Social Media has been used by individuals on the Internet in these last couple of years to connect with each other. Businesses, meanwhile, have used social media too. The ramifications have been, unexpected, to say the least. Businesses have not been able to use social media to sell, as they expected, but to brand themselves.

It is a more direct form of marketing. Again, this point was made to manage the expectations of those who use social media marketing. If they expect the results to be similar to PPC performance based online advertising, they will be disappointed. Social media is not PPC, it is about relationship building, reputation management, and sharing of ideas and knowledge. Relationships, two-way communications channels, and reputation management are becoming more and more important in the business world today. Therefore the importance of building relationships is paramount.

The rest of the article is well-worth reading, but the point is that social media has been incredibly important.With the rise of social media, reputation management has increased in importance also.

http://technorati.com/business/article/some-common-concerns-about-social-media2/