Small business owners are busy. We're just busy. Many times we are the CEO, CFO, CIO, CTO and everything else all rolled into one dedicated, passionate and utterly overworked person. The last thing we need is something else to do.
At first blush, Social media seems to be another "thing to do" and therefore an unwelcome addition to an already overloaded task list.
But Social Media is a very helpful tool. It can help us market, improve our operations, build loyal customers, attract new sales, and better collaborate with our peers. Often it can do these things simultaneously.

Company Improvement - Sites with reviews like Yelp or Urban Spoon may have direct reviews of your business. Other sites like Twitter may be holding direct mentions of your company. These tools may also have significant market data you can mine. This information can give you vital direct or indirect information for improvement of your company. And it's free.
Professional Relationships - Businesses benefit from timely information. Traditionally this has been obtained through publications or association meetings. These happen periodically and with significant cost. There is also a limit to the information that you can get. With social media, social networks made of up your peers in your field or with business resources in general can give you a great deal of information in one place and when you need it.
If you need to know how a new regulation can impact your business, an active on-line social network on LinkedIn or Facebook can give you vital time-sensitive professional information with very little effort on your part.
Reputation Management - Those review sites mentioned above, blogs, and other types of social media can send customers to you -- but they can also pan you. Following the discussion of your business on-line is now an inseparable part of responsible business ownership. Your brand image is directly impacted by what is discussed on-line.
Community Building - Your customers, believe it or not, are as passionate about your business as you are. That energy is money. Savvy business owners will use social media for the care and feeding of their customer community. Such actions will result in more loyal customers, better reviews, and revisions of negative reviews.
This Post is an overview of social media and why small businesses should not ignore it - even if the small business owner feels that there isn't time to devote to it. In upcoming posts, I'll discuss specific types of tools and how to fold those into daily operations.