If you take a stopwatch and record the time you spend on web sites, you might notice that Facebook takes an unprecedented amount of time you spend on the Internet over the rest of the other web sites combined. Indeed, Facebook has now topped the charts in terms of daily usage.

This is an article paraphrasing one of the best books written specifically for businesses as a wake up call to understanding the Internet and making it work for them. From the subtitle of my blog site, it speaks of that powerful phrase that one must muster - The Internet is All About Conversations. And so, you begin your journey in retransformation and rebirth to benefit what has been here all along.

Social Media is a great tool to market yourself to the global community. From LinkedIn to Facebook and Twitter, to name a few, it’s easy to use but not so easy to master. “Mastering” social media isn’t about the keystrokes, clicks and web pages you need to know to use; it’s knowing how to use it, sort of a “rules of engagement” kind of dos and don’ts in the social media realm. Examples would be the limit of Tweets or messages you post periodically (daily and weekly), the type of status messages and links you share, and so on goes the list. Before you embark on your social media spree, ask yourself this question: who do I want to be in the social media sphere?

The micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) in the Philippines employ 70 percent of the country’s workforce, with a large concentration in the domestic sector, i.e. wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, and hotels and restaurants, with 50 percent alone in the wholesale and retail trade. Of 1,000 firms currently exporting abroad, 70 percent are SMEs. The entire MSME community accounts for 25 percent of the country’s total export revenue, mainly through subcontracting arrangements with larger firms or as suppliers to export companies.

When you use social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, you're not just marketing the company or brand that you are part of, you're also marketing yourself. There is no distinction or dividing line between the two - you are who you are and what you represent in the online social media world, and people will always put two-and-two together.

How can the small business owner compete with large, multinational enterprises in the same market without having to spend so much money in setting up and maintaining a “customer conversation” infrastructure? People say “Talk is Cheap!” but simply said, it’s either complex, expensive or both. Beyond social media activities, the small business has to talk more to its customers in the most direct manner possible - verbally. The cost-effective way for the small business owner is to look for web-based solutions and rent it cheap. This article attempts to explain that “way” in simple, non-technical terms the small business owner himself (or herself) can plan, implement and succeed.