Engage in the conversation – An online conversation is taking place right now about your business, your industry or issues affecting your community. Inject yourself and opinions into the conversation by following opinion leaders on Twitter and social networking sites and commenting on blog posts. Whenever possible, include a link back to your content or website.

Small business owners often ask us, “What is social media, and how can I benefit from it?” Wading through the overwhelming amount of information and tips online can leave a small business owner with very little time to focus on their business. Here’s a “cheat sheet” list of tips to help get you started using social media in your business:

1. Offer a sneak peek.

Offering an inside glimpse of new products or services online can help foster demand and provide crucial feedback to help smooth a launch. For instance, John Doyle, founder of chocolate company John and Kira’s in Philadelphia, posts photos of new products on Flickr and invites comments from customers.

2. Share your experience.

Sharing knowledge you’ve mastered about your trade can go a tremendous way towards boosting your brand. You should be demonstrating expertise on Facebook, Twitter and your blog, and adding local context to your posts and tweets. In other words, what does the information you’re providing say about your specific region or city?

3. Offer value.

Gaining credibility with potential clients and customers is important. How can you achieve credibility utilizing social media? The answer lies in adding value. First, provide potential clients and customers with all the information they’ll need to contact you online and off, and communicate clearly what your business offers. Next, define what you’ll be providing customers for their attention and time. Special offers, promotions, giveaways and coupons are all excellent techniques for providing something of benefit. If your budget is too limited for coupons, etc., make sure the content you are offering is valuable to the people and businesses you’re trying to reach. In short, envision the need you are fulfilling by providing that content and serve the customer with useful information to fill that void.

When writing content, always have an appropriate and professional tone and use links to other sites, blogs, or news articles to help illustrate your point.  You can share this content on any number of places such as on your own blog, a community blog or even in Tweets.

4. Engage in conversation.

Join in! An online conversation is taking place right now about your business, your industry or issues affecting your local community. Inject yourself and opinions into the conversation by following opinion leaders on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites, and do comment on blog posts. Whenever possible, include a link back to your company’s Web site.

5. Know your customers.

Your customers and clients are talking about you online whether you like it or not –– on their own blogs, consumer-focused Web sites and on review sites like Yelp, Yahoo! Local, and CitySearch. While you often can’t control the conversation, you can help steer it by listening, engaging with customers and working to resolve any problems.