This is the 3rd part of Social Media 101 Series.

Although you might not realize it, but your consumers and clients are already part of the Social Media phenomenon (as evident from the last part), and it’s already changing your business even without you knowing that.

BrandTags is a perfect example of social media power on a brand image, it’s an approximation of the collective brand perception, just pick a brand and take a look at what people feel about it and there you have it…

Even small companies and people have brands albeit Micro-brands, and their real value/image are determined by the people and community and no longer controlled by media or corporations.

Social media opened the doors to new opportunities and possibilities, which can be leveraged to achieve your goals by becoming part of the conversations taking place online and engaging the community in the context of their interactions.

Branding, marketing and advertising to commerce and product development and customer support are examples of what you can achieve through a proper social media strategy.

And above all it is inexpensive, efficient and far-reaching.

According to Charlene Li, Social Media research analyst at Forrester said P&G had results with their Social media strategy which were was 4 times more effective than traditional marketing.

Another interesting story is about one guy, who goes by the handle “Predator,” saved Dell at least $1 million by answering technical questions in its community forum.

The real question here is “can you afford not being involved in the process?” I didn’t think so.