Twitter is being used increasingly by companies and entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes. But what is the value of a tweet? If two recent cases of twitter marketing are taken into account they would certainly bewilder a newbie to social media marketing. On one side we have Soulja Boy who is a music star with 2.5 million Twitter followers and on the other we have the car maker Toyota. Soulja Boy’s 2008 album, backed by traditional marketing methods, sold 45,000 copies in the first week.

Online survey firm Zoomerang and GrowBiz Media has come out with a report after surveying 751 small firms which reveals that about 89% of these firms which have less than 25 employees will be allocating most of their marketing funds to traditional websites and email. Only 10% of the respondents planned to spend a minimum of 30% of their marketing budgets on social media. Furthermore it revealed that most small businesses get and maintain their customers through traditional in-person networking.

Earthjustice, an environmental law firm has used Foursquare, a social networking site which lets users inform their network of followers about their location by ‘checking in’, in a very innovative manner to help spread awareness about an endangered animal. The ads ask people to ‘check in’ the Earthjustice ad at Foursquare, every time they do that an Earthjustice donor would donate $10 for the protection of the animal. These ads have helped Earthjustice raise $50,000, and also created considerable interest among commercial marketers.

In the age of social media companies cannot easily spin their way out of any mess they create; they need to prove through their actions that they are behaving responsibly. The BP oil spill is a powerful example of how a big organization had to face the fire from the public which used social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to relentlessly attack the company’s irresponsible actions.

In the recent years there has been tremendous hype generated around social media and how it can impact marketing. Most people agree that social media can be used to amplify word of mouth exponentially and companies of all sizes have established themselves on various networks. However all said and done the true value of social media is still not clear and most companies have either not been able to utilize its potential or don’t know how to evaluate its benefits.

Social media is a hot topic in business circles and most companies have either jumped into it or are raring to go. But there is a disturbing aside to all this brouhaha about how social media can help business most people who have business leaders that have been using this new method for marketing are clueless about calculating the ROI. Either they are not thinking in terms of ROI or they do not have a way to measure it. But the reality is that although social media platforms maybe free using them involves expertise, planning and dedicated resources all this add up to considerable expenses.

Small businesses in Bay Area, California, had been helplessly witnessing a steady decline in business as big name retailers opened local chapters and also offered a relentless flow of tempting online offers at their websites. This was till Jason Sutherland a web designer opened the web-based community portal called Peninsula Shops. Sutherland had envisioned Peninsula Shops as a ‘chamber of commerce on steroids’. He intended to help local businesses stay relevant and improve their profits with the help of latest online marketing ideas.