According to a recent survey conducted by an Illinois-based online payroll service, a majority of small business owners believe there is a clear business value in popular social networking Web sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

According to the survey reports, 55 per cent of small business owners said they believed that online social networking has a place in the business world. The survey also indicated that one out of every five of the small business owners polled had actually obtained at least one new customer as a direct result of using social media.

Another recent study also states that more than 600,000 small business in the US will deploy integrated social networking services in the next 12 months, up from about 300,000 currently.

Talking about the advantages of social networking for SMBs, Kyung Han, managing partner, EmPower Research, LLC, says, "Social networking, especially for SMBs is a cost saver, differentiator, and equalizer."

"Firstly, social networking through various platforms allows SMBs to reach their customers and constituents they never had been able to before. Rather than using traditional advertising and recruiting methods to reach customers, partners, and new employees, social networking is extremely inexpensive and can be more dependable because of what is said in these trusted communities," says Han.

"Social networking allows SMBs to differentiate themselves from all other competitors. It allows for different and more targeted campaigns than regular advertising, which typically will address a larger number of people, but it is extremely difficult to tailor to a specific group. Let's say there's a community around one set of sports equipment that is younger and more adventurous. The SMB sports equipment company could tailor a Web promotion suited just for them (this would probably not be as possible or easy using traditional media)," adds Han.

SMBs, when competing with larger competitors, can use social networking to establish a distinct reputation online first in the entire industry and this can be extremely effective. In many cases today, the jump from online to offline occurs rather easily when a company has established a leading edge, reputation online (online reputation has a much bigger impact today than it did 10 years ago)," he says.

With SMBs recognizing the benefits of social networking, this platform will prove to be an effective way for them to connect with their customers and prospects. It allows a company to be global via the Internet and the various communities. "The great thing about social networking and the Internet is it allows one-to-one targeting and messaging anywhere in the world. Once you know there is someone in the social network who likes a particular item of an SMB, you can develop messaging specifically for him/her using a good e-mail campaign"

According to Han, social networks are good about bringing in more trusted parties and easily identifying suspicious people within a community - this may help with bringing on prospects.

Will social networking become a must for business success? "As a whole, no," says Han. "But certainly there will be many industries that will need to utilize social networking, especially the B2C ones like consumer electronics, consumer packaged goods, travel, leisure, etc. There are many large scale B2B industries such as heavy industries (e.g. ship-building) where social networking has little impact and will continue to have a small impact," he adds.

Undoubtedly, SMBs are forming an emerging audience for social networking services. Small businesses across the globe are slowly getting to interact with companies and customers on social media outlets.