Work the Web for All It's Worth

In last month's column, "Inbound Marketing Platforms Go Social," we covered the major web-based social networking spaces and introduced you to a bunch of emerging players. This month, we advise you to check out a few more emerging communications and sharing platforms. Take a look at: Aim, Blinklist, Google's Shared Stuff, Stylehive, ThisNext and Yahoo Bookmarks.

If you're not sure how to begin and can't afford to hire a social media marketing pro, get an intern from a local college or ask your own high school kids to introduce you to some of these media and translate web lingo for you.

Don't rely solely on social networking and communications portals to market your business, however. You also should explore and use the following popular (and in many cases thrifty) online promotional, sales and brand-building options:

Blogging. Whether you're blogging on your own site or posting info and expertise on other blogs, know that smart blogging can lead to seriously attractive returns. Blogging involves stating your opinion and showcasing your expertise in a less formal online environment than your website. If you're not blogging on your own site, check out the free offering at Blogger.com or the inexpensive TypePad.com. Great bloggers share helpful information, articles, audio clip downloads, links to smart resources, white papers and videos.

Podcasting. This is an affordable way to put your voice on the web. Listeners can access podcasts on a computer or a digital player such as an iPod. Successful marketers are using podcasts to teach, entertain, engage and sell. Podcasts can be posted on your website as well as on social interaction platforms, so the viral/promotional possibilities are immense. Check out podHoster, Hipcast and Gcast.

Video Streaming. Every news outlet, from daily newspapers to major cable networks, uses videos. Companies that are embracing and using video clips on their websites and in social networking spaces are finding they can effectively promote, educate and sell via this medium. Successful firms that actively use good videos will be ahead of their less technologically aggressive competition.

Webinars. If you're serious about building brand and sales via inbound marketing, you can't beat webinars. Creative companies use webinars to showcase their expertise and market their services. Some webinars are free. They can also be fee-based to enhance your revenue stream. Webinars are booked online and presented over the phone in tandem with visuals accessed through a computer, so members of your audience can participate from wherever they happen to be. This is a value-add over traveling, parking and toll costs to attend onsite workshops.

According to Iain Foshay, client care manager at InstantPresenter, an up-and-coming webinar firm in California, advanced webinars and video conferencing packages can be arranged for as little as $49 for 15 seats ($29 for the basic package plus $20 for a suite of extras, including recording, hosting your recordings, managing your content library and registration). For a webinar alone (which includes audio and your synced PowerPoint presentation available via any computer), it's as little as $29.

Be one of the winners and start using the web for all it's worth to end the year with a robust bottom line. We've entered a new age of marketing, where the consumer drives the conversation. That's the case whether you're microblogging on Twitter or your daily newspaper site; posting videos on MySpace, YouTube or Viddler; sending business event photos to Flickr or conducting mass-marketed workshops or audio interviews via BlogTalkRadio.

The intrepid business owners who take the time to learn about and embrace these emerging technologies will not only develop buzz and differentiate their brand, they'll be in the forefront of shaping new business drivers as they go.

As Laura Fitton of Pistachio Consulting in Boston, Mass., points out, Twitter's 3 million users are one hellava good focus group to tap into and get on-the-spot feedback from.