You’ve probably been hearing a bit of buzz lately about “social search,” and how it’s going to be the biggest thing since…the last biggest thing. Does this matter for your business, or should you just ignore it?

My philosophy about social media as a business asset is pretty much the same as any other tool you might be considering. What is your measurable goal, and how does this tool help you to accomplish it? When it comes to social media, there are some simple questions you’ll want to start off by asking.

Is your product interesting to talk about?

Let’s face it. If your company sells seals and gaskets for cars, nobody is likely to get excited and tell their friends about them. If you sell a commodity product, does that mean that social media just isn’t going to do you a lick of good? Frankly, there’s a good chance that the answer is yes, but it also depends on your answer to the following question.

Are you willing to spend money to create something interesting, even if it isn’t a direct revenue producer?

In the SEO world, we call this “link bait.” The basic idea: if your primary product isn’t that interesting, talk about something that is. This can be as simple as creating a blog where you talk about industry news. It might also look like shooting a video once a  month and creating pages on your site where you embed the videos. The key to link baiting, if you’re planning to use social media, is to focus on making them worth talking about.

If you have no idea how to do any of this, start by looking at one online news site for 5 minutes each day. One site that’s easy to start with is Digg. The nice thing about reading Digg is the fact that it gives you a view of how many people “Dugg” each article. It’s a convenient vehicle for learning to put your ear to the wall and find out what people are talking about online.

Remember that social media is primarily useful for things of a “conversational” nature. It’s not, and will never be, a billboard.

Product Reviews

Product reviews are a huge attraction to readers- especially if you are reviewing something that your readers may be interested in. And there’s no better time to post a product review than around the holidays. Christmas, New Years, Easter, birthdays- all of it’s fair game where reviews are concerned. Just received a gift from someone? Bought a new electronic device? Write about it and share your pros and cons with others.

Tutorials

How-tos are a great way to help your readers figure out how to do something for themselves, and it also helps to build your credibility. For example, many SEO experts will provide readers with step-by-step instructions on how to properly use Google Analytics, etc. Whatever tutorial you decide to do, just make sure that your directions are clear, concise and easy to follow. Use bullet points to help break up text, and screen shots/pictures are always a great addition.

Power Posts

Whether you are talking about something of special interest to your readers or something fun and personal, when you put a lot of thought and research into your blog posts and target it towards your audience, they will definitely appreciate the effort. Encourage reader response by posing open ended questions at the end of the post such as “What do you think?” or “I’d love to hear your thoughts..” etc.

Recently, I was watching the news when I saw a story break about a man who was being charged with several counts of child abuse. As the story progressed, a picture of the man’s granddaughter with her children were put on public display for all of the viewers in the world to see, and do you know where the photo came from?

Her Facebook profile picture.

It wasn’t that long ago that I had actually gone through and deleted all of the pictures that I had uploaded to my Facebook account over the years. Granted, none of the images that I had on my profile were anything that I would be ashamed of if it made its way to the general public, but as more and more news stories keep breaking over social sites like Facebook, I cannot help but wonder whether our narcissism is giving way to an unforeseen backlash in the usage of social networking. Some things worth considering with many Facebook users include:

• Befriending people you barely know.
• Others can monitor pictures that you post of yourself and others.
• Status updates are really updates about your latest plans, relationship statuses, achievements and travels.
• Selecting “Like” for a page, group, link or status serves to inform others about your personal opinions, etc.

All of it seems to make it incredibly easy for criminals, stalkers and predators to track your every move. Not only this, but if you think that you’re safe from it all simply because you made your profile “private,” think again. There are numerous Facebook complaints, debates and ongoing discussions surrounding privacy problems, issues surrounding the fact that you can never really “delete” your account and rumors swelling around the fact that once you put information on your profile, it stays in the system.

So, what can you do? The following are 5 tips towards being a safer Facebook user:

1. Control your image. Sure, you might have had a good time with your friends at that party in high school, but that’s no excuse for making it your profile picture. Remember what happened to the woman above? You never know who has access to websites as well as who might be able to hack into a site. Therefore, keep it modest.
2. Keep private information private. If something is going on in your life or if you have personal information, DON’T SHARE IT. You’re just making it that much easier for thieves and scammers to nab you.
3. Don’t post personal information. If you’re planning on meeting up with someone, don’t make your plans on Facebook (or any other social networking site for that matter). Instead, send a private email or place a phone call.
4. Take things at face value. Don’t believe everything that people say on social networking sites/the Internet. The online world is different than actual face-to-face interaction, and the virtual world makes it easier for folks to say or write things that they probably wouldn’t say to your face.
5. Restrict access to your profiles. On Facebook, I’ve restricted access so that I am not searchable. Additionally, I only use it for personal reasons. I’ve purposely chosen to keep my friends list small, and only befriend those people who I actually know or who are my family members.