Social Media has experienced phenomenal growth over the last five years. One of the most untapped segments of social networks are small businesses. It is estimated that there are 32 million small businesses in the US.

A recent study by eMarketer suggests that a lot of small businesses plan to increase their spending on social network marketing in 2009. In fact, 25% of the small businesses surveyed by “Ad-ology Research” indicated that they would increase spending on the medium this year, a higher percentage than any other marketing format.

Here are some quotes from experts on why Social Networking.

"The idea of social networks used for commerce is gaining headwind, and in the next two years may become more powerful than corporate Web sites and customer relationship management software"
(Christine Overby, Forrester Research, April 27, 2009)

"Where do small and medium business owners go for advice? 52 percent from individual mentors; 51 percent from social networks; 44 percent from trade associations; 36 percent from business advisors; 31 percent from the Internet and 27 percent from Chambers of Commerce"
(Source: American Express– Small Biz Stats & Trends)

"Social networking… changes the way marketers reach out to their targets.It's no longer the company that is looking for the customers. Potential customers are online, actively searching for the best place to find the product or service they want"
(Source: MediaPost - Ryan Buchanan, May 17, 2007)

"Ad agency campaigns on social networks provide more than 70% ROI"
(Marketing Vox, May 4, 2007)