One of the hottest “buzz” terms flying around the Internet today is “social media” -- online technologies and Web sites that people use to share content, opinions, insights, and experiences. It's MySpace this or Facebook that, and those are only two of the myriad of such sites which comprise the social media landscape.

The question that must be asked, though, is whether these various types of participatory environments can be used for marketing purposes? The answer, if not a resounding "yes," is certainly a definite “maybe.”

Creating and implementing a social media marketing campaign has the potential to help your company’s Web site achieve exposure on major search engines that it might not receive otherwise. Best of all, it can be done with just a bit of sweat equity. After all, most of the assets you need, you already have in the form of images, videos and expertise in your field. For example, you can use a photo sharing site like Flickr to post images about your company, or YouTube to upload videos.

An additional asset that many businesses and organizations overlook is a blog. Blogs have shown themselves to be a compelling, highly useful medium in effectively communicating with customers and prospects. Using a blog, you can position yourself as an industry thought leader, outline your company’s unique competitive advantage and build lasting relationships with customers based on trust. Plus, blogs are search engine magnets. One person even suggested that the word blog stands for “Better Listings On Google!”

With the advent of what’s known as “universal search,” these assets can help you buy more real estate on search engine results pages than ever before. Gone are the days where search engines simply return relevant Web pages. Now, they draw from every form of digital media. If you perform a search on any of the major search engines - Google, Live, Yahoo, or Ask.com – for Shrek 3, for example, you will notice that pictures and video clips now join traditional search results.

In today’s world, marketing is becoming more about an effective push strategy instead of the traditional pull strategy that has worked since the 1940’s, ’50s and ’60s. Don’t be left behind. Remember, your Web site can become your business’s most powerful marketing tool.