It's official. As of 9:53 am Palabra PR is in business! I went to the tax office, and then the business registration office this morning to register and print all the necessary documents to make Palabra PR a legal entity. I'm very excited to start doing business out of an office and service the great local companies Albuquerque has to offer. In celebration of this momentous occasion, I've decided to share with you a small article I wrote for ezine.

Get Your Local Business on Facebook, Twitter, and Other Social Media Sites Now

Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn give local businesses a unique way to connect with their existing clients and potential customers, and provide a huge advantage over the competition. With such sites, businesses can not only build a personal relationship with their stakeholders, but connect with friends, family, and acquaintances linked to those stakeholder's pages.

It is crucial that small, locally-owned businesses take advantage of this new way to network for a few different reasons. First, almost all major social media sites are free, which gives small businesses a way to advertise without breaking the bank. Second, most social media sites have tutorials and easy-to-understand processes that help customize your site, which is helpful for those of us that want to jump on the bandwagon but are computer illiterate. Lastly, a customer with a personal connection to your business is more likely to share your services with their friend's list and less likely to stray to the competition.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, Blogger, YouTube, and so many more offer free registration and account management, making it a cost effective way for your local business to advertise. Unlike big corporations, your small business doesn't have to invest as much money into promoting your business, but you can still end up with a successful advertising strategy that targets local customers.

If you are interested in setting up social media accounts, but are not the most computer savvy individual, that's ok. A simple Google search is a quick and cost-effective way to pull up thousands of tutorials and online references that will give you step-by-step guidelines on setting up and managing your account. eHow.com is a good example of a site with multiple links showing how exactly to set up a Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.

If you manage to get your business on multiple social media sites, and build networks with local customers, your company is now visible to each customer's friend list. This is advantageous because if you have a link to one customer that has say 350 friends, your company is now visible to those 350 friends. If 3 of those 350 friends add your company to their page, and they each have 350 friends, your company is now visible to 1400 people. After networking and building your brand to those 1400 people, you've now established a personal relationship with them, and it is less likely that they will stray to the competition.

Social media sites are the newest trend, even though they are not that new, and provide a great way for local companies to connect with key stakeholders. Building your business through social media sites is the best way to cheaply advertise and reach targeted audiences beyond what might be your normal means to do so.