Apps that can really help your Twitter Marketing